Poulton Signal Box

[whole diary]

[grahame]

From The Blackpool Gazette

Network Rail says it has no option but to demolish an historic Poulton building. The company fears the box, which is a landmark on the Blackpool to Preston line,would become a target for vandals.The building is inside the town’s conservation zone but has not been included in a list of signal boxes nationwide which should be protected.

The article goes on to quote Network Rail's justification, but I can't help wondering if their solution to individual vandalism couldn't be described as planned corporate vandalism?

[Rhydgaled]

I can't help wondering if their solution to individual vandalism couldn't be described as planned corporate vandalism?

I agree; I myself have described what was done to Fishguard & Goodwick station* as vandalism. Fishguard & Goodwick was also not listed but within a conservation area (in fact, the station is the only space on that side of the railway that is within the conservation area boundary, which suggests its inclusion was a very deliberate effort to safeguard the station).

* they demolished the station building and put back what I can only describe as 'a very poor copy' using incorrect and inappropriate materials with the end result looking very different from the original and lacking the character of the original. Certain features of the original building (eg. the chimney which unlike some of the walls probably didn't need demolishing) were also missing from the replacement building.

[grahame]

Another one bites the dust ...

From Nottingham Local News

Rushcliffe Borough Council have given Network Rail permission to demolish the signal box adjacent to the Chapel Lane level crossing in Bingham.

The signal box opened in 1875 and is located on the line between Nottingham and Skegness.

The building has much historical interest with some stunning features, but it is not a listed building.

It is no longer operational as the line has been re-signaled and is controlled from a main centre in Derby.

Network Rail say the signal box “has no purpose, becoming a maintenance liability”.

The application stated: “The site will be left open and the vegetation will be allowed to re-generate naturally.

“The site will be fenced off to prevent trespass.”

The council say demolition must begin within three years and prior to the work starting, an impact assessment on the local area must be undertaken.

A very real problem indeed .. what to do with redundant but iconic infrastructure.   Poulton, Bingham, Dawlish and many many many more ...

[SandTEngineer]

Well you can't preserve every redundant building in aspic.  There are pleanty of good examples that have been though, that will preserve the past for future generations.  Signalboxes seem to be one of the less obvious examples though.

I did like this bit in the report:

The application stated: “The site will be left open and the vegetation will be allowed to re-generate naturally.

I thought NR^» (Network Rail - home page) adopted that policy everywhere considering the state they have allowed the rail infrastructure to get into

[martyjon]

I thought NR^» (Network Rail - home page) adopted that policy everywhere considering the state they have allowed the rail infrastructure to get into

NR are not the only body to lack care of their infrastructure, The Highways Agency need to consider their policy too, anyone reading this note the state of the M32 when, next travelling into Bristol on this highway, the adorning buddleia and other vegetation flourishing on the Muller Road flyover and onto the end of the M32 at Cabot Circus. Probably nothing will get done until the concrete on this road starts crumbling and cracking like the structures of the infamous spaghetti junction in the Birmingham area did a few years ago. 

[Red Squirrel]

I thought NR^» (Network Rail - home page) adopted that policy everywhere considering the state they have allowed the rail infrastructure to get into

NR are not the only body to lack care of their infrastructure, The Highways Agency need to consider their policy too, anyone reading this note the state of the M32 when, next travelling into Bristol on this highway, the adorning buddleia and other vegetation flourishing on the Muller Road flyover and onto the end of the M32 at Cabot Circus. Probably nothing will get done until the concrete on this road starts crumbling and cracking like the structures of the infamous spaghetti junction in the Birmingham area did a few years ago. 

This is a problem for state-owned infrastructure - maintenance is unglamorous, and doesn't win votes. You can save a lot of taxpayers' money by not maintaining things, and then when they become unsafe through lack of maintenance you can spend 5 times what you just saved building a new one. Even better, that leads to an opportunity for the irrelevant senior politician to boost their profile by putting on a ridiculously-clean hard hat and cutting a ribbon...