Wokingham station - improvements, resignalling and siding - merged posts

[whole diary]

[stuving]

Wokingham had the only mechanical signal box for miles around, which is now disused. And if you were wondering what was planned for it, this is the answer (text from the letter of notification):

Notice of intention to demolish redundant railway signal box located to the south side of Barkham Road, Wokingham, Berkshire (X:480601 Y:168594) known as ‘Wokingham Signal Box’, as well as the operational equipment building situated behind (X:480605 Y:168581).

As set out above, I am writing to notify you of Network Rail Infrastructure Limited’s (Network Rail) intention to undertake works to demolish a redundant signal box at the above location. The adjacent operational equipment building will also be removed as part of the demolition works and the area of ground will be cleared and made safe afterwards. Both buildings are shown edged in red on the photograph included in Figure 1 below.

The signal box and adjacent building are situated alongside the railway line and south-west of the Level Crossing on Barkham Road, as denoted with a red outline on the Site Location Plan enclosed within this letter. The demolition is required as both buildings area now redundant as they are no longer operational following the conclusion of the Feltham re-signalling programme.

The footbridge immediately south of Wokingham Station, on the opposite side of the Level Crossing and Barkham Road, is Grade II^▸ (IndustryInsider - a respected member of this forum) listed, however the signal box and adjacent building do not fall within its curtilage. The site is also not located within a Conservation Area.....

They do not actually say why they need to remove it. I presume it's just that any disused building incurs maintenance and security charges, as well as a risk of liability for injury to intruders, so they routinely plan for removal. If someone comes up with a compelling reason for retention, then maybe ...

Incidentally, since when were OS^▸ (Ordnance Survey) grid coordinates called X and Y?

[stuving]

I've just had a "dear neighbour" letter from Network Rail pushed through the door, about work at the level crossing at the end of May. It promises somewhat noisy work "which forms part of the close-out works for the Feltham Resignalling Programme". The activities listed include "machinery to demolish building" and "machinery to remove debris", which sounds like the removal of the signal box.

It's hard not to feel sorry for the poor little thing, sitting there doing no-one any harm. But if you make NR^» (Network Rail - home page) responsible for it, costing them money, and it has no identifiable value to them or anyone else, I guess this is the inevitable result.

[Mark A]

That put me in mind of what might have been a previous Feltham resignalling programme. I never noticed the box at Teddington, but, crossing the footbridge on the Kingston end of the station, the sight and sound of the pair, home and distant signal arms, fairly close to the bridge, implied its existence, and there was also the signalbox for the keeper who operated the crossing gates for Bushy Park Road some way towards Hampton Hill - for good measure, there were gasholders close at hand there too. Think it was 1973 that all the signalling in the area was replaced with the colour light variety, the crossing replaced by a footbridge, and later the gasholders went, the site eventually used for a care home and slightly gasholder-shaped blocks of flats.

Mark

[Witham Bobby]

That put me in mind of what might have been a previous Feltham resignalling programme. I never noticed the box at Teddington, but, crossing the footbridge on the Kingston end of the station, the sight and sound of the pair, home and distant signal arms, fairly close to the bridge, implied its existence, and there was also the signalbox for the keeper who operated the crossing gates for Bushy Park Road some way towards Hampton Hill - for good measure, there were gasholders close at hand there too. Think it was 1973 that all the signalling in the area was replaced with the colour light variety, the crossing replaced by a footbridge, and later the gasholders went, the site eventually used for a care home and slightly gasholder-shaped blocks of flats.

Mark

Famously, the signalbox and level crossing that features in the 1963 Ealing film "The Wrong Arm of the Law" was at Fairfax Road, Teddington.  Is that the one you mean?  Closed in 1973

[Mark A]

Yes - the site of the crossing actually in nearby Bushy Park Road, how it's been misnamed is lost in the mists etc etc.

Mark

[Mark A]

A still from the film, showing the crossing, here:

https://railwaymoviedatabase.com/the-wrong-arm-of-the-law/

Mark

[Mark A]

Ah, and several more stills showing the crossing (as well as many more featuring suburban street scenes from the early 1960s) here:

https://www.reelstreets.com/films/wrong-arm-of-the-law-the/

Mark

[stuving]

I just got back from a shopping trip, and I found another missive from NR^» (Network Rail - home page) in the door. It's essentially the same as the first, but with a different background/frame and header "metadata". Both are from Basingstoke Campus, and both sign off as from Community Relations. The second adds Wessex Route to that, and in the heading it says "Ref: ELR^▸ (East Lancashire Railway, or Engineers Line Reference, depending on context): RDG2 62, 02ch / MW/OCT-Wokingham Signal Box". The first is vaguer about it origin, and it is headed "Ref No: RDG_62.0002_STN_WSX_22412 / 20/5/2026 1:00:00 am". Both in the footer invite you to sign up for information about future works, but for services with different names and URLs!

Doesn't that look like a case of the left hand not knowing what the next finger on the same hand is doing? And maybe it's a reminder that just being part of the same legal entity does not guarantee good communications within an organisation. I wonder if we will see more or less of this kind of thing as GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) coagulates.

[bobm]

Or a second gang turn up intent on demolishing the box and find a pile of rubble.   

[Chris from Nailsea]

Some previous posts on this topic, which refer specifically to the reading of Ordnance Survey maps generally, have been split off and put into their own new topic in "introductions and chat', at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32063.0

[bobm]

Some photos from yesterday for the record.

[Image from here is not available to guests]

[Image from here is not available to guests]

[Image from here is not available to guests]

[stuving]

I did wonder whether bobm tried to coincide with 701006 on its daily visit. If you stand on the footbridge to get a clear view of the box, you see hardly any of the livery, just the end of the train which is almost a livery-free zone. From the ground you end up peering through a thicket of streetware. But you can still see one small step of premature "demolition" - someone has made off with the name sign of the front. Not NR^» (Network Rail - home page), I suspect.

Incidentally, I'm assuming the scruffy shack (or relay room) behind the box will be going as well. It would be a shame to lose a decent bit of railway vernacular and leave that prominently on view.

[bobm]

I didn’t.  However I did see it cross the river bridge at Staines last Friday but I had a pint in one hand and a handbag in the other at the time. (Don’t ask).

[stuving]

The crew turned up long before the trains stopped last night and started being noisy. The demolition of the structure didn't start until this morning, so I wonder what was going on last night. Clearly they were putting down timber baulks over the tracks for the big mincing machines to clatter about on, hence the fleet of Collard's spoil tippers rather than a train. I'm sure I heard the characteristic sound of scaffolding - an impact driver coupled to a very long orchestral chime - of which there is no sign.

I didn't quite match the view from last time, since thew sun stopped me seeing the viewfinder, but it's close. The relay shed has indeed been flattened. But did no-one want the lever frame, or does NR^» (Network Rail - home page) just make it too difficult to arrange to recover it? Of course recovering the interlocking frame (assuming it has one) would be the real challenge.

[Mark A]

Always something disturbing about signal box demolition photos, but thanks for these.

Images of the before times, showing the interior, here:

Mark

https://www.branchline.uk/fixture-report.php?id=1490

[Edit] ... but is that the same box? Just counting the levers...