Bodmin Parkway Signal Box

Summary

A Type 3 signal box of 1887, now used as a cafe.

Reasons for Designation

Bodmin Parkway Signal Box, erected in 1887, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural interest: well detailed, at one time the Type 3 was one of the more common types of GWR signal box, and its architectural form with upper horizontal sliding sashes synonymous with a ‘typical’ signal box. Few now remain;
* Rarity: this is the last Type 3 signal box to survive in England in its original location;
* Intactness: the replacement of lower parts of some elevations in brick, while a later alteration, is in keeping with the signal box aesthetic and the building retains a largely intact exterior appearance;
* Fittings: the loss of the operating equipment has not impacted greatly on the overall special interest of the structure.

History

From the 1840s, huts or cabins were provided for men operating railway signals. These were often located on raised platforms containing levers to operate the signals and in the early 1860s, the fully glazed signal box, initially raised high on stilts to give a good view down the line, emerged. The interlocking of signals and points, perhaps the most important single advance in rail safety, patented by John Saxby in 1856, was the final step in the evolution of railway signalling into a form recognisable today. Signal boxes were built to a great variety of different designs and sizes to meet traffic needs by signalling contractors and the railway companies themselves.

Signal box numbers peaked at around 12,000-13,000 for Great Britain just prior to the First World War and successive economies in working led to large reductions in their numbers from the 1920s onwards. British Railways inherited around 10,000 in 1948 and numbers dwindled rapidly to about 4000 by 1970. In 2012, about 750 remained in use, and it was anticipated that most would be rendered redundant over the next decade.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) Type 3 signal box was constructed in large numbers throughout the southern part of the GWR system in the late C19, although very few remain intact and in their original location. This example was probably installed for the opening of a branch line from this station (originally called Bodmin Road) to Bodmin General Station in 1887. Type 3 boxes controlled the trains of Brunel’s broad gauge and an example of that at Uphill Junction, features as part of an iconic series of photographs documenting the end of the broad gauge in 1891-2 by Rev. A. H. Malan. The signal box appears to have been adapted in the early C20, and the platform elevation was underbuilt in red brick by the mid-C20.

Bodmin Road station had opened to passengers on 27 June 1859, as part of the Cornwall Railway, and the branch line to Bodmin replaced a “Bus Service” hauled by four horses that was run from 1 June 1876. Passenger trains on the branch line ceased on 30 January 1967 and freight traffic stopped on 20 November 1983. The signal box was adapted in the early-mid-C20 and closed in the 1980s, the lever frame removed, and the box converted to a tea room. A number of alterations have taken place to the signal box since then, including the replacement of the end windows, the installation of openings in the gable ends and the replacement of the stair to the first floor door. The station was renamed Bodmin Parkway in the 1980s and since 1990 the branch line has been reopened by the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, and has run heritage steam railway services to Bodmin General.

Details

A signal box of 1887 for the Cornwall Railway, with some alterations in the early-mid-C20, and adapted to a café in the 1980s.

MATERIALS: constructed of rubble stone to the ground floor and red brick above with timber framing including a cill beam. Part of the rear wall is clad in weatherboarding. The pitched roof is covered in slate with timber eaves brackets, gable ends and bargeboards, and two cylindrical metal ventilators to the ridge. The window frames are timber and the interior is lined in timber plank panelling.

DESCRIPTION: it is rectangular on plan and of two storeys. The principal elevation stands on the down platform, facing north-west to the tracks. The former operating room on the first floor has continuous glazing to both this elevation and most of the end elevations. The windows are timber horizontal sliding sashes, all subdivided with glazing bars, and supported on moulded cills. The sashes to each end wall are replacements. The ground floor is under-built in red brick laid in Flemish bond, and has a wide central opening with steel bars under a soldier course. The lower courses below the brick are rubble stone and the south-west corner of the building is of a contrasting, darker brick. In the rear wall, set in the weatherboarding at upper level, is a wide opening with fixed timber glazing bars and six over six panes, although the top left pane has been replaced with a ventilation fan*.

At the north-west end a modern steel staircase* provides access to the former signal operating room. It has a timber plank balustrade that attaches to a weatherboarded timber cupboard to the left of the part-glazed door to the signal box. Below, there are brick and concrete steps down to a store room which has an opening in the rear wall not visible to the exterior due to weatherboarding and raised road level. The opening is set within the thick coursed-stone wall and has timber glazing bars. The wide opening to the front wall, facing the platform, also retains timber frames, and a deep timber beam forms a bench under the opening, and spans the length of the building. Large bolts protrude from the substantial beam. The first floor is supported on two oak cross-beams. The ground is laid with railway sleepers and the plank door is braced and has strap hinges.

At upper floor level, the operating equipment, including the lever frame, has been removed. A flue to the south west corner wall has been sealed. Most of the walls are lined with vertical timber planks and there is a timber ledge beneath the windows. Modern fittings* include café counters* and a sink*, and a pine-clad ceiling.*

* Pursuant to s.1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that these aforementioned features are not of special architectural or historic interest.

Sources

Books and journals
Vanns, A, Signalboxes, (1995)
Kay, P, The Signalling Atlas and Signal Box Directory, (2010)
Vaughan, J, An Illustrated History of the Cornish Main Line, (2009)

Other
Minnis, J, Railway Signal Boxes, a Review, (2012)
The Signalling Study Group, The Signal Box, a Pictorial History and Guide to Designs (1986)

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