GWR Route: Alcester to Hatton Junction

GWR Route: North Warwickshire Line

Bearley Junction: gwrbj790a

Close up of image 'gwr790' showing the watering arrangement from the aqueduct with fire-devil sited below the valve, to prevent the water freezing. The branch stop signal was mounted on a concrete post, thought to have been installed prior to the reopening of the branch in 1922. Several other signals on the Alcester Branch are of a similar design.

Railway companies experimented with prefabricated concrete and steel lattice signal posts at this time because of the lack of suitable imported Baltic timber during WW1 and immediately after. Although wooden posts were reintroduced, the high price and inconsistent quality resulted in trials of tubular steel signal posts in 1929 and five years later tubular steel had become the official replacement for wood.

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