Wensleydale Railway - Photo Archive

Restoration and Installation of a Lever Frame

in Scruton Signal Box (Gate Box) - Page 4

When Aiskew level crossing was converted to an AOCL (Automatic Open Crossing, Locally monitored) in the mid-1980s, the frame and levers from the Gate Box there were bought by John Young, an army officer who was a keen collector of signalling equipment. John’s collection grew to be the largest privately-owned signalling collection in the country and is now in the care of the Museum of Scottish Railways at the Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway. John himself, of course, is better known to many of us as a WR member and volunteer, and was our first Volunteer Coordinator.

After the future of the Railway was secured, John very generously donated the Aiskew frame back for use in the surviving Signal Box at Scruton (technically that too was a Gate Box), and for the last several years the dismantled frame has lain in pieces in the locking pit below the box. Last year the station team decided that the time had come to restore and install it, and Timothy Edwards and Peter Harbord agreed to take the project on. John Young has taken a keen interest and has been supporting us with documentation and advice.

The frame is now in position (end 2025), although the locking box still needs to be fitted. Initially it will be just for “show” and will provide a new feature for the educational programme at the station. Later, it is hoped to install a demonstration signal, worked from one of the levers, if a suitable location away from the running line can be identified. In the future, the frame could in theory be used to control signals protecting the level crossing, in the same way as at Bedale, though this would only be worthwhile if there was regular running east of Scruton.

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