Memory Lane

Took a trip down memory lane by visiting Romsey’s preserved Signal Box today.  Not that I know this railway signal box particularly well, but it is just like the one where my dad worked for many years on the famous Watercress Line at Alresford in another part of Hampshire.
Only at that time the Watercress Line was not a preservation railway, but a regular BR rail route linking Winchester with Alton and connections to London.  I travelled it daily for years on my way to and from school and later for my first job with a local newspaper.
Both signal boxes were victims of dramatic changes in Hampshire rail routes however. The Alresford route became victim of the infamous Beeching axe, and was later taken over by the Midhants Railway, which now operates it as the Watercress Line preservation railway.
On the other hand, until 1982 Romsey Signal Box controlled a railway junction with passenger and freight trains running between Southampton and Salisbury and a branch line leading down to Eastleigh.
It was resignalling work which meant that the signal box was no longer required, and although scheduled for demolition.
Thankfully, Romsey and District Buildings Preservation Trust stepped in and bought the signal box and its lever frame, and with the co-operation of the local authorities, the signal box was lifted into the grounds of an adjacent infants school.
The Friends of Romsey Signal Box then became involved and restored the signalling equipment to working order.