Difference between revisions of "Bewdley North signal box"

Diagram

Signalling diagram as shown on the svrsig website. There are a few inaccuracies: The banner repeater on the footbridge for 29 signal was removed some years ago. Ground signals 25 and 27 are actually miniature semaphore arms.

The layout at Bewdley North has been extensively altered in preservation to better suit modern needs and account for the loss of the Tenbury Line. A diagram of Bewdley North at 1956 may be seen here: [1]

History before preservation

Construction of the two signal boxes at Bewdley was authorised by the GWRGreat Western Railway Board in October 1877 as part of the opening of the Kidderminster Loop line. They were the first 'proper' signal boxes on the Severn Valley Railway, all other boxes dating from after 1880^[1]. There is uncertainty as to whether the current Bewdley North and Bewdley South are these original 1877/78 built boxes, or marginally later replacements.

Bewdley North has a 37 lever GWRGreat Western Railway 3-bar horizontal tappet frame with 5" centres between the levers, meaning the frame is noticeably longer than that at Bewdley South despite having only three more levers. With the exception of the distant levers, which are painted yellow in accordance with practice since the late 1920s, the levers are painted in line with GWRGreat Western Railway instructions from the Edwardian period, with goods line signals having a central black stripe on otherwise red levers, and the Back Road signal levers being painted to indicate relief lines, with half black/half red levers.

The signal box is the only place in the world still utilising 'pegging' (i.e. capable of giving a line clear to the box in rear) GWRGreat Western Railway Spagnoletti block instruments on the standard gauge. The Back Road instrument is a non-pegger over pegger double deck instrument, whilst the UpIn reference to the direction of travel means towards the major terminus (i.e. towards Kidderminster on the present day SVR) and DownIn reference to the direction of travel means away from the major terminus (i.e. towards Bridgnorth on the present day SVR) Main instruments are single deck separate pegger and non-peggers, originating from Marshbrook Signal Box on the Shrewsbury - Hereford line.

The Bewdley North box was raised bodily by around a foot in 1954 to allow greater space beneath the lever frame^[2].

References

1. ↑ Marshall (1989), p128
2. ↑ Marshall (1989), p135

See Also

• List of signal boxes