A Night in West Box (Exeter West Signal Box)
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- Опубліковано 26 тра 2022
- Filmed and edited by one of our members, this video presents you with 95 minutes of signalling action inside the preserved Exeter West Signal box. This footage was filmed during the early hours one May morning in 2022, around 02:00 BST. Engine and Train recordings have been edited into the footage to enhance the viewer experience. The busiest period of the video is between: 1:00:00 - 1:23:00.
NOTE: No "Booking Lad" was available for the filming, so the signalman can be seen to forget to "peg out" for an engine or two; where he would have otherwise been reminded.
I had forgotten just how quiet it is in a Signal Box at night when you're on your own and there are no trains around. Thank you for bringing the memory back. Andrew.
Absolutely brilliant. Thats how the signaller should be dressed for their shifts. I was taking line blocks between northorpe and kirton lime sidings other week and the signaller a mr keogh was dressed very smart in his shirt, trousers, waistcoat and tie. He's originally from Exeter i believe and it was a privilege for him to let me sit inside the box with himself and talk about an array of things, both railway and others.
Thank you. Have you taken a look at our other videos?
@exeterwestgroup6466 I'll be watching them all pal, especially when we are waiting for the possessions on midweek nights and weekends. I've subscribed aswell brother 👌👍
@@philipatkinson7039 we hope you enjoy them all.
Always will miss those times when these boxes were in their heydays of operations all over the world. Something we grew up with almost never seen in most places.
Fascinating to watch this. My great grandfather was a signalman at St Albans, around the 1930s/40s; and I think prior to that at Leighton Buzzard. I imagine his work very similar to this.
Have you visited the signal box at St Albans, it’s lovely
Those sounds are excellent they really add something! Love it!
Brings back happy memories working Lever boxes myself!
Great video Will, like the uniform too you look very smart - a true GWR signalman.
Thankyou.
hear hear
My Father was a signalman at Browney Co Durham main line to London, I visited once aged 15 and he let me have a go at pulling the distant signal off, a mile of cable to raise the signal
it was impossible, He then got his duster in his hand and threw the lever back and Bingo locked amazing strength needed to pull those levers
Brilliant! what a great resource for a model railway.. Thank you
Spent some nights in the boxes on the southern region . With signalmans permission , and the atmosphere in those boxes at night was thought provoking . Cost me a kebab the next time though .😁
Very handy for letting machinery and trains into and out of possession .
This is awesome
Gotta love Exeter west
Thanks, why not pop down for a visit?
@@exeterwestgroup6466 I was so close one time, but it was closed!
@@exeterwestgroup6466 I was devestated when Taunton West Station box was bulldozed to the ground absolutely heart wrenching as you must have thoughts when the same happened to Exeter West box. Taunton West was of brick construction. Was that the case with Exet
er West?
@@beckyhales1619 Exeter West signal box, upon closure in 1984, was dismantled by the Exeter West Group and moved “off-site” ready for rebuilding as a museum.
Good evening, I would kindly like to know the meaning of the white cusp band present on some levers. Thanks again for your availability and collaboration
This indicates that the lever is electrically locked and is released by another signal box, often “Line Clear” being shown in the block instrument.
Good yes 👍
I worked in a small signal box (13 levers ) in Australia in the 80s. Fond memories. Double line block one side, staff & ticket the other😅.
Staff and ticket is interesting enough in itself.
@@exeterwestgroup6466 Now retired but when I look back the staff in the railways helped you stay out of trouble, studied Nursing and its the opposite.
@@perpetualgrin5804 the railway’s always been a family
Lookout lookout below there😮
I've lived in Exeter all my life, and somehow I haven't come across this box before! Really great to see something like this preserved. Although I have to ask, where is it actually located?
Crewe Heritage Centre
Why don't they want to touch the levers? Always have towel in hand.
Firstly it stops the lever tops from rusting from the natural oils and sweat on your hands. Secondly it prevents you getting sores on your hands from touching really cold metal and prevents your hands from sticking making the lever movements smooth and elegant.
@@exeterwestgroup6466 can you not wear gloves?
@@dyztructive you can but they are inconvenient when having to use the telephone, write in the register book and during warmer weather.
At 24:50 we hear call attention for a straight 3 code? What is that? As a booking lad and then a signalman I never sent or received that bell code. 😕😕
Its a Freight, mineral, or ballast train stopping at intermediate stations(“H”Headcode)
Maybe Taunton West Station (136 levers) and Stonehouse Bristol Road (34 levers) never had freight/mineral trains calling at intermediate station thus no recollection of the 3-bell code. I certainly remember 5 for express freight, 1-4 I believe for partially fitted freight, 1-3-1 for parcels trains etc. Love the video as it brings back memories of my night shifts as a booking boy from 1965. Very few trains but was always kept busy polishing the lino floor, black leading the frame (black stuff up my nose) and burnishing the levers not to mention using newspapers and water to clean the windows. Happy days never to be forgotten and controversial as it might be but I thought Taunton West Station was the best "large" signal box down in the West Country and a Summer Saturday was absolutely thrilling albeit non-stop entries in the register.@@exeterwestgroup6466 👍👍
In case anyone is confused, Becky Hales is my daughter, she was never a signalman. Just a "You Tube" oddball that I have to use her account as I can't work out how to create my own. Doh😕
I wondered that, and also why the next box didn't peg line clear or train on line when train entering section was forwarded.
@@rosspoldark6571 the goods Lines are worked by bell only and do not have a controlling block instrument.
How does the bell work? I know that when you press the button down that the other signaller recieves a bell but how?
@@lp-trainfan are you on Facebook? Or do you have email? Our technical team could send you some photographs, drawings and a video explaining how a bell works.
@@exeterwestgroup6466 nope sorry :(
So - daft question - why do signalmen always use a cloth when they pull the levers?
Firstly it stops the lever tops from rusting from the natural oils and sweat on your hands. Secondly it prevents you getting sores on your hands from touching really cold metal and prevents your hands from sticking making the lever movements smooth and elegant.
@@exeterwestgroup6466 OK that makes sense - thanks
It helps to stop the handles getting surface rust on them
36:48 what does that equipment do?
I know its like a troubleshooter for the signalbox indicator but whats the name of that?
It’s a Welwyn release. It resets the Welwyn circuit in conjunction with the block instrument and track circuit in the event of a cancellation or failure.
@@exeterwestgroup6466 interesting :D I was very interested in signalboxes. even I just made my own with lego mindstorm nxt kit. Unfortunately I am still trying to learn how to code (programming) the smart brick to make these bell codes that I got from the simulator that I had downloaded to try it. thank you so much for replying and I am looking forward to watch for any new videos :)
for lego train set that im planning to build for my nephew
What is "pegging out?"
It comes from the days when block instrument handles were kept in the relevant position by a metal peg/pin.
The term “pegging out” means to withdraw the Peg does restoring the block to the normal position “line blocked” or “normal”.
@@exeterwestgroup6466 Never heard that expression before. Most Western signalmen used the term 'knocking out'
@@anubis6864 that comes from knocking the spag. Slide out of position on the old block instruments.
It's lazy signalling to ask a line clear from the next box when the train from the preceding box isn't in section yet. Ask for the line clear once it's in section.
No. It’s in the box’s special instructions. We are required to do so because of the close proximity of our signal boxes.