Lowdham signal box crosses the line (just in time)
LOWDHAM SIGNAL box, a Midland Railway Type 2b box on the Nottingham to Lincoln line, has been saved, four years after it was closed by Network Rail. The wooden box, which opened on June 14, 1896 with a Midland Railway 16-lever tumbler frame and gate wheel, was moved to a new home in the early hours of October 25. It was lifted by road crane from its former site and moved 100 yards to the opposite side of the line to Lowdham Station, owned since 1991 by David Moore.
Moore established Lowdham Heritage Trust in 2015 to save the box from demolition and establish a signalling museum in Lowdham, with the support of the community and local council. Network Rail donated the box to the Trust, but more than £20,000 was spent moving it to its new home. Moore said: “The move went well after months of detailed planning, independent verifications and approvals of methods of working. Network Rail obtained line possession at 0020 in the morning and the tracks were cleared by 0715, just 15 minutes before the possession was to finish, so it was a close call. There were no real issues, except I had to push a telephone wire above the finials with a pole to prevent interference and we had to adjust the lifting frame on the lorry before the box was loaded.”
Over the coming months Trust volunteers will work to reassemble, restore and repaint the box so that it can open regularly to the public as a signalling museum. Remarkably, the box is largely original, although the wooden balcony and steps will have to be remade and rotten boards replaced. “Out of 76 original windows, just three will need to be replaced,” added Moore.
The box is likely to be finished in BR-era maroon and cream. The interior will be retro-fitted with period signalling equipment, including a restored block shelf with Midland Railway instruments and a gate wheel. The museum will seek to demonstrate signalling equipment in use from the 1890s to the 1950s. Richard Horner