During work to complete the restoration of the former LSWR Crossing Box from Axminster gates, work has moved to completing the interior.

Work has also advanced on the sliding windows at the front, the cast-iron trays in which the windows run have been shot-blasted and re-painted and fitted, conmplete with little drain-hole down the front of the planking – not the greatest design! The sliding sashes themselves (of which one of the front four and both side ones have survived) were supplied originally with cast-iron rollers set into the bottom rail -as opposed to the earlier LSWR boxes which have a groove in the window and vertical ‘pegs’ on which the window is guided. New brass rollers have been fitted as the cast-iron ones must have seized up about 50 yaers ago, judging from the flat left on them!

During service with BR and later Railtrack / Network Rail the interior had been clad with thin ply sheeting. To do this all surface details had been removed including a moulding at picture rail height (which masked the join between the side wall and upper triangles) and the skirting. The sheeting was discarded during removal from site and enough of the vertical beaded t&g boarding existed to clad make good the end (gabled) walls and re-fit below the windows (which of course had been lost when the timber work below the window was replaced with brick work)

Not enough original material remained to clad the back wall, which had of course had a brick chimney inserted at some stage, requiring substantial rectification. A decision has been taken to clad this wall in plasterboard pending future plans. During renovation work, some crumpled paper was found rammed into the gap between the boarding in the corners – presumably to stop draughts and then puttied and painted over many times.

This material has proved to be a stunning find as it is parts of a Sectional Appendix or more likely Special Notice in connection with a sporting event. Here is what we have identified so far:

·         The visible dates are Wednesday 22^nd and Thursday 23^rd. No year is visible but these can only be: 1894, 1906, 1917, 1924, 1928, 1934 and 1945 pre nationalisation. My guess is that it is most likely early, judging from the typeface and fragility of the paper.

·         Image 1a shows timings and Head Discs referring to ‘Hampton Court Specials’

·         Image 1b (reverse of 1a) shows ‘GENERAL ORDERS’ and refers to Goods trains ‘after the last Race Special on the Race day’

·         Image 2a is very interesting as it refers to ‘ATHLETICS SPORTS at HAVANT’ and later ‘With excursionists in S.&D. Co’s Vehicles from Bath, &c’

·         Image 2b (reverse of 2a) also refers to Special Train Havant to P****** (Portsmouth?) East and Back with Passengers for Southampton West, Winchester, Lyndhurst, *****nhurst (Brockenhurst), Christchurch and Bournemouth  in L.B.&S.C. Co’s vehicles’

·         Image 4 shows a section of date

Conclusions from the above are difficult to draw as we cannot conclusively say that all the sheets are from the same document and date. Other sections (which we have yet to unravel, through painstaking steaming and flattening) refer to Sidmouth and Newton St Cyres.

Clearly these timetables were prepared for  special event. Here are some possibilities I have excluded so far:

·         Derby at Epsom – June, won by Spearmint (which of course gave its name to an A3)

·         Olympics in London 1908, not 1906 (Athens, though apparently not counted as a true Olympics!)

·         Coronations – does not fit with any dates

I would be very grateful if anyone could help us with identifying the likely event associated with this document. We have yet to actually see the word ‘Axminster’ but I anticipate that the heavily crumpled fragment on which we can see ‘Sidmouth’ will be forthcoming!

Chris Phillimore

Work has continued on the Box, the replacement and refurbished sliding windows at the front have been fitted, complete with roller wheels at the bottom running in the cast iron trays. We are awaiting supply of the replacement fixed light window to the right of the door – which utilsies some of the original parts. The other sliding windows awaits a replacement metal tray as the Railway had uinfortunately diposed of one at sometime durings it life!

During work to finish refitting the internal panneling a chunk of crumpled paper was found shoved into the gaps – this appears to be a very old sectional appendix or Special working timetable with train times, headcodes etc. the date is partly lost and it is very fragile.. but says Saturday 22nd August – does anyone know waht year that would be?

CJP

After a brief hiatus in June, while we dealt with other work, re-construction and restoration of the Box began in earnest in July.

After completing the brick base (using reclaimed bricks from the site), a HIAB lorry was used to move the components from temorary store to their new site and erect the main sections. Folowing work then concentrated on fabricating the new lower parts below the windows. Research has failed to pinpoint when this alteration took place but clearly it was brick by the 1960s.

We are trying to conserve as much of the original structure as possible but inevitably some parts such as the barge-boards etc were beyond repair. Much of the original planking had been replaced with modern T&G and replecating the original has been time-consuming and expensive. One very interesting feature was come to light is that an area of the original planking remained within the lean-to shed at the Eastern end and this appears to be in original LSWR salmon and Chocolate colours (under a thin layer of whitewash) and had certainly never been over-painted in SR or BR days. We have decided to paint the Box in SR colours and have retained one of the planks unpainted as a  sample.

The next step is completion of painting the outside and laying the slates. We have enough original slates salvaged to do at least one slope but will have to buy some more. Similarly the ridges will need extras and I am looking for someone to turn up replacement finials – the one original will be kept in ‘as is’ condition. We have three out of six of the original sliding sashes (which are repairable) and two of the orininal cast-iron trays for the sliding runners – (why did they remove the other one when they boarded over the front?) three new matching sashes are in production by local a local joiner. The door has been repaired and then we will start on the interior, which will be 90% original.

Researching the exact paint scheme has proved difficult. Refernce to many published texts and photographs has yet to confirm a couple of details particularly the colour of the barge-bords, facias and under eaves – some photo seem to indicate that this was white, though paint evidence on the remaining finial shows cream! Any help on this subject would be appreciated! (unfortunately Mr Prior’s tome on LSWR Boxes does not deal with colour schemes at all!)

We have been offered components for a 3 lever Stevens pattern frame, which is tempting but not a priority for the time being. I have had the priviledge of meeting the owner of the original frame and have been able to pull the levers (one of which operates a genuine LSWR lattice signal). We would also be interested to find a suitable cast-iron stove (with a flat top for tea!) which would have sttod at the rear (presumably on a slate slab or iron tray?)

If anyone is interested in seeing the box (or helping with its restoration, though I must point out that it will remain private property for the foreseeable future), please contact us through the email contact. We are located in the Somerset / Devon / Dorset area and hope to hold an open-day sometime in the future.

I have posted some photos on our gallery page: www.tir-ltd.co.uk/galleries/our-work/axminster-signal-box

Chris Phillimore

TIR is pleased to announce that phase 1 of ‘Operation Axminster’ is complete. This project has taken over 12 months to come to fruition to remove and ultimately re-erect and restore the original LSWR Crossing Keeper’s Box from Axminster Gates (Level Crossing). Network Rail is in the process of an exciting project of line enhancement on the Waterloo – Exeter route that will see an hourly service to london for the first time in over 40 years! As part of the works a three-mile section of the line around Axminster is being re-doubled. TIR’s managing director, Chris Phillimore became aware, through Industry contacts, that the original Box would be in the way of the works which include new signalling controls and re-alignment of the track.

The building which was one of only two remaining along the route is beleived to date from the 1880s and was erected to house the winding wheel for the manual gates and a 6 or 8 lever frame to operate the signals either side of the crossing. The structure is a timber semi-sectional building in softwood with a slate roof and glazed on three sides. Although much altered including erection of a brick chimney at some stage and more recently boarding over 3 of the 4 sliding windows at the front, the building was substantially original. Dismantling has revealed a number of interesting historical features – two sperate locations for the chimney from the original cast-iron stove passing through the roof boarding, the original wooden flooring still showing the shape of the frame where it sat in the floor, a five-foot deep void below with traces of the mountings for the frame and winding gear and much more including a large pile of coal in the corner of the basement!

Phase 2 which wil begin in a week or so will be to concerve, re-erect, and repair the structure at private site in the South-West. This will include using the excellent condition bricks (stamped ‘PINHOE’ in two different styles recovered from the chimney and rear lean-to) to make a new base and manufacture of new windows to replace the missing ones. The work should be complete by the autumn.

To undertake the work TIR had to create and have approved a Work Package Plan and other documentation to NR standard to integrate the works within the overall project. Much of the dismantling was undertaken over 30th / 31st May in connection with a total Blockade of the line. TIR also provided a COSS and suitably  workers to undertake the work.

TIR would like to thank the following individuals for their assistance: James Lofts and David Morris  at Network Rail, Stuart Barnes and John Skeet of BAM Nuttal Construction and all the other local guys from NR Operations, Bam Nuttal, S&T Cover Ltd who were so helpful!

Photos will be posted on the gallery

Watch this space for progres on Phase 2!