NEW 'VICTORIAN' SIGNAL BOX RAPIDLY TAKES SHAPE AT CORFE CASTLE - 29th June 2008

Photo Report from Andrew P.M. Wright - dated 29th June 2008
Official photographer & press officer, Swanage Railway.
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The Swanage Railway team hard at work at Corfe Castle are, from left, Roger Stewart-Hindley, John Drew, Barry Brickell and Pete Frost.

By Andrew P.M. Wright

The clock is being turned back to 1884 on the Swanage Railway with the new Victorian-style signal box on the 'down' platform at Corfe Castle station rapidly taking shape.

The pioneer and forward-looking spirit of the Swanage Railway is summed up by the determined team of volunteers that is enabling the new £40,000 structure to rise out of the ground.

But, your financial help is still needed to make sure that the exciting project to give Corfe Castle station back its charming and original 1884 signal box is fully completed - hopefully by 2012.

It's likely that the new signal box will take three years to complete because once the building work is done, the structure has to be fitted out with the new lever frame and other signalling equipment before it is all connected to the track points and signals.

The Swanage Railway team hard at work on the new Corfe Castle signal box

The building project is being funded by the Swanage Railway's 200 Club which is celebrating its 30th year.

Previously, during the late 1990s and the early years of the new Millennium, the Club financed the impressive new signal box at Swanage station which was officially opened in 2003 and is a national award winner.

More recently, the 200 Club also funded the impressive Victorian footbridge project at Corfe Castle station which has also won a national award.

The Swanage Railway team hard at work on the new Corfe Castle signal box

The new signal box is being built on the site of the original - next to the wooden waiting shelter on the 'down' platform at Corfe Castle - and it is hoped that the basic structure could be complete by the end of this year.

With panel board sides and a clay tile roof, it will be the same height and depth as the original but it will be a third wider along its front platform face to accommodate the new frame and the number of extra levers needed.

The plan for the new Corfe Castle signal box

Currently, the signals and points at Corfe Castle station are controlled from the flat roofed signal box on the 'up' platform which was created out of an extended porters' lobby next to the gentlemen's toilets in 1956 and lasted until the end of the Swanage branch line in January, 1972.

It was in this signal box that the likes of Arthur Galton, Jimmy Hunt and Bob Inman worked during the 1950s and 1960s when they were not on duty in Swanage signal box.

And it was in the current signal box at Corfe Castle that the station's last British Rail signalman - Bob Richards who still lives in Corfe Castle - signalled the last ever passenger train from Swanage to Wareham on the evening of New Year's Day, 1st January, 1972.

After giving the closing bells to Worgret Junction signal box at 10pm that evening, Bob - who grew up in Corfe Castle station, and started as a porter at the station as a 16 year old in April, 1962 - Bob locked the signal box for the very last time.

Historic photos from the Andrew P.M.Wright Collection - Corfe Castle signal box 1940s Lens of Sutton and Corfe Castle signal box summer 1949 Joe Moss & Roger Carpenter

Corfe Castle's original wooden signal box on the 'down' platform was built in 1884, it opened with the line on 20th May, 1885, and it survived two world wars.

Perched on the side of the railway embankment next to the wooden waiting shelter - also built in 1884 - the wooden signal box was built in the same style of the waiting shelter. Like the waiting shelter, the signal box was built on a low brick base.

But, the signal box was closed and demolished in June, 1956, because of subsidence and the fact that it was rotting away. But don't worry, its replacement has strong re-enforced concrete foundations so it won't go the way of its predecessor.

At one stage between the first and second world wars, the wooden steps up to the signal box had to be reinforced with a timber buttress.

Historic photos from the Andrew P.M.Wright Collection - Corfe Castle signal box summer 1949 Joe Moss & Roger Carpenter and Corfe Castle signal box 4 June 1956 by George Moon

When built in 1884, the signal box had windows across the entire front face of the lever frame cabin as well as the sides.

But, early on in its history, those windows were replaced with wooden panel boarding in the same style as the rest of the building and only a line of small windows was kept at the top - just under the eaves of the clay tiled roof.

It was rumoured that this change was made because of complaints from a station master that the signalman could look straight into his bedroom window in the station master's house opposite and watch his wife undressing for bed!

Historic photos from the Andrew P.M.Wright Collection -Corfe Castle signal box 1950 R.K. Blencowe collection and Corfe Castle signal box SR days from John Scott-Morgan collection

When complete, the new signal box will have fine views of the goods yard and Corfe Castle common to the south as well as a view to die for of trains running into the station past the magnificent castle ruins from the cutting through the Purbeck Hills.

The front of the signal box will have windows across its entire front, as in 1884, because there is no longer an undressing station master's wife in the station master's house opposite to worry about!

The Swanage Railway's 200 Club currently has 524 members - its treasurer and founder being Peter Ashton who has been a Swanage Railway volunteer since the very beginning of the project in the mid-1970s and still lives in Swanage. Peter is assisted by 200 Club secretary David Saunders of Wimborne in Dorset.

The drive is now on to increase the number of members to 650 with the annual subscription being £15 a year - that's just £1.25 a month.

And don't forget, you can take out as many subscriptions as you like and you could also win several cash prizes throughout the year thanks to the 200 Club's exciting draws.

It is likely that the signal box on the 'up' platform at Corfe Castle will be converted into a signalling museum when the new signal box on the 'down' platform is commissioned and brought into use - hopefully during 2012, which is Britain's Olympic year.

You can visit the 200 Club's website at http://www.davidfsaunders.org.uk/railway/ by clicking here. Treasurer David Saunders can also be contacted by email - railway@davidfsaunders.org.uk - by phone on 01202 882022 or by post via the Swanage station address below. David looks forward to hearing from you.

As well as joining the 200 Club - or increasing existing subscriptions to the Club - one-off donations can also be made to the Swanage Railway Trust. Marked 'Corfe Castle signal box appeal' for the attention of Pete Ashton, they should be sent to Swanage Railway, Station House, Station Approach, Swanage, Dorset BH19 1HB.

To see the full set of photos, please scroll down to the bottom of the page.