![Through the round window](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Through_the_round_window.JPG)
Ledbury Signal Box is a typical
Great Western Railway traditional lever frame signal box which remains in daily use at
Ledbury Station, Herefordshire, England on the railway line from
Worcester
Worcester may refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Worcester, England, a city and the county town of Worcestershire in England
** Worcester (UK Parliament constituency), an area represented by a Member of Parliament
* Worcester Park, London, Engla ...
to
Hereford.
History
The railway line from Worcester to Hereford opened in several stages, with the section from Malvern to Shelwick Junction, just north of Hereford, opening on 15 September 1861.
The current signal box however dates from 1885 opening as the branch line from Ledbury to
Newent
Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish about 10½ miles (17 km) north-west of Gloucester, England. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population was 6,777 at the 2021 Census. ...
and
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
opened (27 July 1885). It is thought that this current signal box must have replaced an earlier 1861 GWR built signal box, but there is currently no written or physical evidence to support this theory. A recent suggestion has been that the original signal box was just a few metres east of the existing box but the site was covered by new track leading to a redesigned goods yard.
The current 1885 signal box was built by
MacKenzie & Holland of Worcester, as their 'type 3' box design under contract to the
Great Western Railway. It has a striking feature in that it is unusually tall, providing good visibility over the goods yard to the east and rear (south) of the 'box. A balcony was also provided on the east side to allow the signalman to communicate with drivers and other personnel working in the goods yard.
Ledbury signal box was designed to be operated by one person and has always provided all the essential modern hotel services such as an office area, heating and cooking. When the box was built in 1885 this was before the general use of electricity, and at a time when toilet facilities were considered unsanitary and placed outside of dwellings and offices. Ledbury signal box was built with an open fireplace and chimney, oil lamp lighting, and a separate outside toilet. The fireplace, now blocked off remains as does the chimney and two cast iron oil lamp ventilation ceiling roses, a "modern" toilet has been added in a square wooden extension on the balcony (see second photograph above).
Note that a further signal box named Ledbury Branch Signal Box, was located on the 17.46-mile single line Gloucester-Ledbury branch, 506 yards from the main line junction west of Ledbury station. That signal box opened on 27 July 1885 and closed in 1925 and the branch had closed by 1965.
In March 2013 Ledbury signal box was repainted externally.
In June 2016 the signal box frame and point connecting rods were renewed increasing the life expectancy of the signal box and reducing the chance of failure
Current Operation
Ledbury Signal Box is owned and operated by
Network Rail
Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...
a company wholly owned by the British tax payer unlike the station which whilst still owned by Network Rail is served by the private operator
West Midlands Trains
West Midlands Trains (WMT) is a train operating company in the United Kingdom. It operates passenger trains on the West Midlands franchise between London and the English Midlands under two trade names: West Midlands Railway (WMR) (within the ...
.
To understand basic railway operation, please see articles on the
signalling block system
Signalling block systems enable the safe and efficient operation of railways by preventing collisions between trains. The basic principle is that a track is broken up into a series of sections or "blocks". Only one train may occupy a block at ...
o
Understanding the railway block system
The current method of operation on the section of single line between Ledbury and Shelwick Junction (just north of Hereford) is called "Tokenless Block" and has been since 1986 when that line was singled and the intermediate signal boxes were closed.
The current method of operation on the single line section between Ledbury and
Malvern Wells
Malvern Wells is a village and civil parish south of Great Malvern in the Malvern Hills district of Worcestershire, England. The parish, once known as South Malvern, was formed in 1894 from parts of the civil parishes of Hanley Castle, Welland ...
is called "Lock & Block". This is a modified form of Tokenless Block using
Great Western Railway equipment that uses the bell telegraph to communicate. This method of operation and equipment, unique to this line, was originally used only through the two single line tunnels on this line, at Ledbury; and under the
Malvern Hills
The Malvern Hills are in the English counties of Worcestershire, Herefordshire and a small area of northern Gloucestershire, dominating the surrounding countryside and the towns and villages of the district of Malvern. The highest summit aff ...
between a former signal box at
Colwall
Colwall is a civil parish in Herefordshire, England, situated on the border with Worcestershire, nestling on the western side of the Malvern Hills at the heart of the AONB. Areas of the village are known as Colwall Stone, Upper Colwall which sha ...
to the signal box at Malvern Wells. However, with the removal of the second track, the line become singled from Malvern Wells to Ledbury and one long section was created that remains in use today.
To understand the use of tokens on railways, see articles on and what is
a token and what is
tokenless block
Signalling block systems enable the safe and efficient operation of railways by preventing collisions between trains. The basic principle is that a track is broken up into a series of sections or "blocks". Only one train may occupy a block at a ...
.
In line with standard
Great Western Railway practice the UP direction is towards London (
Paddington
Paddington is an area within the City of Westminster, in Central London. First a medieval parish then a metropolitan borough, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Three important landmarks of the district are Padd ...
). This is the direction from Hereford towards Malvern and Worcester; from West to East.
The DOWN direction is the opposite, from Malvern to Hereford; East to West.
Equipment
A signal box could be said to be split into two distinct areas, and three operational parts.
Upstairs is the operating floor comprising:
*the work area or office;
*and the social needs area.
Downstairs comprises:
*the frame room.
Operating Floor
The main entrance to most Lever Frame signal boxes is via a set of stairs to the operating floor, this is usually true regardless of the type of signalling system in use, and is because much of the equipment used to signal trains needs to be held in a room close to, and usually below, the operating floor, the frame room. In some signal boxes these stairs cannot be seen and are constructed inside the building as in the case of local boxes Droitwich, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Tunnel Junction & Evesham. Ledbury has a wooden external staircase that leads from a station platform to the operating floor.
The Operating floor consists of the lever frame itself with the block shelf above, an office area and Social needs facilities.
Office Area
The office area consists of an office chair and desk, the most prominent feature on which is a book called the Train Register Book (TRB).
Several telephone systems are provided so that signaller can always contact and be contacted by other signal boxes, station staff and operations control and can be contacted by members of the public at level crossings as they require. All telephone calls are recorded for safety and training purposes.
A new additional telephone system was introduced in 2012 with the advent of
GSM-R
GSM-R, Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway or GSM-Railway is an international wireless communications standard for railway communication and applications.
A sub-system of European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), it is us ...
this is a
GSM
The Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) is a standard developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) to describe the protocols for second-generation ( 2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile devices such ...
, 3G telephone system that allows signallers to contact the train crew by voice or text and can link into the communication systems used by the British police, fire and ambulance services. A base station aerial for this system was built in 2008 near to the west portal of the Ledbury railway tunnel near the signal box and an additional aerial is located in the roof of the tunnel providing continuous communication inside the tunnel.
A computer is located in the signal box which provides current train running information
TOPS
Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom.
TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...
and is used to update the actual arrival and departure times of the trains at
Ledbury Station, this system helps other signal boxes regulate trains and feeds information to the passenger electronic information displays across the country.
Social Needs Facilities
Food preparation, cooking and refrigeration facilities are provided so that signallers can prepare drinks and food as one-man operation does not allow for official breaks to be taken at work. Some signal boxes also have little time available to prepare food due to the frequency of trains requiring both eating and toilet breaks to be time managed. Each signal box also contains a table and dining room style chair. Signallers can be found cooking porridge or bacon for breakfast and making stews, curry, or chilli for tea.
Signallers have also been known to bake cakes between trains.
Toilet facilities are also provided, but it is worth remembering that when many of these British lever frame signal boxes were built in the 1850-1910s, household toilets were considered too dirty to be inside a house and were located outside in an
outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used ...
, therefore Ledbury signal box was built with an outside toilet. This was replaced in the 1960s with an "inside toilet" being constructed on the balcony on the east side.
Moreton-in March and
Ascot-under-Wychwood signal boxes have a similar toilet but on a balcony next to the top of the entrance stairs, whilst Malvern and
Henwick Junction Worcester, just down the line, still retain an
outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure, separate from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used ...
. See news story - Signaller stuck in toilet
In addition the signal box staff have purchased their own lounge easy chair to provide a comfortable place to relax and read between trains. Historically signallers worked alone and did not get meal or toilet breaks, between trains signallers wash, shave, cook, eat, and keep the
signalbox
On a rail transport system, signalling control is the process by which control is exercised over train movements by way of railway signals and block systems to ensure that trains operate safely, over the correct route and to the proper timetabl ...
clean.
Frame Room
Entrance to the Frame Room is from a ground floor door located in the East face of the building. The Frame Room at Ledbury is unusual in that it is arranged on two levels. The ground floor is around 30 cm below ground with two steps at the door to walk down.
The north wall has some horizontal holes in it next to the track and at sleeper height, these are to enable iron rods that connect to the points and steel cables that connect to the signals to leave the box. The holes have soft plastic flaps in them to impede access to rats. All lever frame signal boxes have to have these openings and therefore all have visiting members of the rat and mouse population, who live in local drains and water courses. These are usually tolerated because there is little to damage and they very rarely climb up to the operating floor.
Inside there are two parallel
mezzanine floors running east to west, one along the north wall and a larger one along the south wall, both reached by two staircases, between each is the level frame itself.
The Lever Frame
The lever frame is a series of levers contained and interlocked in a frame. At Ledbury this frame is designed for 41 levers numbered 1 to 41. However, in 1948, following a modification to the track design at Ledbury station, an additional signal lever was added onto the outside of the left (west) end of the frame and, being next to and below number 1 lever, was numbered "0" (zero) - See
L0 below.
Levers work
points (aka switch) by means of lineside guided galvanised steel channel rodding and
signals
In signal processing, a signal is a function that conveys information about a phenomenon. Any quantity that can vary over space or time can be used as a signal to share messages between observers. The ''IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing'' ...
by means of solid or stranded steel wires and the frame itself is very complicated in that it employs a series of horizontal moving locking bars and tappets in order to interlock different levers making it impossible to, for instance, signal a train to run over a point set the wrong way.
In September 1911. the original 41 lever frame interlocking was converted from a GWR double twist to 3-bar vertical tappets (using horizontal trays). Later this lever frame was replaced by a British Rail type, manufactured at
Reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...
Signal Works.
Signals
L0 Up Main Distant Signal
![Signal Levers 0 & 1 at Ledbury Signal Box](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cf/Signal_Levers_0_%26_1_at_Ledbury_Signal_Box.JPG)
Trains from
Hereford passed a fixed
Distant signal
The application of railway signals on a rail layout is determined by various factors, principally the location of points of potential conflict, as well as the speed and frequency of trains and the movements they require to make.
Non-provisi ...
(a yellow, chevroned
semaphore) that was bolted, unable to move, to its signal post. This protected the junction from the branch from
Gloucester
Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...
,
Newent
Newent (; originally called "Noent") is a market town and civil parish about 10½ miles (17 km) north-west of Gloucester, England. Its population was 5,073 at the 2001 census, rising to 5,207 in 2011, The population was 6,777 at the 2021 Census. ...
and
Dymock
Dymock is a village and civil parish in the Forest of Dean district of Gloucestershire, England, about four miles south of Ledbury. In 2014 the parish had an estimated population of 1,205.
Dymock is the origin of the Dymock Red, a cider appl ...
as this informed drivers to always approach this junction at Ledbury cautiously. When this junction was removed from this track in 1948, this signal now needed to be capable of being operated from the signal box and a new signal and lever were fitted, and with no spare space on the frame, the new signal lever was bolted onto the outside of the frame, to the left of
L1 lever and given the designation "0". As the signal is a yellow distant signal, the operating lever is painted yellow. In 1956, a colour-light signal replaced the semaphore arm and this remains today.
See:
Distant signal
The application of railway signals on a rail layout is determined by various factors, principally the location of points of potential conflict, as well as the speed and frequency of trains and the movements they require to make.
Non-provisi ...
L1 Up Main Home Signal
The first red stop signal in the Up direction. Formerly a red semaphore signal, this is now (2013) a three-aspect colour light signal capable of showing Red, Yellow or Green. If all signals ahead in Ledbury (currently
L4 &
L5 are green then this signal will also display green, otherwise Yellow.
See:
Home signal
L2 Up Main Inner Home Signal
This signal used to protect the Newent branch junction but following track rationalisation in 1948 was no longer needed and removed.
L3 Up Branch Home Signal
This signal on the Newent branch used to protect the junction with the main line but following the closure of the branch in 1959 it was removed.
L4 Up Main Starting Signal
This signal, still a red
semaphore signal is located at the east end of the Up platform and protects the point and entrance to the single line inside the Ledbury tunnel. Previously there were several points just ahead of it which it also protected.
L5 Up Main Advanced Starting Signal
This signal protects the single line inside Ledbury tunnel. One could suggest that this signal is a duplicate of
L4 and could be removed, but there is a high cost of altering the control systems in line with its removal, and little problem with leaving it in use. This signal is also a still a red semaphore signal.
Down Signals
See also
*
Ledbury Railway Tunnel
*
Ledbury and Gloucester Railway
The Ledbury and Gloucester Railway (also known as the Daffodil Line), was a railway line in Herefordshire and Gloucestershire, England, running between Ledbury and Gloucester. It opened in 1885 and closed in 1964.
History
Most of the line was ...
*
Hereford Road Skew Bridge at Ledbury
*
The Signal-Man
"The Signal-Man" is a first-person horror/mystery story by Charles Dickens, first published as part of the ''Mugby Junction'' collection in the 1866 Christmas edition of '' All the Year Round''.
The railway signal-man of the title tells the na ...
, a short story written by
Charles Dickens
Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English writer and social critic. He created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded by many as the greatest novelist of the Victorian e ...
in 1866.
*
Ledbury Market Town, Herefordshire, England
References
External links
Ledbury Station Heritage Website signal box pageInformation of signalling.
{{coord, 52.045, -2.425, type:railwaystation_region:GB-HEF, display=title
Signal boxes in the United Kingdom
Rail transport in Herefordshire
Buildings and structures in Herefordshire
Ledbury