A New Job

Today I started a new job, well that is a little grandiose; actually it is another new piece of voluntary work in my retirement. If I show you a picture of my “office” below, I think that you will get the picture.

The North Yorks Moors Railway is our local heritage operation. It runs for 18 miles between Pickering and Whitby through the National Park. A mixture of heritage steam and diesel locomotives operate the trains, and it carries some 350,000 passengers a year. So it is a major tourist attraction and revenue generator. It is run by a mixture of volunteers and paid staff.

My small part in this organisation, is as a trainee signalman working at the signal box at Goathland. If you have seen any of the Harry Potter films, Goathland features, as it does in the TV series Heartbeat where it masquerades and Aidensfield. The station is a preserved replica of the bygone years.

Well I did not know what to expect. The signal box is very small and cosy with eighteen levers controlling points and signals, and a variety of machines whose purpose at first was not immediately obvious. The whole thing has not changed much from the Victorian era. It is a great example of Victorian technology.

The first shock was how difficult some of the levers are to pull. At least one requires all of my strength to move. This is where you are pulling about half a mile of cable to move a signal. The other is that bells and buzzers make a lot of the communication. Generally these interlock with the tablets that give the train the authority to move.

Things are at there most hectic when two trains pass. Signals have to be co-ordinated and tablets exchanged, and as the station is situated on a severe hill every attempt must be made to avoid bringing a train to a halt on the hill at the northern approach to the station.

So it was an interesting day, I now have to carry on with my trainee shifts and do considerable learning towards exams, after which I will be able to man, the signal box on my own. I think that might be sometime off!