Banbury railway station: fog, semaphore signals and trainspotters

[editor]

My train back from Wales ended up taking a big diversion into Banbury of all places, and I was pleasantly surprised by the station which looked very atmospheric indeed.

It had semaphore signals! And a signal box! And lots of activity! And snow! And fog!

More pics:

http://www.urban75.org/blog/banbury-railway-station-fog-semaphore-signals-and-trainspotters/

 

[bi0boy]

I've never seen semaphore signals that new before - those short ones almost look brand new.

 

[editor]

They looked magnificent in the fog! And look at the finials on 'em!

 

[Agent Sparrow]

ah, we got turned round in Banbury too. They didn't let us off though.

Crispy posting, in case you needed telling

 

[_pH_]

Where did you take that first pic from?

 

[paolo]

Everything is going via Banbury at the moment. Probably even the Northern line.

 

[davesgcr]

Those signals are brand new , installed for the diversions for the Reading works - quality stuff. Start back signals to allow quick reversals of the 2 tph diverted Didcot - Banbury -(reverse) - Old Oak common via Park Royal / Chiltern route - Paddington. BIt of a treck - but it saves a massive bus excercise.

Bad news is that the whole lot is up for resignalling by 2012 .....(and they will dissapear along with Banbury North and South boxes -dating back to 1899)

Was up there yesterday for a nose around - thick fog and lying snow then also - very atmospheric indeed , not quite Dickens "The Signalman"

 

[19sixtysix]

Everything is going via Banbury at the moment. Probably even the Northern line.

That's stretching it a bit but I did speak to a signal man who routed a full rush hour district line train down the South London line in the days before the refurb.

 

[Oswaldtwistle]

Banbury is some way off course from Cardiff to London. Where were the engineering works?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Finial.

New day, new word

 

[Crispy]

Banbury is some way off course from Cardiff to London. Where were the engineering works?

Reading. They're adding platforms, swapping lines round and all sorts.

 

[Oswaldtwistle]

Reading. They're adding platforms, swapping lines round and all sorts.

Ah. Yes I can remember enough from my time at NRES to know a blockage there would result in some serious diversions.....

 

[editor]

Where did you take that first pic from?

As the train slowly pulled into the station I spotted the signal box and leapt out of my seat and hung out of the window in the hope of bagging a semaphore or two!

I had no idea Banbury still had such fine signalling beforehand - and who'd have thought they'd be installing new ones now?!

 

[pogofish]

Some very old pics/postcards of Banbury station came into my hands a while back, maybe I should scan them up and add them?

 

[davesgcr]

Enjoy those semaphores while you can. (those finials are a nice touch)

Shrewsbury has recently had a new semaphore installed on platform 3 (not a GW type alas) , and when the Cotswold line re-doubling is done in around 12 months , Moreton-on-Marsh gets an extra semaphore (MM27 from memory) - I think there is an underground GW signalling splinter cell in action , trying to turn the tide of modernisation round.

 

[Oswaldtwistle]

When are the last semaphore signals due to go?

 

[davesgcr]

Banbury should be done (provisonally) by 2013 - dates uncertain as yet. (great thought it looks , the track layout isnt optimal for the service pattern of today - and its an "island" of low capacity on the increasingly busy Oxford - West Midlands corridor - the sections north of Banbury were resignalled in 2003 giving much greater capacity , and Oxford is due for a major revamp in the next 4 years or so.

Other semaphore areas up for the chop are Ely - Norwich , Lowestoft / Yarmouth - Norwich - Shrewsbury - Crewe but the iconic Cornwall main line is safe for the moment , new "modular" signalling is planned for many of the "quieter" routes.

 

[BlueSquareThing]

Oh, I must get down to Yarmouth then - lovely box there as well iirc. I need to have a nose around that line some more really.

 

[editor]

I imagine some of the outcrops of semaphore signalling in the more remote parts of Wales and the Valleys should be safe for a while yet too.

St Erth in Cornwall has a particularly fine collection!

 

[Onket]

Some very old pics/postcards of Banbury station came into my hands a while back, maybe I should scan them up and add them?

Not if anyone else already has, obviously.

There is a great sign at the end of the platform at Didcot station which says- Do Not Cross The Line.

 

[davesgcr]

Bad news Ed - the Valley line boxes , such as the wonderful Ystrad Mynach one are on the death list.

(maybe a day out in the New Year for a select group) ?

 

[editor]

How spoddy does a semaphore signal spotting day out sound?

*signs up

 

[Oswaldtwistle]

Banbury should be done (provisonally) by 2013 - dates uncertain as yet. (great thought it looks , the track layout isnt optimal for the service pattern of today - and its an "island" of low capacity on the increasingly busy Oxford - West Midlands corridor - the sections north of Banbury were resignalled in 2003 giving much greater capacity , and Oxford is due for a major revamp in the next 4 years or so.

Other semaphore areas up for the chop are Ely - Norwich , Lowestoft / Yarmouth - Norwich - Shrewsbury - Crewe but the iconic Cornwall main line is safe for the moment , new "modular" signalling is planned for many of the "quieter" routes.

I'm amazed it's taken this long, to be honest. If it's not a daft question, how come this wasn't done years ago.

 

[_pH_]

As the train slowly pulled into the station I spotted the signal box and leapt out of my seat and hung out of the window in the hope of bagging a semaphore or two!

Fair enough, it looked like you'd trespassed lineside.

How spoddy does a semaphore signal spotting day out sound?

You don't need to go far - the Greenford branch (from Paddington) still has semaphores. And the Arun Valley line down to Bognor/Littlehampton, south of Pulborough or Billingshurst, I forget which.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Has Blackpool North still got it's semaphores or have they gone now?

 

[davesgcr]

More bad news - Arun Valley also on the hit list - but not Littlehampton for now

 

[editor]

Already 'done' Littlehampton. Look at these beauties!

http://www.urban75.org/photos/littlehampton/littlehampton.html

 

[_pH_]

Arun Valley also on the hit list

Good job too.

 

[bi0boy]

I remember the fens being good for them, are there any gantry-fulls like this left?

 

[_pH_]