Historic railway signal box at Par to close after 144 years

The oldest working signal box in Cornwall - built 144 years ago at Par - is to close in spring 2024.

Network Rail said it would close along with signal boxes at Lostwithiel and Truro as part of a digital upgrade.

The signal boxes at Par, built in 1880, and Lostwithiel, built in 1893, are Grade II listed by Historic England - meaning they must be preserved.

The fate of Truro's box is yet to be decided, but there are no immediate plans to demolish it, managers said.

Truro's signal box, built in 1899, currently looks after the entire Falmouth branch line and a section of the main line from Chacewater to Probus.

Signalling at Par, Lostwithiel and Truro is to be controlled centrally near Exeter St Davids, in Devon.

Craig Munday, a mobile operations manager for Network Rail, said of the plans: "It'll be a shame to see it go, but I think we should celebrate it rather than feel downbeat."

Due to the mechanical nature of the signal boxes, signallers physically pull 51 levers in Truro that change signals known as semaphores.

Mr Munday, who has worked on the railways for more than 30 years, said it was the main reason for their demise.

He said: "The equipment is old. By and large it works quite well, but Network Rail is finding it increasingly difficult to find spares and find parts to keep it all going. And it's due an overhaul."

The number of working signal boxes has been dwindling since their peak of between 12,000-13,000 before the start of World War One.

British Railways inherited about 10,000 signal boxes when it was formed in 1948.

At the end of 2019, Network Rail said 86 were still in use.

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