If you haven’t read Parts One and Two, you’ll need to for this final part to make sense…
While Zim and I had been making our efforts to obtain the Holy Grail (or railway signal as most people might have considered it), we’d shared our progress with a couple of other friends, Boo (don’t ask, it’s a long story) and Ian (just to prove I wasn’t the only one in our group with a boring name). At the time, we were a tight-knit foursome. We’d started at the Comp at the same time, so had known each other half our lives by this point.
Having heard about our exploits on the viaduct, both Boo and Ian had been interested and seemed impressed when we finally secured our prize. Several pints were shared in celebration after the event, with Boo in particular expressing regret that he hadn’t been able to participate.
And so all went quiet for a week or two until Zim made an announcement: “I was looking out my office window today. They’ve replaced it!”
“The window?”
“The signal.”
“I thought you said we could nick it because it wasn’t in use.”
“It isn’t in use.”
“Well, why have they replaced it then?”
This discussion went on for some time, but eventually we concluded it was time to give Boo the opportunity he wanted.
A few nights later, three young men set off down the train line tooled up for a signal extraction. This time, the bolts were fresh and didn’t need anything like the amount of effort the first one had caused us. Within a quarter of an hour, we had Boo’s booty in our bag and were walking back the way we’d come. That’d teach British Rail.
Another week or so passed before Zim made his next announcement. “I was looking out my office window today…”
And the discussion we’d had before was resurrected, resulting in the same conclusion. There was no rail traffic on that line, hadn’t been for a long time, and there was no practical reason for putting that signal there. This was becoming a matter of principle. I’d put in several nights’ effort. It was my turn to get one.
I don’t think Boo came along on this occasion. Why would he? But it didn’t take long. The bolts were still fresh and the removal took only a few minutes before we were on our way again. After making several late-night trips for the benefit of others, now I had a signal to call my own.
It’ll come as no surprise to discover that, within two weeks, Zim was again agitated by the replacement of the signal. Because there was no obviously good reason to have one in place and, I have to say, there’s still none we’re aware of to this day.
We roped Ian in to join us for a midnight excursion – after all, he might as well have this one!
So we headed out on a now familiar path to retrieve what we were fast starting to think of as our birthright.
Sadly, Ian wasn’t in luck. When we arrived at the signal post, the ladder had been removed, cutting off any means of us reaching the signal. Presumably BR had decided enough was enough.
After getting over our initial frustration, we could see the funny side of it. Both BR and us were getting frustrated by the situation – albeit for completely different reasons – but it was some anonymous bureaucrat who had come up with the plan to finally thwart our intentions.
For several years, my own signal was kept on display in my house in much the same way as any other trophy might be. Eventually, I passed it on to my son. Not because I considered it to be a family heirloom, but because he was going through a phase where he loved trains. He’s grown out of that phase, but he still has the signal. And here it is, in all its glory…
I should add here that, as far as I was aware at the time, there was never any risk posed by us taking those signals. That said, Zim himself has indicated in a comment on Part One that there was a good reason for the signal to be there. Hopefully he will enlighten us in the comments here.
That aside, with maturity (I know some would question that assertion), I do recognise that this is not a course of action I would recommend to readers. Not only does it involve theft, but there was the potential for any one of us to injure ourselves as we stumbled about in a slightly less than sober state in the dark on a train track. But sometimes there are times when our actions are less than honourable, yet reflecting on them brings a smile to the face. This is one of mine and I have no regrets about it.
Incidentally, in more recent years, Zim has worked on resurrecting that train line for use with old locomotives, and was delighted to return the original signal to the post it had been on all those years ago. I only wish I’d been there to see it.
My sons would totally understand this… 😀
From the sound of things, though, it’s probably better if we don’t pursue that line of thought in a public forum!
I’m inclined to agree with that 😉
utterly irresponsible and totally understandable; I sort of want to say well done…
Thanks, Geoff – I think. I’m just waiting now to find out from Zim why we should have left it where it was – then I’ll know just how irresponsible it turned out to be…
Another post…?
I’m hoping Zim will give an explanation in the comments. Depending on what he says, then I may have to do another post.
Well, don’t say you didn’t ask!
Firstly, and your right, there would be no point whatsoever in having any form of meaningful signalling on a disused railway line. The line WASN’T disused in 1982 Graeme, it was eking out it’s final few years as a long single track branch line from Loughborough. Freights still ran to the British Gypsum works at East Leake on an ‘as required’ basis. They finally ceased in 1985. By the 70’s freight trains to East Leake were few and far between. As such, there was no real need for any signalling on the line whatsoever, other than a solitary signal to let trains back on to the main line. It was the signallers job at Loughborough to ensure that ‘if’ a train was on the branch, nothing else could go up there until whatever was up there, had come back to the main line. I think the proper phrase is ‘one train on line basis’, which is a perfectly reasonable explanation and a lot of freight lines across the UK work on this system. I assume the signaller ties a knot of string around his thumb to remind himself that a dirty great freight is snarling back and forth somewhere between East Leake and Loughborough and the string’s removed once the freight comes back on to the network proper – well, something a little bit more high tech maybe.
So, what was the purpose of the signal which we borrowed, particularly bearing in mind it was completely marooned from the signalbox in nearby Loughborough. There were no pulleys or wires by which it could be pulled up nor released down? (It was perpetually ‘down’, a bit like Morrissey)
Well, to understand, you need a bit of context…. (please feel free to doze off/die/lose will to live at any point – and I’m talking signalling here, not your presumed aversion to Mozzers latest long player)…
When railways first started, they put a simple signalling system in. A signal raised meant the train could pass, if it were lowered, the train must stop. Within a few years this method of working was deemed inadequate. Train speeds were increasing and, particularly if coming around a corner, if the signal could not be sited reasonably early, a fast moving steam train wouldn’t be able to stop in time. What to do? Well those clever Victorians put in a form of ‘repeater’ signal, an advanced warning of what was about to come. To ensure the driver knew what he was looking at, a repeater signal, or the real deal, they were giving visually distinctive colours/shapes. A ‘proper’ signal, to be obeyed at all costs, was coloured red. It also had a white vertical bar painted on it. An advanced warning signal, was coloured yellow. To make it more unique from its proper cousin, it had a ‘v’ shape cut out of the end, and a black v painted on it as opposed to the white bar. The former was known as a ‘home’ signal, the latter a ‘distant’. So you MUST obey a home signal, but a distant was merely letting you know in advance what the home signal was set to, just in case some judicious braking were required. So, our signal arm Graeme is a ‘distant’. Here’s a photo of mine that shows the two different types…
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=921790707911200&set=a.921790607911210.1073741836.100002408371065&type=3&theater
So, the marooned distant we ‘borrowed’, DID serve a purpose even though it were disconnected. It was a repeater signal for the more modern colour light signal that protected the main line. A train coming from East Leake to Loughborough would see this ‘distant’ as a visual reminder that they were approaching the signal which protected the main line and the driver should be prepared to stop at it. Now the fact it could not move to reflect the real status of the home signal it protected wasn’t really an issue, it was more a case of grabbing the drivers attention after 5 miles or so of no signals whatsoever, and waking him up to the fact that he was about to come in to contact with a working example and he better put the Daily Mirror down and tweak that brake.
So when we nicked it, the next trains driver presumably reported it (actually I’m amazed he missed it’s absence!). Anyway report it he did, so British Rail had to replace it …. and again …. and again. Finally, irked by the constant removal of this fairly redundant but ‘union required’ hardware, they took a gas gun to the signal pole ladder and chopped off several feet of it to prevent any further oiks nicking the final replacement.
So what we did was pretty bloody stupid but as I said at the time, I genuinely thought it was a relic that Beechings mob had forgot to cut down when they shut it as a main line in 1966. As such, I thought it was safer in my hands than the next collector who decided to whip it. It was, and as you know, I returned it several years ago to the preserved railway that now plies its trade between Ruddington and Loughborough. I was down there a few weeks ago, and spoke to Phil Stanway who’s ‘office’ (I use the perm office lightly, Phils abode is actually inside of some old freight wagon) the signal used to reside in. But guess what? Some ****er’s had it!!! Can’t trust anyone these days can yer? Well actually you probably can, the signalling gang have probably taken it, and soon, it will reside back in it’s rightful place, gazing down on passing trains once again. Maybe when we’re 70 year olds Graeme, we should consider …….nah, maybe not…..surely?
Thanks for all this, Zim. My guilt is ramped up slightly, but at least we know there were no accidents as a result. If you don’t mind, I’m going to copy this over into a separate blog post rather than simply leave it as a comment. It will still appear as a comment here, but I get the impression that some of my followers will be interested to know the background but won’t think to look back here for your response. I’ll probably edit the post slightly and add my own comments to it to top and tail it. I’ve got a couple of other posts coming out over the next few days, so will leave it till later in the week.
Hope all is going well in your new home