Volunteer filmmakers who’ve recorded the people, practices, equipment and buildings associated with traditional forms of signalling have been praised by the National Railway Museum (NRM) after creating their 100th film.
The Film Archive of Railway Signalling and People (FARSAP) is produced by the Signalling Record Society and the Friends of the National Railway Museum, with support from local Network Rail managers.
It has been prompted to preserve a visual record of signalling operations before they’re lost as a result of the move to rail operating centres, which represent one of the most significant revolutions in British railway signalling since the middle of the 19th century.
The website features a wide range of films from humble crossings to large power boxes.
Highlights include remote boxes in Scotland, such as Greenloaning and Dunragit, as well as the King’s Cross power signal box, which controls the East Coast main line as far as Sandy (Bedfordshire), and drone footage of the Selby and Goole swing bridges.
The project aims to visit working locations that are important for historical and operating reasons and to provide a complete record of signalling on the railways by 2020.
FARSAP intends to present all the edited material to the NRM for inclusion in the museum’s archive.
NRM director Judith McNicol said: “I would like to thank the FARSAP volunteers for producing such a valuable and historic record of signalling operations on the railways for future generations to enjoy.
“This is a great chance to glimpse inside the busiest and most remote signal boxes and to see how signalling works across the network.”
The completed films and the list of locations can be viewed online: www.s-r-s.org.uk/archivevideo.php.
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