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GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Widney Manor Station: gwrwm1937

A low resolution version of the Signalling Diagram for Widney Manor Signal Box produced courtesy of the Signalling Record Society

A low resolution version of the Signalling Diagram for Widney Manor Signal Box produced courtesy of the Signalling Record Society (S.R.S.). Details of how to purchase their full resolution content is available here.

Widney Manor Signal Box opened in 1898, with the order (No 185) for a cast iron nameplate placed on 15th September 1897. This nameplate order had excluded the word ‘MANOR’ so was subsequently cancelled and replaced with another order (No 206) on 26th April 1899, which included the full wording. The Signal Box was built to the recently introduced standard Great Western Railway brick design with a hipped roof (type 7A). The operating floor was 25 feet long and 12 feet wide with the characteristic three up two down window panes. The signal box initially housed a twenty-seven lever frame, but this was extended to a forty-four lever vertical tappet frame, when the lines were quadrupled in 1933. There were six spare levers. The table below gives the opening hours for Widney Manor Signal Box for a selection of years:

Service Time Table Signal Box Opened Signal Box Closed
  Weekdays including Saturdays Sundays
Summer 1904 7:00 a.m. 11:00 p.m. Closed
Winter 1906 7:00 a.m. 11:00 p.m. Closed
Summer 1916 7:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m. Closed
Summer 1929 6:45 a.m. 8:45 p.m Closed
Winter 1930 6:45 a.m. 8:45 p.m. Closed
Summer 1938 6:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m. Closed
Summer 1939 6:00 a.m. 10:00 p.m. Closed
Winter 1945 6:00 a.m 10:00 p.m. Closed

The Signal Box here controlled the block sections on the main double line and from November 1932 the additional down goods line which ran parallel to the main lines. Once the line had been quadrupled in May 1933, the Signal Box controlled the block sections on both the main and relief double lines. The Signalman sent messages to the preceding Signal Box to give permission for trains to enter the block section on their line and used signals to indicate to train drivers when they were allowed to proceed. Distant Signals, distinguished by their forked tails and yellow colour (post September 1927) gave train drivers advance warning of the status of the next ‘Stop’ Signal.

The Signal Box also controlled train movements associated with the station yard and sidings. The Signalman could set a route with the point switch levers. These were interlocked with various types of signals (including ground signals), operation of which informed the locomotive driver of the selected route and when to proceed. This interlocking with signals ensured that these indicated to other trains, when they could no longer proceed safely and had to stop.

Visibility was important in the days before track circuits and the Signal Box was positioned where it could oversee the most complex trackwork.

In April 1953 the following instructions had appeared in the local Sectional Appendix regarding the goods shed road:

  • The points leading from the shed to the Up Refuge Siding at the South end of the sidings are locked by padlock, and when not in use, must be set for the Refuge Siding.
  • The key of the padlock is kept in the Signal Box, and when required for use, the man in charge of the shunting will be responsible for obtaining it from the Signalman. On completion of the work the man in charge of shunting must see that the points are locked in normal position, and return the key of the padlock to the Signalman.
  • The times at which the key is taken from and returned to the Signal Box must be entered in the Train Register by the Signalman and the entries initialled by the Signalman and the man taking and returning the key.

Widney Manor Signal Box closed on 26th April 1959 with control of the main and relief line block sections being passed to the adjacent Signal Boxes. At the same time a ground frame was installed to provide control of the refuge siding and goods yard points, but once these facilities had been removed, the ground frame was taken out of use on 10th November 1963.

Robert Ferris

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