Farnsfield Signalbox

The site of the former signalbox at Farnsfield [and any remaining foundations] lies in a thicket of tangled vegetation that hides its exact location, east of the old station house, north of the Farnsfield to Southwell Trail but south of the path to Blidworth. Gill Sarre of Farnsfield Local History Society (farnsfieldlhs.co.uk) has done some research on the box and its last signalman, John Robinson. Gill has kindly given me access to her story, which is self-explanatory and included here:

“New Archive Donation - Farnsfield Signalman’s Log Book

One of the visitors attending Mark Guy’s talk in June about the history of the Southwell Trail, brought with him a rather special ‘find’. It was a British Rail Train Register containing the Farnsfield signalman’s log of trains passing both up and down the line between Blidworth and Kirklington from 2^nd December 1963 until the line closed, the last entry dated 25^th February 1965. Gordon Butler had found the log book discarded amongst rubbish when the railway station closed.  He realised it was of interest and took it home where he has kept it ever since.  He has now very kindly donated it to the Society for our archives.  I was very pleased to be able to give him some information about the man behind the book.

Each day’s entries were signed ‘J.B.Robinson’. John Bailey Robinson was the Farnsfield signalman for many years.  He was born in Farnsfield in 1902, the son of a Carter called Bailey Robinson and his wife Kate.  At the time of the 1921 census, he was working as a Railway Porter for Midland Railway at Farnsfield. In the 1939 National Registration he is listed as Signalman and is living at Rose Cottage on The Green with his parents, a younger sister and brother.  He is also a Special Constable. In 1945 he married Dorothy Hill.  John and Dorothy were well known in the village and still remembered by many long-time residents.  Dorothy taught at the school and appears in many old school photographs and they were both actively involved in the local scouts. 

At the end of John’s final log entry, he wrote “Keep right on to the end of the road. Keep right on to the end”.  The end of an era indeed.”

I’m indebted to Gill and to the FLHS for telling me about the signalbox and allowing me to use the information in my blog. When we were last in the Plough, our local pub on Main Street, Gill showed me a picture on the wall in the bar that includes John Robinson. He is shown leaning on the bar itself after [hopefully] a local shooting party event.

The Allure of Steam

James Lawson is, I suspect, a more than useful cricketer. Little does he know that I once scored 36 for the school second XI. Plus, he whooped me so frequently on the badminton court that I had to eventually walk away, moaning about bad knees. Not content with all that, he has followed me to the swimming pool, where he powers down the adjacent fast lane, splashing water in my face at every opportunity.

James went on holiday to a country I’ve never been to [Barbados] and sent me a photo of a steam loco I’ve never seen, on a railway that I knew nothing about. I promptly overlooked it. There’s only so much a man can take. Now he’s muscling in on my one remaining area of expertise. If I encourage him, in no time at all he’ll be writing books about trains that actually sell. Not content with my measly excuse about losing his message, he sent it to me again. There is no escape. I promised a blog. It’s the least and best I could do.

The first Barbados Railway was a late nineteenth century venture to carry sugar cane to Bridgetown. It closed in 1937 and is now a footpath and cycleway. The St Nicholas Abbey Heritage Railway is a much more recent affair than its name suggests. The 1.5km, 2’ 6” gauge line connects the Abbey to Cherry Tree Hill and has been operating only since 2019. The tourist line runs in the grounds of a complex that includes the main house, a plantation, a steam-driven mill and a rum distillery. 

No. 5 is Tjepper, 4 cylinder, 0-4-4-0T articulated German Mallet built by Jung in 1914. It was rescued from a sugar plantation line in Java and found its way to the Statfold Barn Railway in 2009, where it was rebuilt before its arrival in Barbados.

James would no doubt be able to tell the story in much more detail than this but I just thought I’d get in first while I still can.

Leek

The 2’ 6” gauge Leek and Manifold Light Railway never came in to Leek, itself. Instead, it had an end-on junction with the North Staffordshire Railway at Waterhouses, a few miles south east of the town. Milk distribution was the most notable traffic on the short-lived line from Hulme End, which only lasted for thirty years from 1904 onwards. The former track bed of the L&MLR is now a metalled footpath and cycleway.

Sandwiched between mid-morning coffee and lunch, both taken at the Roaches Tearoom - which is recommended - we climbed up to the exposed gritstone ridge on a very gusty day. The wind was enough to throw you off balance at just the wrong moment between predictably irregular stepping stones. 

Retreating to Leek in the afternoon, there is little evidence to be seen of its railway history. The former station site is now a Morrisons supermarket. The North Staffordshire Railway station had been opened in 1849. Passenger trains ended in 1965 and the line was closed completely five years later. Only a road bridge survives of the former NSR infrastructure, situated between the supermarket car park and petrol station.

An unassuming, hill top market town, with an attractive, cobbled market square and a good range of independent shops and cafes, Leek’s growth was based on the silk industry. Some of the old factory buildings have been turned into apartments, whilst others await their turn.

   

Grandma’s Half Term Treat

Mansfield Museum were doing a kids’ thing about the environment, so off we went. They loved it, though perhaps not as much as dressing up as astronauts next door in the space rockets section. I wandered off in the opposite direction and found myself immediately surrounded by the watercolour paintings of Albert Sorby Buxton. They were quite fetching – gentle, sympathetic, economical and relaxed. They portray a Mansfield that was fast disappearing by the first few years of the twentieth century, when the man himself was head of the art school.

It appears that they had first been collected together for display in 1933. Albert’s widow apparently saw to it that his wishes were met and so the pictures ended up in the keeping of the local authority. The paintings reflect the artist’s love for his home town and reminded me of quite similar work by Harold Hopps on the Wirral. The display took in 161 paintings and I naturally zoomed in on the two railway images. This initially struck me as a significant under-representation, given the way that the railway very noticeably marches across the centre of town on its dramatic viaduct. Maybe Buxton viewed the railway rather disparagingly, like Wordsworth and Ruskin had done, and so chose to largely ignore it. Maybe it just didn’t fit with his mission – to record what was soon likely to be lost, rather than what was comparatively new.

The two pictures concerned are historical depictions of the nearby Mansfield and Pinxton Railway, a very early horse-drawn set-up dating from 1819. The M&PR had been needed to join Mansfield to the Cromford Canal to take out minerals, malt and manufactured goods. In the nineteenth century coal was actually brought in to Mansfield this way. For most of the twentieth century, and once the Notts coalfield had been developed, it went in the opposite direction and on a much larger scale.

Buxton’s railway pictures are of the Level Crossing, Belvedere, showing Signalman’s Cabin and Passenger Coach, Horse drawn, on the Mansfield-Pinxton Railway. The crossing was called Warrens Box after the name of the keeper. The reprinted 1933 blurb adds that [in the days of steam that followed] “The gradient above this box to the station was so great that the engines were taken off and the trains ran down to the station on their own weight. On the approach of a train Warren rang the bell seen on the left of the box. When the new station was made the road between Belvedere and Portland Street was lowered and the level crossing done away with”. The other view is of a horse-drawn passenger coach before the line was taken over by the Midland Railway in 1847.

Though Buxton is credited with telling the story of two hundred years of Mansfield’s history of both its buildings and its inhabitants, one wonders how much he drew on earlier photographs or simply his imagination to bring them to life, in his intimate and familiar style.

        

Nuneaton [not York]

I was off to York for a few hours in Search Engine. I checked online, as Station Hall is closed for major refurbishment. Shut on Wednesdays, in fact, only open Thursday to Saturday. So, that’s the best railway library and archive in the country [and maybe the world?] and it’s shut on more days than its open? What’s that all about? The NRM is shut altogether on a Monday and a Tuesday.

At short notice, and given that it was to be a sunny [but cold] day after the mist had lifted, I opted to give my 55-300mm lens a whirl on the WCML at Nuneaton, instead. Pendolinos are impressive at speed, but the highlight for me, Class 88 No. 88010 Aurora, was on to me too quickly. That’s what happens when you eat your sandwich at the wrong moment.

 

Railnews

Railnews used to be the in-house newspaper for rail employees in BR days and was published by the BRB from 1963 onwards. It ceased publication in 1996, but was reinstated a year later by a group of former BR managers. Today, online and print versions cover all aspects of the railway, though not from any particular standpoint. It aims to be dispassionate, objective and accurate in its coverage of the key issues facing the industry. 

My friend, John Beck, pointed me towards the January edition and in particular a feature article by the managing editor, Sim Harris, summarising the major changes that have always been part of the railway scene and going on to look at some of the challenges resulting from technological advances in the current era.

It made me think how much the railways have changed during the many decades that I have shown an interest, and especially with regard to its workforce. In a nutshell, rapid advances in technology mean that fewer people are needed to run the railway, a trend set to continue with plans to close booking offices, control signalling from a few command centres and make more use of driver only trains. It’s difficult to imagine a rail system without railway people, given what we were brought up on, but automation eventually saves money and wages tend to be a big component of overall costs. But a railway without visible railwaymen and women? That would take a bit of getting used to.

Leicester TMD

In the UK Rail Leasing sidings today, as seen from the platform end at the north end of Leicester station, were Class 56 No. 56098, Class 58 No. 58023 and Class 47 No. 47749. In passing, Class 60 No. 60099, Class 56 No. 56103, Class 37 Nos. 37611 and 6703 were also visible.