Signalboxes disappearing

[cambois]

Great photos of Walton St - was it or is it the widest road over a level crossing I had forgotten how wide it was

[micknich2003]

Great photos of Walton St - was it or is it the widest road over a level crossing I had forgotten how wide it was

I can't put my hand to the original drawing, but I think and only from memory, the span of the original crossing when installed c1890 was 44ft. Today it is two crossings, Walton Street North and South, and again, I don't have the size of the total span. Mick.

[bricam5]

The bottom photo of the three is/was the Anlaby road crossing complete with gateman to drag the largest gate over the road, waving a red flag as well. No political connotations!

[micknich2003]

The bottom photo of the three is/was the Anlaby road crossing complete with gateman to drag the largest gate over the road, waving a red flag as well. No political connotations!

All the main road crossings in Hull had a gateman to assist the signalman to swing the gates. The ones at Walton Street and Hessle Road eventualy became redundant with the provision of road traffic lights. In later years Southcoates and Stepney gates were fitted with "Wig Wag" signals, the predicesors of today's barrier lights.
My late father, himself a signalman, once remarked how adapt some of the gatemen were at pulling a gate with a slack chain. Mick.

[thesignalman]

Spalding 1 had them by the look of this..

http://signalbox.org/gallery/e/spalding1.php

. . . and Lincoln High Street.

John

[thesignalman]

Great photos of Walton St - was it or is it the widest road over a level crossing I had forgotten how wide it was

I don't know the dimensions but Barrow Road Crossing in North Lincolnshire must be comparable. Sadly, they have fallen into disrepair and have been disconnected from the gate wheel in the box and are now hand-worked.

John

[Bryan]

We always treated Walton St as 1 crossing whenever we had any work in the area.
As for size I did hear that as of the 1990s it consisted of 365 Bomac panels in total, the most of any in the country.
I have seen it out totally once with every panel removed.

When we relayed through the crossing or adjacent to it, it was a nightmare for the E Supervisor in charge.
With a full road closure in place. He was trying to move a ballast train through the crossing whilst all the drunks were climbing over the barriers and the train as well. The taxis from Hull centre just dumped them on one side of the crossing, glad to be rid of them probably.

[R. pike]

I was on a relaying job at Walton street around 2006/07? The drunks were a real problem. I saw one scale the six foot high temporary fence panel and catch his trowsers on the top as he went over. He went face down onto the road and got up covered in blood and just walked off. Another forced his way through and nearly got bowled by the double jib track crane carrying a panel. It was a nightmare.

[micknich2003]

As signalman at Hessle Road, I worked Walton Street X ings for ten years. Some loverly people invoved or I should realy say total bloody idiots, the red lights and warblers ment nothing. I also used the George, the pub oppositer the crossings, a good punch up most Friday and Saturday nights, and then finaly a couple of years ago a "Murder" outside the pub. Mick.

[Bryan]

I was on a relaying job at Walton street around 2006/07? The drunks were a real problem. I saw one scale the six foot high temporary fence panel and catch his trowsers on the top as he went over. He went face down onto the road and got up covered in blood and just walked off. Another forced his way through and nearly got bowled by the double jib track crane carrying a panel. It was a nightmare.

You were probably on the same job as me then.
I usually did the middle shift on a weekend 10 hours sometime between 04.00 and 20.00 looking after finishing off any digging and relaying the tracks.

[PinzaC55]

Just looking at that shot of Walton Street being demolished reminded me of of something I have often thought; it must be crushing to work in a box for 10 or more years and to watch part of your life ripped to pieces? I remember that when Bootham box in York was closed I went up on the Saturday when the box was technically still ope and the bobby was standing there with a hole in the floor where the lever frame used to be.


Walton Street (2) Hull 1979 by pinzac55, on Flickr


Walton Street (Hull) 1979 by pinzac55, on Flickr

[micknich2003]

Here is an interesting one of Walton Street, craneing in the new tempoary "Portacabin", this acted as the tempoary Gate Box until the crossing was finaly altered, changed to barriers and worked from Hessle Road. Mick.

[35windsorlad]

Barnteby Signal box has been schedule for closure latter this year. So don't miss it, you have been warned

[Jades]

Something being listed or of historical importance doesn't necessarily stop NR from decking it anyway, or BR for that matter. Nafferton signal box, a nice NER S4 (IIRC) with slightly off-centre lower windows was listed. It's currently rotting in a yard where NR put its remains for 'safe-keeping'.

Notable casualties of BR's over-enthusiastic demolition gangs include the Gibraltar Bridge on the Tanfield Railway and the water tanks at Belmont Junction (which were supposed to be going to Beamish).