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Last semaphores in East Anglia

66118 approaches Manea with 4L38 from East Midlands Gateway to Felixstowe North

Four years after the final demise of mechanical signalling on the delightful Wherry Lines from Norwich to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft (February 2020), a continuing threat of replacement hangs over the last ten main line semaphores in East Anglia, controlled by the signal boxes at Whttlesea and Manea.

While it is well over a decade since the route from Ely to Norwich was resignalled, a total of seven signal boxes remain on the considerably busier Ely-Peterborough route, one of the very few lines on our national network where there seem to be almost as many freight workings as passenger services.

Images of 2023

43008/007 approach Corfe Castle on 26 September with 1Z25 from Swanage to Bournemouth

This is my fifth annual look back at a year on our railway, as seen through the lens of my trusty Canon camera, and it has been a year characterised by loss of two 1970s icons in the form of Class 313 units from Coastway duties and HSTs making their final exit from CrossCountry (XC) services and being scaled back in their GWR operations.

Once again I have picked 23 images which represent the year 2023 and reflect our ever changing railway scene, be it these losses of historic rolling stock, the arrival of new trains, such as the Class 197 units in Wales, as well as places that will be losing their mechanical signalling over the coming year.

Wales’ most westerly semaphores

Colas Rail 56113/051 pass Ty Croes’ down distant signal TC1 with RHTT 3S71 to Holyhead

There have been a few changes to the railway scene on island of Anglesey since my last visit two and a half years ago (May 2021), but happily the final ten miles to Holyhead from remote Ty Croes remains an interesting outpost of mechanical signalling, with no imminent plans for any re-signalling.

While the TfW fleet of Alstom Class 175 units have been displaced by the CAF Class 197 units that will eventually cover the whole of Wales, and regular loco-hauled interest is now confined to a once-daily Holyhead-Cardiff return, control of the route remains with the trio of signal and gate boxes at Holyhead, Valley and Ty Croes.

Cornish semaphore swansong

After many delays, the end is now fast approaching for the fine collection of lower quadrant semaphore signals at Par, Lostwithiel and Truro, with 27 February 2024 signalled as the date when this trio of boxes will finally close.

In the six years since I began writing this blog I have witnessed the end of mechanical signalling in places as far afield as Blackpool North, Humberside, Norfolk’s Wherry Lihes and the North Wales Coast, so now it is time for a final farewell visit (21/22 November 2023) to the Royal Duchy.

Last semaphores before Paddington

800032 departs Moreton-in-Marsh with 1P30 from Worcester Shrub Hill to London Paddington

MORETON-IN-MARSH is a charming Cotswold town that is particularly popular with visitors from the Far East and boasts a remarkably unspoiled railway station and a signal box which can claim to work the closest semaphore signals a train will pass on any journey to or from London Paddington.

Standing at milepost 91¾ Moreton-in-Marsh is a good deal closer to Paddington than either Liskeard (243½ miles) or Pembrey & Burry Port (208 miles) and is a remarkable survivor from the 2011 Cotswold Line re-doubling project, when double track was reinstated from Evesham to Charlbury.

A Hungarian narrow gauge delight

Return visits earlier in the year to travel the only state-run narrow gauge railways in Bulgaria (June 2023) and Czechia (August 2023) had given me a taste for obscure little railways in Eastern Europe, so the lure of cheap flights takes me for a first time trip to see and travel the only narrow gauge railway run by Hungarian state operator MÁV.

This is a 22km (14-mile) 760mm (Bosnian gauge) system that runs inland from a resort on Lake Balaton called Balatonfenyves, a two-hour Inter-City train ride south-west from Budapest. It comprises a 14km (9-mile) route from the narrow gauge station at Balatonfenyves to a place called Somogyszentpál and an 8km (5-mile) branch from a junction called Imremajor to Csisztafüdo, a renowned thermal spa.

New trains and old signals at Pembrey & Burry Port

197112 passes Pembrey Signal Box with 1B63 from Carmarthen (13.04) to Cardiff Central

Re-signalling work is continuing apace in Cornwall and set for completion in late February 2024, when boxes at Truro and Par will close, but the same cannot be said for a similar project in West Wales, if the picture at Pembrey & Burry Port on 7 November 2023 is anything to go by.

Paying a first return to Burry Port since my last visit in February 2023 there was plenty to see in terms of new rolling stock, but precious little evidence that the signal box and semaphores would be replaced by early 2024, as a Ferryside signaller had suggested to me when I visited there three months ago.

Edinburgh’s ghostly Gateway station

As white elephants go it may not be a match for HS2, yet almost seven years after it opened to the public in December 2016 there is no doubting that the £41 million Edinburgh Gateway station has massively failed to live up to its potential as an important new way of accessing Edinburgh Airport.

Spend a hour there on a weekday morning and it is easy to see why Edinburgh Gateway has not enjoyed the success of other Scottish openings and re-openings, such as the routes to Bathgate and Tweedbank, with very limited services calling at the station and a ludicrous £7.50 tram single fare for anyone wanting to take the 1.8-mile, 7-minute link to Edinburgh Airport.

Magical Montrose

43031/183 approach Montrose on 30 October 2023 with 1A39 from Glasgow Queen St. to Aberdeen

Among the ten remaining outposts of mechanical signalling along the scenic East Coast Main Line (ECML) between Edinburgh and Aberdeen, most picturesque of all must surely be Montrose, where a short length of single line sweeps into the town, crossing Montrose Basin on the South Esk Viaduct.

Just north of Montrose station stands Montrose North Signal Box (North British Railway, 1881) which was closed for several years before being re-opened in 2010 as part of a local re-signalling scheme that saw closure of boxes at Montrose South and Usan, southern end of the single-track section.

Scheduled steam returns to Wolsztyn

Pt47-65 storms away from Nowawies Mochy on 20 October 2023 with the 11.43 Wolsztyn-Leszno

Managing to organise a three-night autumn mini-break to Poland, and spend two days riding on Europe’s last standard gauge steam services for a total cost of well under £250.00 might sound pie in the sky, but a recent trip has proved that such things can still be done.

In a crazy world where my return Ryanair flights from Stansted to Poznan cost less (£35.02) than an off-peak return from Haslemere to Stansted (£39.75 with railcard), the total cost of a four-day break, including all fares, food and accommodation, came in at just £224.30.