Media centre

Thursday 12 Sep 2024

From Kent to Cornwall: Wye’s old signal box gets the green light for a new lease of life

Region & Route:

Southern

| Southern: Kent

• Historic signal box makes the 330-mile journey from Wye station in Kent to Prospidnick in Cornwall
• Upcycling project gives otherwise redundant structure a new lease of life on heritage railway
• Project to carefully remove delicate structure enabled by ex-offenders involved in the ‘Brighter Futures in Rail’ project

An historic railway signalbox that is over 130 years old has made a journey of over 300 miles from Kent to Cornwall so that it can be rebuilt and restored as part of a thriving heritage railway.

Network Rail has gifted the signal box, previously located at Wye station in Kent, to the Helston Railway, having enabled its transfer to Prospidnick in June this year.

The signal box was due to be demolished, but through months of negotiations by one of the Helston Railway’s volunteers, Network Rail agreed to use their budget for demolishing the signal box towards its dismantling instead.

Helston Railway also received a significant grant from the Railway Heritage Trust to support the dismantling, relocation and rebuilding of the structure. The grant was supplemented by the Helston Railway.

Some 25 people were involved in the delicate operation to dismantle and remove the signal box, including many ex-offenders involved in the Brighter Futures in Rail project, who worked very well together as a strong team on what turned out to be a very hot day in June.

Terry Denyer, Regional Asset Manager for Buildings at Network Rail, said: “We were only too pleased to be able to support the Helston Railway when it became obvious that they could make better use of an otherwise redundant signal box on our network that would otherwise have been demolished.

“Our specialist contractor, Brighters, achieved the almost impossible in bringing out the historic roof structure in just two pieces, and the main structural floor section in one piece – which is quite an achievement for a structure of that age. They have really gone above and beyond for them to make this a success and have offered to go down and help Helston Railway signal box when they’re ready to do so.”

Colin Savage, Chairman, Helston Railway, said: “The intention is to site the signal box at Prospidnick using as many of the original materials as possible. The structure has received little investment over the past 30 years as it was no longer needed for the modern railway, so we expect the wooden upper structure will require some significant attention.

“We’re excited not only to give our volunteers the opportunity to assist with the rebuilding of this signal box but also to have a new addition to our railway”.

Tim Hedley-Jones, Director of the Railway Heritage Trust, said: “We are pleased to be supporting the Helston Railway with the re-location of this historic signal box. Rebuilding it on a heritage railway will allow it to be better appreciated by more people”.

The contractor that dismantled the signal box, Brighters, has also provided Helston Railway with replacement windows and cladding, which exactly match the existing due to them being too rotten to salvage.

Work will begin on the rebuilding of the signal box in the coming months, with the ambition to complete it in 2025.