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Tuesday 4 May 2004

NETWORK RAIL SIGNALS FINAL CURTAIN AT FENNY COMPTON

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It was a special occasion to mark the end of 40 years of signalling history. At 23.40 on Friday 30 April, Steve Derrick, General Manager for Network Rail, West Midlands, Virgin Trains Chief Executive, Chris Green and Acting Signaller Manager, Mark Bennett, pulled the lever to signal the final train past Fenny Compton signal box between Banbury and Leamington Spa. The Fenny Compton signal box has closed as a result of Network Rail’s modernisation of 20 miles of railway between Leamington Spa and Banbury, as part of the £35m Cherwell Valley resignalling scheme. The scheme has been jointly funded by the Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) and Network Rail and was commissioned on Tuesday 4 May. Phase One of the scheme involved the resignalling of the line between Banbury and Leamington Spa, including new crossovers and extended loops at Fenny Compton and an emergency crossover at Leamington Spa. Control has now transferred to Leamington Spa signal box, using a VDU (Westcad System) and the box at Fenny Compton is now redundant. The new scheme now permits a train to pass every three minutes, compared to every seven minutes previously. Steve Derrick said “We are delighted to be able to mark the closing of the Fenny Compton signal box in this special way. The Cherwell Valley Resignalling Scheme will bring much needed capacity and performance benefits to this increasingly important rail corridor, which I’m sure will be welcomed by all train operators and rail travellers on this route.” -more- Fenny - 2 Closure of the box brought back fond memories for Chris Green, who began his railway career at Banbury in 1965. He said “My first duty on the railway was to get the drinking water from Banbury Station to the Fenny Compton signalman. My Station Master used to comfort me with the promise that my Aquarian duties would very soon be over as plans were afoot to close the box. True to his word, it has now closed - 39 years later – having survived my entire railway career!” The scheme was commissioned at 03.09 on Tuesday 4 May 2004.