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Tuesday 28 Oct 2025

Sign of the times for Prince of Wales Colliery group

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Eastern

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A piece of railway heritage has been presented by Network Rail to a coal mining heritage group.

The sign from outside the Prince of Wales Colliery signal box in Pontefract was donated to the Prince of Wales Colliery Memorial Group.

It had been kept in storage since the box was demolished in 2024, when the level crossing was upgraded to one with automated technology.

Memorial group member Garry Foreman, who worked at the pit for over 30 years approached Network Rail to ask about the sign’s fate. The group feared it might end up in a skip – and wanted to add it to their growing collection of historical memorabilia from the area.

The sign in its original position on the signal box beside the pit

The “Ponty Prince” pit operated for more than 130 years and produced 1.5 million tonnes of coal a year until its 2002 closure over geological issues.

Garry said:

“It was brilliant to be presented with the signal box sign by Network Rail. I was in the middle of doing my shopping when I got the call to say we could have it!

“It’s important that we preserve items like this. It’s the same reason why we campaigned for 20 years to get our mining memorial, and why we have a pit reunion every year.

“We’ve been speaking to an engineering firm and we’re going to get the missing letters on the sign replaced. We’re still discussing where the sign will eventually end up, but it was so important to us that it didn’t end up in a skip!”

Darren Roberston-Wilson received the request when he worked in Network Rail’s community relations department – and got to work tracking down the sign. He’s now a level crossing manager, whose patch coincidentally includes the Prince of Wales level crossing.

Darren said:

“I had to figure out where the sign was being kept and then make sure we were allowed to release it. When I called Garry to give him the good news, I could tell he was really, really made up about it.

“It’s wonderful that Garry and his group have been presented with the sign and that they’re able to keep preserving the heritage of the pit and the area. It’s also funny how I got the ball rolling on this in my old job and now the Prince of Wales crossing is one that I’m responsible for managing!”