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Step 2: complete the form below, and "submit" this to us.
Step 3: select the appropriate payment - bottom of this page - to complete your payment for membership (through our FNRM shop)
Telephone: 01904 636874
Email: nrm.friends@sciencemuseum.ac.uk
FNRM News
Latest News at The Friends of the National Railway Museum
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FARSAP Update - June 2026
The latest in the films just added to the Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People (FARSAP) cover the Keighley and Worth Valley heritage railway – the KWVR. There are three films totalling about 50 minutes. The first shows the Shipley Bingley Junction signal box which closed in 1994. The last day of operation is seen before the removal of the box to the KWVR. The second film shows signalling on the KWVR from the early days to the present. There are detailed explanations of signal box moves and a look at the Damems Junction Midland Railway tumbler frame originally moved from Frizinghall (Bradford). The working of the tumbler frame along with ground frames on the route with Annett’s locks and Keylocks are pictured and explained. The final film shows how the film ‘The Railway Children’ influenced the line and led to its success today. The five miles of line with its six stations between Keighley and Oxenhope originally closed in 1962. Thanks to local pressure and considerable volunteer effort it was re-opened in 1968. It has run for over 200 days a year ever since. The line is also featured in many film and TV productions and also stars in TV adverts. It’s a fascinating story with signalling as well! The Friends of the NRM and the Signalling Record Society with the valued support of Network Rail have made FARSAP an impressive collection of films about our railway heritage past and present. The archive continues to grow and the signalling locations and other subjects covered can be found in the index at www.farsap.co.uk
FNRM News - May 2026
The Royal Mint is now honouring locomotive ‘Duchess of Hamilton’ with its release of commemorative 2026 £2 coins. As 46229, the locomotive which had been withdrawn from British Railways in 1964 was then put on static display in a children’s playground at Butlin’s holiday camp in Minehead. It was then loaned to the Friends of the NRM and bought for the National Collection in 1987. After three years of a major overhaul the ‘Duchess’ as she is known, hauled a Friends of the NRM charter train of fourteen fully loaded carriages from York to Carlisle and back over the testing Settle & Carlisle route, performing magnificently. The locomotive’s return to main line operations from being a static exhibit was achieved by a joint NRM and Friends of the NRM project known as ‘Duchess 90’.
Then the Friends of the NRM accepted the challenge to continue to fund the locomotive’s restoration and operation. “Steam Railway” magazine supported a public appeal for partners. Out of this came the “229 Club”, which had over the last thirty or more years been the bedrock for all subsequent Duchess projects. Fundraising solutions such as book sales and royalties from limited edition prints helped the appeal. For example, it cost over £300,000 to get 46229 back to BR mainline operational standards.
46229 was finally withdrawn from duty in 1996. The next project was the plan to streamline the locomotive back to its 1937 London Midland & Scottish Railway appearance. This was done in 2009. You can see the splendid results in the Great Hall of the National Railway Museum in York today – and this is as it appears on the Royal Mint’s commemorative £2 coins. The streamlining was paid for by the Friends of the NRM. Since 1977, the Friends have contributed over £2.2 million to support over 60 worthwhile National Railway Museum projects. The prices of the commemorative coins from the Royal Mint range including coloured, silver and gold versions are from £17.50 to £2,505. And, of course, donations to the Friends of the NRM are always welcome.
FARSAP NEWS
The latest films in the series are now available. They are four separate films of a visit to Peterborough on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) showing how signalled has developed in this important and busy area. The first shows Peterborough Power box filmed in 2023 before it was decommissioned and re-controlled to the York ROC. It had served for just over 50 years. Next comes the Peterborough PSB Crossings Panel which at first was a separate IFS panel installed in 1998 to control by CCTV the level crossings previously worked from Everton, Offord and Holme. It was replaced in 2000 by the TEW SM48 panel shown in the film. Then the next film shows the 1894 Great Northern Railway signal box at Eastfield. It is a listed structure which survives alongside the ECML as a shunting frame. The traditional boxes at Helpston and Woodcroft are covered. Helpston box was opened by the Great Northern Railway in 1898. It is still used as a gate box to control not only its own level crossing, but a whole series of CCTV crossings. Finally, Woodcroft is a remarkable survivor which works manual gates with key locks from a crossing over both the ECML and the Peterborough to Leicester line. Over thirty minutes of film can be seen in this Peterborough series. A separate 20-minute film shows the fringe box at Uffington & Barnack on the Leicester to Peterborough route which is signalled with absolute block working and was filmed on an earlier visit. The Friends of the National Railway Museum working with the Signalling Record Society and Network Rail will continue, when time and resources allow, to add to this valuable national archive of signalling films. We are very grateful to the Network Rail personnel who co-operated with their expertise and assistance in the making of these films. The full lists of FARSAP films which are all free to view can be found at https://farsap.co.uk/
January 2026
The FARSAP team last visited the Harrogate line in 2015, and those films are still available to view on the FARSAP website. However, since that date several changes have taken place, so further filming visits funded by the Friends of the NRM were made in February and November 2025. There are five new films. Hammerton in 2025 is shown here. Key Token working between Poppleton and Hammerton, also between Cattal and Knaresborough was replaced by Tokenless Block in November 2020 as part of the Harrogate Line Capacity Improvement Project. The background to this change and a description of Tokenless Block operation is provided by Phil Graham in the FARSAP film of our visit to Cattal. Further changes are described at each location. Please see all five free films at farsap.co.uk
The FARSAP (Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People) archive has recently had even more additions to add to its already impressive list of free films. The team have just added Ferrybridge signal box which is an NX (Entrance/Exit signalling system) panel. Then there is Diggle Junction lever frame signal box which was decommissioned in August 2025 and later demolished. It was at the south end of the famous Standedge Tunnel over three miles long under the Pennines between Lancashire and Yorkshire. The signal box at Castleford, West Yorkshire has also been added. It replaced five signal boxes under the Project EROS (Early Replacement of Signalling) scheme. Heritage railway signalling is represented by five videos of the Llangollen Railway in North Wales which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025. Included are Carrog signal box, Llangollen station signal box, Llangollen Goods signal box, Corwen ground frame and Glyndyfrdwy signal box. This former Great Western Railway passenger and goods line closed in the late 1960s and is now operating again as a major tourist attraction. You can see train working, Tyer’s key token and block instruments, bells, cow horns, king levers and lever frames in use.
The FARSAP Signalling Film Archive Has a New Website.
The Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People (FARSAP) is still growing. After benefiting from a page on the Signalling Record Society website for the last 12 years, we now have our own website under the auspices of the FNRM. Please make a note and update your browsing records where needed; the site can now be accessed at: www.farsap.co.uk The appearance of the website hasn’t changed yet, so will be familiar to regular users. If you do click on the SRS site, for the time being, there is a link to direct you to the new site. We would like to thank John Lacy, the SRS webmaster, most sincerely for all his work setting up the original FARSAP webpage on the SRS website, then maintaining it and adding films as they were edited. Furthermore, he set up the new website on our behalf before handing it over which is very much appreciated. Nick Jones, who has been an active member since the project started in 2012, has kindly agreed to be the new FARSAP webmaster and is already adding new films. Derek Young has done a great job for us as film editor for several years, but he is planning to step down no later than March 2026. Therefore, we would be pleased to hear from anyone who has editing skills that they would be prepared to share with us.
FARSAP Latest Releases.
Our new website is continuing to prove popular with links to films of well over 200 selected signalling locations. The FARSAP team have recently added films of Bridlington signal box when it still had a traditional lever frame and then after a new NX panel had been installed in its place. Attention has recently turned to West Yorkshire where Wakefield Kirkgate Signalling Centre the nearby Crofton Crossings, Horbury Junction, Woolley Coal Siding and Prince of Wales signal boxes have all been recorded. Heritage railway signalling in Wales is now represented by a comprehensive set of films taken at the Llangollen Railway (Llangollen Station, Llangollen Goods, Glyndyfrdwy, Carrog and Corwen). More films are in course of editing, including the Peterborough area, Stockport, and the Tokenless Block system on the York to Knaresborough line.
