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Dorset Re-signalling

Next year the line between Parkstone and Weymouth will be resignalled, with control then from Basingstoke ASC.  Signalboxes to be closed are Poole, Hamworthy, Wareham , Wool and Dorchester South.

Dorchester South is a BR brick building from 1959 with an entry-exit panel.  It controls Weymouth to Moreton and Maiden Newton, with SSI for the Weymouth area.  Poole , Hamworthy and Wool all date from the 1890s and appear to have their original frames.  Poole box and frame were extended in the 1930s.  Wareham is to LSWR design, but built by the Southern Railway in 1928 and with its original frame.  All have been altered over the years, but Hamworthy is closest to original condition.  The Network SouthEast extension at Wool is far from sympathetic to the original structure.  The signal controlling access to the Hamworthy Goods branch at Hamworthy is a semaphore.  This is the only semaphore between Waterloo and Weymouth .

 

Hamworthy
Hamworthy signalbox, 444043 passing

444043 entering Hamworthy with the 12:45 Waterloo to Weymouth on 26th February 2012.  The signalbox is on the down platform, with the Hamworthy Goods branch passing behind it.

photograph by "GB"

 

Wareham
Wareham Signalbox, 444005 passing

444005 passing Wareham signalbox with the 10:45 Waterloo to Weymouth on 26th February 2012. The once adjacent level crossing - now a foot crossing as sen in te foreground - was replaced by the road bridge seen in the background.

Note on the 26th February trains were re-timed because of engineering work.

photograph by "GB"

 

Wool
Wool signalbox, by the level crossing that it controls

On 26th February 2012, Wool signalbox, by the level crossing that it controls. Note, as Prince Charles would say, the monstrous carbuncle on its side.

photograph by "GB"

33114 and 4TC unit passing the signalbox at Wool on 25th July 1985

The signalbox looked much better proportioned, but dirtier, before it was extended. 33114 is hauling a 4TC unit towards Weymouth on a fast Waterloo to Weymouth working on 25th July 1985.

photograph by Colin Duff