Restoration - page 3
Princes Risborough North Signal Box
2017
Our
volunteers
continued
working
inside
the
box
until
C&PRRA
signed
the
99
year
lease
on
the
box
and
surrounding
land
with
Network
Rail
in
the
spring
of
2017.
The
big
drawback
of
having
the
largest
remaining
Great
Western
signal
box
in
the
UK
also
means
having
the
largest
amount
of
signal
box
painting
to
do
in
the
UK!
Washing
down
countless
years
of
railway
grime,
rubbing
it
all
down,
undercoating
it
and
then
finally
top
coating
it
was
a
daunting
task.
We
made
a
good
start
in
spring
but
after
that
the
Signals
&
Telegraph
(S&T)
team
spent
most
of
the
summer
and
autumn
in
2017
working
alongside
other
teams
within
C&PRRA,
finding
Platform
4 buried in the undergrowth and then rebuilding it.
With
the
platform
built
we
handed
over
the
next
step
-
track
laying
-
to
our
Permanent
Way
team.
S&T
were
then
back
working
in
the
box
over
the
winter
months
and
with
the
benefit
of
all
the
bushes
we’d
cut
down
providing
for
roaring
fires,
we
set
about
completing
the
urgent
tasks
needed
to
qualify
for
a
very
welcome
Railway
Heritage
Trust
grant
towards
some
of
the
renovation
costs;
extending
the
lever
frame
back
to
its
1960’s
length,
reinstating
the
partition
on
the
operating
floor
and
of
course
the
never
ending
replacement
of
rotten
timber
and
then painting anything that didn’t move.
2018
Work
started
to
reinstate
the
levers
in
the
box.
Now
the
Princes
Risborough
end
of
the
heritage
line
was
to
have
a
platform
(opened
in
August)
and
run-round
loop,
it
again
needed
points
and
signals
to
control
train
paths.
By
also
reinstating
the
operating
floor
partition
it
will
be
possible
to
keep
the
‘live’
operating
area
and
signalman
separate
from
the
other
(North)
end
of
the
box
which
we
hope
to
open
to
the
public
in
future.
The
operating
floor
partition
was
first
installed
when
the
signalling
arrangement
at
Princes
Risborough
was
simplified
and
the
lever
frame
shortened,
back
in
the
sixties.
It
allowed
part
of
the
box
to
be
an
office
and
latterly
a
mess
room for train crews.
All
the
extra
levers
in
the
North
end
of
the
operating
floor
(see
photo
left)
were
installed
during
2018.
Enough
of
the
necessary
rodding
was
temporarily
put
back
in
place,
connected
up,
interlocked
and
tested
to
allow
the
signal
box
to
once
more
control
the
points
that
change
tracks
for
the
run-round
loop.
We
had
yet
to
connect
up
the
disc
signals
that
permitted
a
train
to
move
over
the
points
and
so
for
a
while
train
drivers
were
instructed
by
the
signalman when to move using red and green flags.
