Phased Out: Signal Boxes & Semaphores - End of an Era
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- Опубликовано: 16 июл 2024
- The End of an Era
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Signal Boxes and Semaphores entered operation in the 1840s, as a revolutionary system of railway signaling. This semaphore system involves signals that display their different indications to train drivers by changing the angle of inclination of a pivoted 'arm’. Semaphore signaling was adopted widely up until the 1950s, when the rise of digital signals on the ECML signaled the start of modernisation. Cornwall, as per usual, remained 50 years behind, with mechanical signaling staying in operation. That is, until the Winter of 2023/24, when after a life span of at least 120 years, the signal boxes and semaphores are to be phased out. I've wanted to make a film about Semaphore signals for some time, and I find it lucky to know that I made this film before they stopped operating. This film has captions, explaining what is happening, however, if you want to see the action, shots were taken at:
00:00 Semaphore Signals
00:10 St. Erth
04:19 Lelant Saltings
05:27 St Erth
06:49 Liskeard
08:41 Truro
12:21 Par
15:55 St. Blazey
16:48 Goonbarrow
20:22 Lostwithiel
23:09 2 Week Closure
I hope you enjoy watching this. If you did, please like, comment, & subscribe, it really is rather flattering.
Find a south-west railtour calendar, along with a heritage gala calendar and my best photos at:
www.trecanrail.com/
@steamtothewest-trecanrail
#signalboxes #trecanrail #cornwall #semaphores #china #clay #sterth #liskeard #goonbarrow #goonbarrowjunction #cornishchinaclay #chinaclaytrains #lostwithiel #par #stblazey #truro #steamtothewest #gwr #greatwesternrailway #freighttrains #steam #steamrailway #railway #lelantsaltings #steamtrainsgalore #steamtrains #trains #trainstrains #cornishalps #signals #semaphoresignals #class800 #class66 #levelcrossings #signalbox #newquay #exports #traingalore #UK #endofanera #phasedout
Disclaimer : There was no trespassing used in the making of this film, all shots were taken on roads, or footpaths. 
Авто/Мото
The semaphores will go between the 29 February - 10 March 2024. I highly recommend you watch until the end before jumping to conclusions in this comment section. The closure was for initial work, I made that quite clear.
A most enjoyable watch. Another piece of nostalgia sadly gone forever.
One hopes that removed signals are taken down carefully along with point rodding etc. Then made avlable to the heritage rail sector. Along with lever frames and associated parts. Not dealt with by greedy scrapmen.
All usable equipment is being suitably rehomed or kept in NR spares stock, I'm told.
Two comments.
It is very good to see a video with steady camera work, so many videos leave me feeling somewhat seasick.
I also sincerely hope that Liskeard's up Starter will be saved, I'm not aware of a similar signal remaining anywhere else. I may also be a tad biased as Liskeard is my nearest station.
Thanks for the video.
Same here, thank you
What a brilliant film and an amazing amount of effort by you 👍
Danke
Brilliant film boy ! Good to see someone seeing this signalling system faithfully recorded. Thankyou indeed.
Good to see that some Signal Boxes & Semaphores are still in use around the country - shame that they are going to be phased out!!! 🤔🙁🚂🚂🚂
Also I do believe that they still use Signal Boxes & Semaphores at Buxton Station in Derbyshire 🙂🚂🚂🚂
Too expensive to do shrewsbury, thankfully.
@@lizlawrence4553 There is a planned date sometime in 2030 for the closure of Severn Bridge Junction signal box and its linked AB boxes in the SY area. It’s a massive undertaking that will involve the closure or at least partial closure of the station for months.
Like other projects of a similar magnitude such as Blackpool North it will likely slide and be delayed still further.
For those with an interest in mech signalling it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Thanks for that wonderful video. Quality
Glad you enjoyed it
Some excellent filming there.
Thank you for a very informative video. I really enjoyed it
Glad you enjoyed it, A part 2 is due in the middle of next month!
Well put together footage of the various locations. Cornwall has been a long term survivor of the old signalling system. Some of the more modern signal boxes are elderly now - e.g. Plymouth panel signal box was commissioned in 1960, then Exeter in the mid 1980s.
A fascinating documentary, well done!
Thanks
Well done with your recording of this significant historical waypoint. At least the Beeching Axe did not remove all rail services and infrastructure. But, this waypoint, eradicating semaphore and the boxes, indicates that what will remain will not be subject to star-rated historical significance.
Sad, but true, commercial imperatives are not liable to ‘grade two’ listings.
Very interesting, informative, and sad video as you mentioned the end of an era.
Indeed!
There was an in perfect condition semaphore signal box at Addiscombe, south east london, that had been sold to an heritage company, but two days before the complete dis-assembly and packaging, it was vandalised and burned to the ground, lost to everyone. The stations were closed and converted from Elmers end, Woodside and Addiscombe to tram-lines. It was all under BR then, such a shame and loss.
That's Croydon boys living up to their stereotypes. What a senseless waste. Still, imagine how long the dinky home semaphore at St Erth would have lasted (06:40) up Lunnon.
7:50 Aha! The magic of Liskeard. Now you see it, now you don't. Oh no, there it is again. Mesmerising.
Proper job.
Thank you
In June 2023 there was still a signal box with a semaphore gantry at Hastings in East Sussex. I haven't been back since to see if it too has gone.
It should still be there. Information from Network Rail does not include it in their closure plans for 2024 and 2025. Going by those plans there will still be dozens of signal boxes still operating at the end of 2025. That was, supposedly, the date by which all the remaining mechanical signal bixes were to be closed but they are way behind schedule.
i love the puff-puff prain at 7.50 the steamer was definitely steaming it on it's railtour! great video of railway station's in the west county! truro and Camborne stations have both got level crossings as i aint visited Cornwall since about 2005 but it's nice part of the uk! but a very long drive from Manchester and a very expensive train journey as a return from Manchester on the day is about £230 if you split ticket the journey even though your still on the same train you can save about £80 that's a weeks food and a big saving + it's actually quicker by car by about 1 hour nice video 🥰
Long May they remain.
Does the colour light signal box at Penzance go under Didcot centre or will it remain for all the shunting at PZ? I guess only tours and Top N Tail sleepers shunt but would it remain or be swallowed up too? and isn't there a crossing box for Redruth and Cambourne area or has that gone now?
No. PZ box and its signals stay as now, as do St Erth, Liskeard, St Blazey and Goonbarrow with their semaphores and Roskear and its colour lights. Truro, Par and Lostwithiel boxes with their semaphores will be replaced with new colour lights controlled from a Cornwall workstation in Exeter Panel box. None of the westcountry is going under Didcot.
Which railway lines in the UK still have stations with semaphore signals in 2024? Greetings from Germany
A lot of the Welsh lines have Semaphores, at the time of writing, they are still prominent in West Cornwall.
I'm very interested to read that all the shots were taken from roads or footpaths. I've got photos of all the boxes in Cornwall apart from Goonbarrow. Looking at Google Earth it doesn't look possible to get near it but obviously there must be a way.
The footpath map reveals a small foot crossing on the south side of the loop, the track then follows the line for a bit until diving of to the east.
Are they all finishing in Devon and Cornwall ?
Yes, over the winter. Most in Devon (if not all) have already gone.
In a communication I received from Network Rail in January 2024, the only planned closures in Cornwall for 2024 and 2025 are Truro, Par and Lostwithiel. No closures planned in Devon but there are very few left in Devon. There are also a few still in existence that are no longer in use. Totnes signal box is now a cafe.
Only good thing is all which closes are g2 listed can not demolish not sure truo box
Judging by what's happening here up Lunnon, the days of _all_ signals are numbered.
No longer can you saunter along your tube platform safe in the knowledge that the train's not going anywhere yet because of the setting of the colour light signal. How you laugh quietly to yourself as others run past, needlessly wasting energy.
No, the opportunity for smugness for the observant tube traveller is rapidly
disappearing! As rapidly as the system is changed over to automatic control by the use of track circuits.
So so long all signals and hello the legal niceties of who's responsible now then for a SPAD...
Really enjoyed this! Try as I might, I just cannot like these Hitachi 800 units. Noisy, uncomfortable, just poor all round. Thanks for posting!
Thanks for watching!
atleaste wales is not letting us down we still use them
Yes, there are a few still operating in Wales but there have been quite a few closures in recent years. Still boxes to see between Bangor and Holyhead.
st blazey & goonbarrow going sametime? as they are token sections to Newquay
I think so, it would be more confusing if they didn’t
Not in Network Rail's closure plans for 2024 or 2025.
Unfortunately Listed Building status is not respected by the weather, rot, vandals nor arsonists, whether the latter are paid by the landowners or not!
Yes, although I’ve been told that network rail are to keep the Lostwithiel box in immaculate condition
With the pace of change the video is alreeady out of date. All CDA wagons now withdrawn
I know, that was filmed back in August.
Lovely. Not many pax on those trains, Beeching will be turning in his grave.
Filmed on a Sunday in October, not many people
Is this really value for money?
The video is. Presumably the resignalling is too, paid for by reduction in signaller's positions, or they wouldn't be doing it. All staff will be either retiring or redeployed - no compulsory redundancies.
@@ChangesOneTim
Getting rid of work for the sake of it merely transfers costs. Cornwall has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.
These systems are robust and have worked perfectly well for over a century. The new electrical and electronic systems will not last anything like as long.
@@physiocrat7143
If people were being made compulsorily redundant, costs would transfer to the state benefit system. But they aren't here.
Some while ago somebody somewhere determined a 30-35 year 'asset life' for resignalling projects, so it's expected to need renewing yet again in the 2050s. Quite a few relay-based signalling schemes commissioned in the 1960s and 1970s are still going strong today, and most that have been replaced lived for 50 years or so.
@@physiocrat7143 "It merely transfers costs". Maybe, but they will no longer be costs associated with the railways and that helps them survive any move to close them on economic grounds.
@@physiocrat7143 Electronic systems tend to survive longer than mechanical systems. This is beause they don't have moving parts that wear out.