After the last freight train had departed, engineers took total possession of Lincoln and sadly, the time came for all four of the Lincoln boxes to close at approx 0200 on the morning of the 19th July 2008. These pics detail the S&T equipment recovery in the following hours mainly at West Holmes and Pelham Street Junction. A new signalling centre has been built adjacent to West Holmes box.

East Holmes is an all timber GNR box built in 1873 to the GNR's 19871 design and it houses a 35 lever McKenzie & Holland frame which was installed in 1910. The box worked Absolute block to both West Holmes and High Street boxes and controlled access to the up and down goods loops. It closed on the evening of Friday 18th July 2008 but fortunately the box has a preservation order on it preventing immediate demolition.

Pelham Street Junction was an 1870s GNR brick built box housing a 100 lever Tyers & Co frame also stamped GNR. It closed on the evening of Friday 18th July 2008 and was my favourite box oozing with character from the past. PSJ remained largely intact S&T wise from pre-grouping days with the most significant change being in 1985 when the line and flat crossing from St Marks station were removed. The connections to the diesel depot and Sincil Bank signalbox were removed at a similar period and PSJ gained control of Sincil Bank level crossing by using CCTV. The box worked Absolute Block to High Street, Langworth and Blankney and was demolished with the lever frame still inside on August 21st/22nd 2008. RIP.

High Street box is another supurb piece of GNR architecture and controlled the Western end of Lincoln Central station throat. The box worked Absolute Block to East Holmes and Pelham Steet Jn which controlled the Eastern end of the station. The box closed on the evening of Friday 18th July 2008 but has been retained for operating the barriers manually in times when the CCTV fails...

West Holmes box was built by the GN/GE joint when the line extended from March to Doncaster via Lincoln. It dated from the 1880s and was of all timber construction with a 69 lever Westinghouse frame. The brick surround was built to protect the box from flying shrapnel during WWII. After the Lincoln avoiding line closed, the box survived the 1985 remodelling when it took control of the new Boultham curve built to divert traffic away from St. Marks station. The box latterly worked AB to East Holmes and TCB to Saxilby and Swinderby. WH box closed on the evening of Friday 18th July 2008 with demolition carried out with the lever frame still inside on the 23rd August 2008. RIP

Abercynon signalbox closed on the night of Friday 24th May 2008 with control transferring to a nearby control centre installed with a Westcad system using axle counters. Here are photos of the box and station area just before closure and during recovery.

When a pair of 31s on a test train from Derby failed and a rescue 47 showed up unexpectedly in Royston it was like going back 20+ years.