LOCATION
Reedham is situated halfway between Norwich and Lowestoft, 12 miles south-east of Norwich. Here the line to Great Yarmouth via Berney Arms diverges.
HISTORY
The Norwich-Reedham-Yarmouth route was the first in the county. The Yarmouth & Norwich Railway company’s bill received Royal Assent 18 June 1842 with construction beginning the following April. The first train ran 1st May 1844. Following the River Yare, it took just 1 year to build a 20-mile railway line with only shovels and horses!!
On 1st July 1847 Reedham became a junction with the opening of the route to Lowestoft. Also, the line to London, via Ely and Cambridge, was completed connecting the two ports with the capital.
Increasing traffic was relieved by a new shorter route to Yarmouth via Acle, opened in 1883. Now the dominant line leaving just 7 trains to Yarmouth via Reedham on weekdays.
The Lowestoft route was soon up to capacity necessitating doubling the line between Oulton Broad and Reedham Jn in 1904. This required new signal boxes including Reedham Jn supplied by signalling manufacturer Mckenzie & Holland of Worcester.
REEDHAM JUNCTION SIGNALBOX (RJN)
The design is one of the most common to be found in East Anglia, Great Eastern Type 7. Opening 21st May 1904, RJN ceased operation, 115 years later, in March 2019, as part of the NYL (Norwich, Yarmouth & Lowestoft) re-signalling scheme which completed in February 2020. Trains on these lines are now controlled from two workstations at Colchester PSB (Power signalbox) some 70 miles away.
A HANDS-ON SIGNALLING SIMULATOR
RJN was selected for preservation as it is the largest remaining signalbox of completely timber construction in East Anglia making re-locating it relatively straightforward. With its 60-lever frame being double the size of that of the existing North Norfolk Railway signal boxes it provides a contrast between single track branch line working and a double track mainline with a single line junction. Whilst our primary objective was to save this building from the bulldozer, we needed a purpose for it as another operational signalbox was not needed.
As signalboxes are there to safely control train movements they tend to be inaccessible to the public and opportunities for the public to operate them are very rare indeed. RJN offered an opportunity to build a hands-on simulator for the public to safely work, to experience life as a signalman without risk to real trains. Mechanical signalling is fast disappearing but so is the life of a traditional signalman. Sitting alone by the stove with only the ticking clock for company. Summoned by a bell sending mysterious messages about an approaching train punctuating the long periods of quiet. Setting the points and clearing the signals, giving an acknowledging wave to the driver and checking the tail lamp as the train moves off to the next signalbox.
The once heavy levers are now a mouse click and the view of the passing trains replicated on a series of computer screens. The stove is now air conditioning and the solitude, a large room of colleagues.
FUNDRAISING
Reedham Jn closed in March 2019 and was immediately boarded up and secured. We removed all signalling equipment for safe storage and were fortunate enough to be present when the junction signal was felled. We were able to get the contractors to cut the signal to suit our needs for future erection at Holt. This became the first piece of the jigsaw to arrive at NNR courtesy of Whitwell & Reepham Railway’s lorry.
It was now time to fundraise, we launched an appeal to save Reedham Jn and move it to Holt. After some basic market research, we settled on a sponsorship model with different levels to meet different pockets which could be paid as a single donation or as a standing order over 25 months. Platinum level was £500, Gold £250, Bronze £125. There was also the ability to Gift Aid which, considering the sums involved, was very worthwhile.
The Interest was beyond expectations, within 3 months we had donations and pledges totally over £40,000. Clearly people believed in what we were doing, now we had to deliver. The final total reached £45k with further donations as recently as December 2024.
THE MOVE
Spotting a maintenance blockade in late November 2022 we planned our move. With the assistance of staff at Network Rail Ipswich Maintenance Delivery Unit we booked a date, the night of 29th November 2022 for the move. We were on!
In July the lever frame and anything else we could remove were recovered and transported for storage at Holt. The lever frame dismantling and reassembly was led by Mid-Norfolk Railway’s Signal & Telegraph team.
Sunday 27th November 2022 was spent cutting the signal box in half just below the operating floor and bolting it back together again for speed on the big night. The building would travel in two halves on two lorries. The locking room lacked a floor and ceiling and so had to be braced with heavy timbers to maintain its shape. Vegetation was cleared on the approach road for the lorries to pass.
Monday 28th – two lorries with lifting arms arrived. After the last train passed at midnight, we took possession of the line, and the bolts were removed. Sadly by 0300 it was evident that the top half was heavier than estimated and we had to abort the lift and bolt the building back together in time for the first train of the day.
Wednesday 30th – We now had a big crane and were ready to go! The two sections parted at 0240 and were on two lorries in the station car park by 0400. How much does the top half weigh? 11.6tonnes!!
The building was safely located onto its newly built base at 2020 the same day. Job done!
RESTORATION
A team of volunteers then set about its restoration. There was much rotten woodwork to attend to and the whole exterior needed a full repaint. RJN was relatively sheltered being in a cutting but the stairs end took a beating from the weather. We had to replace a corner post, the door and windows as they were beyond repair. Ian Starks of Northmark made replicas and installed them in summer 2023. Mid-Norfolk Railway’s S&T Team returned to install the lever frame in April filling in the big hole in the upstairs floor. We could now remove the modern stuff and refurbish the upstairs back to heritage era of c1980. Why c1980? Simply, the tokenless block and BR standard block instruments we have date back to 1977. If we went later then the track layout started to get modernised. Owen Stratford researched the history through old drawings and redrew the signalbox diagram while Maurice Gifford made lever plates to correspond with the revised diagram.
By the end of 2023 the stairs was all but finished cosmetically. July 2024 was ‘The BIG Paint Party’ over dozen volunteers worked over 2 blocks of 4 days to sand, prime, undercoat and top coat the whole exterior of RJN. Teamwork at its finest!
THE SIMULATOR
One of our team, Maurice Gifford, is able to design the necessary software to create a simulator and therefore bring RJN to life for our visitors. Having been involved with the Exeter West SB move in the mid-80’s he was keen to do similar but automate it. Exeter has a person in another room acting as the neighbouring signalboxes. RJN will be fully computerised, a dream Maurice wish to fulfil.
We are now in a position to signal trains in all directions by simply pressing one button to initiate the sequence.