Thanks to the generosity of Network Rail, a rotten 40-year-old timber walkway on the Severn Valley Railway has been replaced without costing the railway anything for materials.

The railway’s signal engineering (S&T) gang consisting of team leader Matthew Morgan, technician Dan Salter, and volunteer technician Brian Graystone, replaced rotten timber walkway boards to the up starting bracket signal on platform 2 at Bridgnorth, which is located at the entrance to the loco shed sidings.

The walkway boards need to be kept in good repair as they provide access to the signals for maintenance and faults; their appearance also retains the authenticity of the original signals. The rotten timbers are now 50 years old, and their poor state has posed a significant safety hazard and required them to be replaced.

With the railway looking to make cost savings, it came as a great relief that this repair could be done with no costs for materials.

A Mobile Elevated Work Platform (MEWP) was used to access the platform so that the rotten timbers and rusted stays could be removed; the original stays had rusted so much that their securing nuts could not be removed. New boards were made out of donated scaffold planking, which was cut to size and attached to the metal framework of the bracket signal.

The boards were secured to a steel frame using metal stays and decking bolts that had been donated by Network Rail after they were left over from a previous job.

Brian Graystone explained more: “Using the MEWP made the job much easier than trying to use ladders.? It meant that two of us could work at height at the same time.

“We also took the opportunity to carry out the routine cleaning and oiling maintenance of the signals whilst we were up there; that’s two for one in my book!

“The following day, Matt and Dan washed the signal down to clean the smoke and dirt deposits off – what a difference! A fresh coat of paint is all that remains to complete the repair.”