E15 - Safety Engineering

Did You Know?

Personal recollections of railways

Aug 18, 2022
2 min

A Smooth Ride

In praise of excellent rolling stock and permanent way. . . . . . . 100 years ago in August 1922, the Great Western Railway was boasting...

Jun 9, 2022
4 min

K03 - Safety in Transit

Exploding for Safety

Explosive safety devices for use in poor visibility, emergencies and to protect engineering works. . . . . . . Detonators, or “Signals,...

Mar 29, 2022
3 min

C01A - Southern England

Rabbits and Railways

A one-time revenue source - and unwelcome tunnellers. . . . . . . . In the days when rabbits were an important part of the national human...

Mar 25, 2022
4 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

Learning the Lessons

How a serious accident led to the development of a longstanding footplate safety warning system. . . . . . . How many times do we hear...

Mar 16, 2022
3 min

E05B - Station design

Watching the Clock

Keeping time on the Great Western Railway. . . . . . . The Great Western Railway (GWR) timetable for January 1841 explains railway time...

Nov 27, 2021
3 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

Signal Box Dreams

Signalbox life featuring Cuneo’s ‘On Early Morning Shift’ poster. . . . . . . In days gone by I volunteered to act as host for those...

Oct 30, 2021
2 min

C01E - East Midlands Region

A signal achievement

The Rutland village of Ketton, on the Peterborough to Leicester cross-country line, still retains a traditional manual signal box. Of...

Sep 5, 2021
4 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

Signalling Tales

Summary: The stories of Ted Cook, Leicester signalman. . . . . . . Well, you know how it is. It’s a cold November morning but in Ted’s...

31st Dec 1947 recording of the last GWR train to be signalled past one of the Reading signal boxes

Aug 31, 2021
3 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

31st Dec 1947 recording of the last GWR train to be signalled past one of the Reading signal boxes

This historic 1947 New Year’s Eve sound recording in a signal box at Reading, Berkshire, 36 miles from Paddington mentions that it was a...

May 31, 2021
4 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

A Signalling Life

The story of signalman Iain MacKenzie. . . . . . . . Several people I met while collecting oral histories mentioned ‘Iain’ as someone...

Jan 30, 2021
3 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

1947 Reading recording

This historic 1947 New Year’s Eve sound recording in a signal box at Reading, Berkshire, 36 miles from Paddington mentions that it was a...

Nov 12, 2020
2 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

FARSAP film archive

Northenden Junction signal box The latest additions to the Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People (FARSAP) can now be viewed....

Latest additions to signalling film archive

Sep 8, 2020
2 min

E15 - Safety Engineering

Latest additions to signalling film archive

The most recent films uploaded onto the Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People (FARSAP) site give us a total of 165 signalling...

Jun 17, 2020
2 min

C01CL - London

Borough Market Junction Signal box

This signal box originally controlled the lines between London Bridge, Cannon Street and Charing Cross/Blackfriars. It was, at the time,...

Apr 7, 2020
2 min

E04 - Electrical Engineering

A Distracting Attraction!

It’s good to know that in these difficult days of distancing, isolation and worse we can get away from it all. You need move no further...

Mar 5, 2020
1 min

E04 - Electrical Engineering

Signalling one of our latest projects

From time to time, the Friends of the NRM embark on new projects, researching aspects of Britain's railways which have rarely been...

The Friends of the National Railway Museum

Telephone: 01904 636874
Email: nrm.friends@sciencemuseum.ac.uk

Did You Know?