Lowdham Railway Heritage

26/07/2026

We got quite a lot done, with the timber installed for the leadout, and a lot of preparation for controlling the miniature lower quadrant Midland Railway signal. Tje weight arm is cleaned and just waiting for a couple of bushes. The vertical pulley and signal wire is in place, but not yet connected up.

And we fitted the lovely MR stove fender.

24/07/2026

I am planning a day of Working Party and Open Day tomorrow, Sunday 26th. The plan is:
* 11am - 1pm Working party
* 1pm - 2pm lunch break
* 2pm - 3:30pm Open Day (7 people booked)
* 4pm - 5:30pm Possible Open Day (no-one yet booked)
followed by (or instead if still no-one booked for the second tour):
Training session to practice the Busy Monday Morning demo for Heritage Open Days, finishing when we have had enough!

For the working party, jobs include:
* Laying two new planks in the lead-out, and fitting new signal wire pulleys.
* Fitting a new vertical pulley inside downstairs for lever 3.
* Fitting a new signal cable through the pipe.
* Adding a third signal wire pulley on each of the 3 wall-side supports.
* Fitting the new (to us!) weight bar at the far end of the wall, and connecting it to lever 3.
* Fitting a wire-in-tube drive from the weight bar to the miniature Signal No.3
* Un-siezing, de-rusting, rust-treating and painting new cast-iron components.
* Preparing the lower box rear weatherboarding and station-end corner posts for painting.
* Putting the new MR stove pan underneath the stove.

Please come if you can, even if it is only for a couple of hours.
Please let me know if you can make it. Thank you.

23/07/2026

How about visiting Lowdham Signal Box this Sunday (26th July)? There is plenty of space for the 2pm tour. This is family-friendly and has been enjoyed by all ages (5+).

See a historic railway signal box and try your hand on the levers. Learn what a signal box is for, and what signalman did.

02/07/2026

A busy day today with Lowdham Primary School visiting this morning, a wildlife advisor coming to help make the station more wildlife-friendly this afternoon, and the local Beavers visiting this evening.

12/04/2026

In researching Armathwaite signal box, we have discovered that the first two track circuits installed in 1931 were (like most of the rest of the S&C) repeated using the square LMS repeaters, rather than the later ubiquitous circular Thompson banner repeaters.

(The second tranch of track circuits installed in 1938 did use the Thompson ones).

Does anyone have one that they would be prepared to photograph the internal workings, please? And accurate dimensions would be useful as well. I suspect that they are approximately 4" square and 6" deep.

I suppose hoping that there are two of them for sale is optimistic?

The first photo shows one that was sold in auction in 2019. The Thompson unit beside it gives a good indication of size.

The second photo shows the interior of Armathwaite signal box in the late 1960s.

16/03/2026

We had a family visit the box on grandfather Tom's birthday, together with sons and daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Tom sent some lovely, and rather interesting feedback.

In the box visits, we usually narate the story of the 1910 accident at Hawes Junction, and the impact that had on the observance of Rule 55.

Tom wrote:

Hello David,
Thank you very much for the visit we made yesterday afternoon to your amazing signalbox.

I have been in a signal box at Lydney on The Forest of Dean railway but your talk and the atmosphere in your box would take some beating. It's rather a shame that old signal boxes are disappearing.

You talked about the 1910 train disaster at Hawes on the S and C. Well my friend's grandfather had been on the Scotch Express. He had survived being in the toilet when the trains collided. He was thrown into a field. Other passengers in the coach didn't survive.

A guard told him to make haste to the signalbox to alert him of the accident and call for emergency services.

It's a long time since that terrible collision.
Thank you from us all David.

It was a memorable visit with the grandchildren in the box too.

Yours sincerely
Tom

13/03/2026

A friend came to visit the box today, and took a photo like this. He commented that it would look so much nicer without the modern lamp post right in front of it. So I uploaded it to gemini.goole.com with the instruction, "remove the white lamp post and white 'Lowdham' sign from in front of the yellow building."

It worked a treat.

03/03/2026

We are planning open days on the following dates.

Tuesday dates are evening opening, 8pm to 9pm, which is very atmospheric, and generally not fully subscribed.

Other dates normally have two sessions: 2pm to 3:30pm, and 4pm to 5:30pm, unless otherwise stated.

Sunday 28th June
Tuesday 14th July 8pm
Sunday 26th July
Sunday 30th August
Sunday 11th October
Tuesday 13th October 7pm
We may cancel some of the dates if there is low take-up.

Heritage Open Days
Saturday and Sunday 12th/13th September
Saturday and Sunday 19th/120h September
We usually have an 11am to 12:30pm slot in addition to the two afternoon slots for these four days.

Please book your free visit on Eventbrite so we know how many people to expect for each session.

See a historic railway signal box and try your hand on the levers. Learn what a signal box is for, and what signalman did.

08/02/2026

How to convert an old Tilly lamp to LED.

Remove the lid, and remove all the gubbins inside it. Paint the inside of the lid with silver paint to reflect more light downward.

Unscrew the riser pipe and valve from the tank. Cut off about an inch from the top of the pipe so the LED is nicely below the liremove the riser from the valve, and drill out the valve with 4mm drill so wires can pass through. Remove the pickup pipe from the bottom of the valve.

Cut a hole in the base of the tank to give access to the batteries. Cut holes for the USB charging cables. Use a hot glue gun to stick the batteries down so the USB charging port lines up with the access holes. The pp3 rechargeable batteries are £20 for four.

Drill for the switch, which is a miniature DPDT centre off switch. Two 9V clips are wired the swich so the lamp can get 9V (dim) or 18V (bright). The bulbs gave a built-in regulator so any voltage 12V or a bit higher is fine,and will light up bright.

The bulb holder wires are extended by soldering on more wire and insulating with heat shrink tube. Bulb holder glued into top of riser pipe.

The bulbs and holders are about £1 each in packs of 5 on ebay.

Now at Armathwaite signal box
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