Tag: travel

Signal boxes and semaphores on the Conwy Valley Line

197017 departs platform 2 at Llandudno on 19 May 2026 with 2D65 (15.04) to Llandudno Junction

North Wales lost much of its mechanical signalling interest almost a decade ago, when a £50m upgrade project was commissioned in March 2018 and swept away seven signal boxes between Chester and Colwyn Bay, leaving just two notable outposts further west, towards Holyhead and Llandudno.

Having been lucky enough to visit and photograph the five historic signal and gate boxes on the Isle of Anglesey in November 2025, I am now indebted to Network Rail once again for the chance to visit the other outpost of semaphore signalling – a trio of signal boxes controlling the 31-mile long Conwy Valley Line.

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Back to Peak Forest


GBRf 66783 “The Flying Dustman” at Peak Forest with 4H73 from Washwood Heath to Tunstead

Little more than two months after my last visit (27 August 2024) I am tempted to pay a return to marvellously photogenic Peak Forest South after being contacted by the signaller who had been on duty that day, who kindly invites me to return and pay a visit to the signal box itself.

Peak Forest South Signal Box is a delightfully preserved and recently overhauled box that will be celebrating its centenary in 2025. It is one of only two mechanical signal boxes I can name in this country, Crag Hall on Teesside being the other, which control nothing but freight traffic.

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