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Signal box cut in half for move to Yorkshire
MOVING a 19th century signal box over 80 miles to Yorkshire has taken one failed attempt and drastic measures.
The 60 tonne artefact had to be sliced in two to be transported from its former home to one of the region's steam railways.
But the end result was worth the effort as the new addition to Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway is now being restored to its former glory.
When volunteers who run the railway in North Yorkshire heard that Sleights Sidings East signal box, located in Pinxton on the Nottinghamshire-Derbyshire border, was available for sale two years ago, they felt it would be a worthy candidate for a demonstration signal box for Bolton Abbey station.
Built in 1892 by the Midland Railway company, the signal box was saved from demolition when it was decommissioned over a century later in 2007, by a car dismantler in Pinxton who did not want to see it destroyed.
Bought by volunteers who run the railway for 1,000 – the price paid to Network Rail by the car dismantler – the signal box cost a further 3,000 to transport to Yorkshire.
Now installed at Bolton Abbey station, it is expected to cost 50,000 and take about five years work to bring it back into working order to be used as a demonstration signal box open to the public.
Embsay & Bolton Abbey Steam Railway business manager Stephen Walker said: "Cosmetically it will be restored within the next year. Then within five years it will be working for the public to go in and see how it works.
"It means people can go somewhere where they have never been allowed to go on railways. They are not allowed to go into signal boxes on any railway. It will be somewhere they can go in and see how it all works and have it explained to them.
"It will also be a very good asset for schools and will be very good for the public. It will be a closed place that will be finally opened up to them."
It is hoped that the new addition to the station will eventually be fitted out as Bolton Abbey's original signal box was, complete with all the instruments, offering visitors a feel for the job of a signalman.
The station's original signal box was destroyed in 1965 when Bolton Abbey station was closed down.
Its existing signal box, which is used to operate the trains running along the steam railway, was installed when the railway to Bolton Abbey was reopened in 1997.
The Sleights Sidings East signal box, which is 40 ft high, had to be cut in half because it was too big to move by road in one piece from Pinxton to Yorkshire.
After being sliced horizontally, the two pieces were put on to two low loaders and lifted with large cranes at each end before being transported to Bolton Abbey station.
"There were a number of cranes to off-load it and then erect it again by putting the two pieces back together," said Mr Walker. "Getting it out at the other end was difficult because it was a very narrow restricted area but they (the volunteers) always had the confidence they would do it. There were only inches to spare but they knew they could get it out.
"They need to replace some of the wood and obtain and rebuild a complete signal frame. Then they have to connect it and design the interlocking so it all works. The signal boxes were always designed to be fail-safe and that will be recreated in the box. People can then see how it actually works."
Work to tidy up the interior of the box started as soon as it touched the ground, with broken glass and rubbish removed and old wiring taken off the walls before the box was reassembled.
Since being transported to Yorkshire last Christmas, work has been going on to transform the signal box.
Furniture has been acquired from Stanlow and Thornton signal box, which has recently been demolished. The workings of the signal box will be coming from the current Embsay signal box which will be undergoing a refit.
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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