(Updated 19 February 2002)
Romsey
signal box is a full-size London & South Western Railway box and frame
restored to operational order, and situated near Romsey Station,
Hampshire. The frame is paired with a
simulator, and full-size signals and a point are connected. A separate ground frame and other transport artefacts
(including a section of the Redbridge-Andover Canal) can also be viewed at the
site. There is also a mobile miniature
signal box based on Cowley Bridge Junction, Exeter (GWR), which can be
transported to other locations to demonstrate the principles of mechanical signalling.
Romsey
signal box is open from 10am to 4pm on the first Sunday of every month, except
January; parties are welcome at other times by arrangement. Admission is free, but donations are
welcome.
Car parking is available
in the grounds of Romsey County Infants School, Plaza Parade, Winchester Road,
Romsey, Hampshire.
Further details are
available from:
Dick Hewett, 42 Botley Road, Romsey, Hampshire, SO51 5AP.
(dick_hewett@hotmail.com)
Phone 01794 500523 (Dick Hewett) or 01425 672814 (Colin Meheux).
Both Romsey signal box
and Cowley Bridge Junction miniature signal box require a minimum of two
operators, one operating the frame, and another controlling the simulator. Ideally, though, they should both be manned
by three or four people at a time, so that spare operators are available to
talk to viewers. The Romsey and Cowley
Bridge signalmen (and women!) undergo a thorough course, so that they can be
“passed out” to operate unassisted.
The Friends of Romsey
Signal Box is a group established to undertake the restoration and operation of
Romsey signal box and Cowley Bridge Junction miniature frame, and look after
the site at Romsey on behalf of the Romsey and District Buildings Preservation
Trust (to which it is affiliated).
Membership of the Friends
is open to anyone with an interest in the preservation of the box. Armchair supporters are welcome, although
clearly the project cannot flourish without the active involvement of as many
members as possible, who can afford to give up some of their free time. The current annual subscription is £5.00,
and further information can be obtained from Dick Hewett (address above).
The first requirement for
a signal box at Romsey would have been in connection with the opening of the
Redbridge branch on 6th March, 1865. The preserved box could date from then, but even if not the
original box, it was probably one of the oldest boxes still in service when it
was closed in 1982.
The first version of the
box was almost certainly totally square, built entirely of wood (both floors)
and contained an 18-lever frame controlling the junction between the
double-track Eastleigh-Salisbury main line and the single-track branch to
Southampton via Redbridge. As was the
fashion at the time, several signals were placed on the roof of the signal box
itself, and this situation continued after the junction layout was revised in
1884, on the conversion of the Redbridge branch to double track. However, the roof signals are likely to have
disappeared by the late 1880s, and at some time, the wooden base was replaced
by a brick one.
The levers in the box
today probably date from the doubling of the Redbridge branch, and the 18-lever
frame lasted at least until the First World War. However, at some time between 1917 and 1932, the box was extended
with the addition of a flat-roofed overhanging section on the first floor, and
the frame received a further seven levers.
Even as late as the 1960s, the entrance door was moved to provide more
room inside.
The track layout
developed with additional sidings until it reached its maximum extent by
1944. On the embankment above the
present location of the signal box, there were several sidings, and the goods
yard was extended to cope with wartime traffic. The sidings at the Kimbridge end of the station have always been
controlled by a ground frame, which had six levers in 1944. A second ground frame controlled the siding
off the Redbridge branch south of Winchester Road, which served Wills’ (now
Hillier’s) Nursery from 13th February 1928.
The gradual decline in
freight traffic, which started with the closure of Wills’ siding on 2nd
August 1959, continued with the closure of Romsey Goods yard on 20th
July 1970. In the meantime, the line
from Eastleigh through Chandlers Ford was closed to passengers on 5th
May 1969, and the subsequent singling of the now freight-only route took place
on 1st May 1972.
This singling coincided
with the conversion of the first mechanical signals to colour lights. It is thought that the 25-lever frame was
shortened to its present 23 levers in September or October 1976, by which time
the remaining semaphore signals had been replaced. As each signal and point was converted to electric operation, the
top of the relevant lever was shortened by several inches. Eventually,
Eastleigh panel assumed responsibility for the Romsey area, and Romsey signal
box was closed on 17th October 1982.
After closure, it was not
long before thoughts turned to demolition, and when British Rail requested
access through the grounds of Romsey County Infants School for the demolition
gang, the Headteacher, Mrs Audrie Gebbie had the idea of saving the box for
educational use.
Mrs Gebbie contacted the
Romsey and District Buildings Preservation Trust, who agreed to purchase the
box for £10 and fund the £1,000 removal costs. On the night of Sunday 26th June 1983, the wooden first
floor, weighing about a ton, was lifted across the tracks to a temporary
position in the school grounds on the other side of the embankment. The 23-lever frame, weighing over three tons,
was then lifted over. A new ground
floor was constructed on a piece of land bought from Hampshire County Council,
and in April 1987, the frame was lifted onto the new base, followed by the
first floor.
On 26th June
1991, the first signal (the original down branch home arm mounted on the down
branch distant post) was reconnected to the lever frame, exactly eight years
after the box was moved to its new location.
Work then commenced on the construction of the simulator in the basement
of the box, which, when connected to the instruments upstairs, simulates the
actions of the neighbouring boxes. The
completion of this work enabled the box to be successfully restored to
operation on 17th October 1992, the tenth anniversary of its
closure.
Cowley Bridge Junction is
a miniature working signal box that can be taken to schools and exhibitions to
demonstrate mechanical signalling principles.
In addition, it acts as an ambassador for the overall Romsey Signal Box
project.
The famous junction near
Exeter was chosen as the basis for the miniature box because it offers
intensive working over a track layout that is interesting without being too
large or complicated. Small enough to
be transported in a car, Cowley Bridge comprises three parts:
In fact there are now two
Cowley Bridges, as the original miniature box has recently been superseded by a
more sophisticated version.
(Historical notes taken
from A Guide to the Romsey Signal Box Project, © The Friends of Romsey
Signal Box. Web page updated by Howard
Sprenger on 4th February 2002)