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A very good site, with all sorts of technical descriptions about railway technology.

I started on the railway in Northallerton, here is a small page of some photos I took inside Northallerton SB

Between 1997 and early 2000 I worked on the signalling between Ribblehead and Carlisle, - or near enough. Then our company lost the contract and we had to come back to Teesside !

Early in 1999, the VSOE traveled the S&C. It was supposed to run round at Appleby, though the road behind the signal box was deemed unusable. The result was that Class 47753 took it North as far as Kirkby Stephen with 56025 on the back, and it then ran the South again behind the Class 56.

 56025 on the South end of the VSOE at Kirkby Stephen 47753 on the North end

There was some driver training with Deltics on the S&C, this is as you will see, stood waiting for the section ahead to clear. A very good photo opportunity, my old camera decided to finally stop working for good after this photo !

There was some major work done to the aquaduct between Blea Moor SB and the tunnel to the North. During this work there had to be a temporary road laid to transport the materials. We discovered that we could get the van up here, it saved having to haul all our materials to the SB ! We only made it a few times before the Park Authority told us that we mustn't use it ! In the mean time I managed to get this rear picture of a van near the SB, and a train running the route through the points.

 A Van next to Blea Moor

During 1999 there was a period of major diversion over the S&C for major work on the WCML, this was just one of the many Virgin HST's that used it.

 An HST on Ribblehead

I can't remember the whole story, but I believe that someone special to do with the rescue of the S&C was on a special train as it passed over Ribblehead Viaduct when he passed away :( This was just one of them.

 The memorial on Ribblehead

A while ago, there was a big derailment on the S&C that closed it for quite some time. This is the best photograph of the scene I could get, the day after it had happened. Notice the helicopter that RailTrack had used to get management there.

 Dent Head Viaduct derailment
 They had to bury the coal wagon remains as the location is so remote that it wasn't economically viable !
 Burying the wagons at Dent

Another strange site. Near Kirkby Stephen they have found the ideal location for a public transport interchange, there's a hand painted Bus Stop sign in the tree !

 S&C public transport interchange

This is a photograph of a Wren that has been using the telephone cable hole in Culgaith's Down Distant signal post as a way into a nest. It had somehow got itself trapped and had died :-(

 A dead Wren in a signal post
Early metal IBJ

The main thing in railway signalling is that it has to have some form of primary control. This is the Track Circuit. There is a voltage passed down the two rails that the train runs on, and this keeps a relay energised. When a train comes along the track, it shorts out the voltage and the relay drops, basically this makes the signalling work. To make sure you can have separate TC's, there has to be some way of stopping the voltage making its way onto other bits of rail, this is called the Insulated Block Joint, - IBJ. When all of this started, blocks of wood were used, and the most up to date version is metal blocks that are premanufactured with Epoxy Resin. In between there have been many different types, including this which has survived at Blea Moor.
The block shelf and diagram at Blea Moor

The interior of every signal box is different as you will see, this is the block shelf and diagram at Blea Moor.

The insides of the block instrument
The innards of the block instrument 

Howe & Co Sidings at the
Northern most end of the S&C
Howe & Co sidings

Low House, the next one South
Low House signal box

And this is Garsdale Signal box diagram

Alston Signal Box

This is the underneath of Alston SB, it has been built from the ground up under the direction of the last mechanical locking fitter to pass through his aprenticeship on BR. You can tell from its condition.

As a total contrast to the above, here's the panel in Tees SB
Tees yard panel

There's a gradient profile in all signal boxes, this is the one of the S&C

Left-hand side of profile Center of profile Right-hand side of profile

This is the one for the hill from Middlesbrough to Battersby on the Whitby line

And the diagram for the Whitby branch, in two parts
The Nunthorpe to battersby and Glaisdale section The Glaisdale to Whitby section A model of a famous locomotive

This is not the real one I realise, but it's the best photo I have of it, yes it's the Sir Nigel Gresley :-)

Horden Signal box, - on the North East Coast of England, - was removed and the lever frame was salvaged for use on the North Yorks Moors Railway.
Horden Signal Box lever frame, prior to work starting - 34kb Horden Signal Box lever frame, floor up - 38kb Horden Signal Box lever frame, bits being removed - 28kb Glaisdale Signal Box lever frame out of use

Whilst I'm on about lever frames, it's not often you'll see a lever frame looking like this ;-) The reason was, it was Glaisdale, - on the Whitby branch, - again just before it was removed !
Wainfleet gate wheel

Here's a very well kept mechanical box, - I don't know if it's still like this, - I found it on the Skegness line in about 1980, it's Wainfleet. The original reason I took the photograph was, this is a totally different configuration of gate wheel than I was used too.
Tamper and Class 60 in Tees

This derailments was as you can see a Tamper that was being stored for the day on this small storage siding in Thornaby Marshalling Yard, the shunter had forgotten to change the hand points, and as the class 60 hauled a full load of steel flats out of the yard towards Lackanby, it pushed the tamper over the river which is a small tributary into the river Tees and is tidal. There was mass panic because the Diesel tanks leaked! It took three days and a 500 Ton mobile crane to recover it and the loco. The crane had to be so big because there was no way they could get close enough for a smaller one. It cost many many thousands of pounds! The Tamper stood on the storage siding for something like 18 months before it was decided who's fault it had been, and it was then scrapped I believe.
The brick train at Darlington

I know it's not a real train, it's the brick train at Darlington.
It's got bat bricks in it, you'll find more info on bats by visiting my bats pages
Shape of bush after passing of many trains

This is just for fun ! How old would the bush have to have been to have been shaped this way by the passage of trains? It's not the fact that it is that shape, it's the fact that the top is curved round the top of engines !
It was at Shell junction on the Middlesbrough to Saltburn line, where the goods line went off into Tod Point and Teesport. It disappeared a few months after I took this !

We sometimes in the summer find wildlife has managed to get into the equipment, - not always to the detriment. Wildlife also gets inside the equipment !  Wildlife also gets inside the equipment !  Wildlife also gets inside the equipment !
Yes, it's a Bluetit nest in an electric lamp for a mechanical signal.

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