Bewdley North signal box
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A signal box at Bewdley, working to Bewdley South, Arley and Highley. Bewdley North signal box has interesting arrangements in that it works to Bewdley South by Absolute Block on the main line (platforms 1 & 2), by direction levers under ETT Regulations on the Back Road (platform 3) with the Rock Siding and DownIn reference to the direction of travel means away from the major terminus (i.e. towards Bridgnorth on the present day SVR) Yard operated as through sidings.
Operation to Arley (short section) or Highley (long section) is carried out under ETTElectric Train Token Regulations.
All signals controlled by Bewdley North are of late GWRGreat Western Railway/BRBritish Rail or British Railways(W) steel tubular post design with enamel arms. Signals 29, 31 and 33 are of unusual centre pivot design, used where a conventional design signal's sighting may be compromised. These have wooden arms, although they are otherwise of the late GWRGreat Western Railway/BRBritish Rail or British Railways(W) steel tubular post design. Signals 30, 31, 33, 35 and 36 are pre-preservation, although originally signal 30 had a sister arm on its bracket, the place for which can still be seen. Signals 25 and 27 are rare early 20th century GWRGreat Western Railway miniature arm signals that evolved into the more familiar disc. These followed the signals that swivelled 90 degrees on a vertical access giving a simple red or green plate and lamp indication. These were usually worked in tandem with the point rather than independently by a separate lever.
Diagram
Signalling diagram as shown on the svrsig website. There are a few inaccuracies: The banner repeater on the footbridge for 29 signal was removed some years ago. Ground signals 25 and 27 are actually miniature semaphore arms.
The layout at Bewdley North has been extensively altered in preservation to better suit modern needs and account for the loss of the Tenbury Line. A diagram of Bewdley North at 1956 may be seen here: svrsig.org
History before preservation
Construction of the two signal boxes at Bewdley was authorised by the GWRGreat Western Railway Board in October 1877 as part of the opening of the Kidderminster Loop line. They were the first 'proper' signal boxes on the Severn Valley Railway, all other boxes dating from after 1880[1]. There is uncertainty as to whether the current Bewdley North and Bewdley South are these original 1877/78 built boxes, or marginally later replacements.
Bewdley North has a 37 lever GWRGreat Western Railway 3-bar horizontal tappet frame with 5" centres between the levers, meaning the frame is noticeably longer than that at Bewdley South despite having only three more levers. With the exception of the distant levers, which are painted yellow in accordance with practice since the late 1920s, the levers are painted in line with GWRGreat Western Railway instructions from the Edwardian period, with goods line signals having a central black stripe on otherwise red levers, and the Back Road signal levers being painted to indicate relief lines, with half black/half red levers.
The signal box is the only place in the world still utilising 'pegging' (i.e. capable of giving a line clear to the box in rear) GWRGreat Western Railway Spagnoletti block instruments on the standard gauge. The Back Road instrument is a non-pegger over pegger double deck instrument, whilst the UpIn reference to the direction of travel means towards the major terminus (i.e. towards Kidderminster on the present day SVR) and DownIn reference to the direction of travel means away from the major terminus (i.e. towards Bridgnorth on the present day SVR) Main instruments are single deck separate pegger and non-peggers, originating from Marshbrook Signal Box on the Shrewsbury - Hereford line.
The Bewdley North box was raised bodily by around a foot in 1954 to allow greater space beneath the lever frame[2].
References
- ↑ Marshall (1989), p128
- ↑ Marshall (1989), p135
