A redundant 130-year-old signal box from Wye in Kent has been given a new lease of life at Prospidnick on the Helston Railway in Cornwall.

After closure, the signal box was due to be demolished, but one of the Helston Railway’s volunteers spent months of negotiations with Network Rail which agreed to dismantle the box instead of demolishing it.

The Railway Heritage Trust also provided a grant to the Helston Railway, which was supplemented by the railway’s own funds towards the dismantling, relocation, and rebuilding of the box.

A task force of 25 people including many ex-offenders involved in the ‘Brighter Futures in Rail’ project took part in the delicate operation to dismantle and remove the signal box.

The windows and cladding were too rotten to salvage but Brighters, the contractor that dismantled the signal box, has donated replacement windows and cladding that exactly match the original.

Rebuilding the signal box will begin in the coming months, with completion planned for sometime next year.

Wye signal box is a Saxby & Farmer Type 12 design built in 1893. It is typical of signal boxes built for the South Eastern Railway and the London, Chatham & Dover Railway between 1890 and 1894.

Although it had been disused for several years, it still contained around 20 levers and the lever frame and locking mechanisms, which have all been donated to the Helston Railway.

The original railway to Helston closed in 1962, and has previously had donations from Network Rail including a footbridge from St. Austell.

“We were only too pleased to be able to support the Helston Railway when it became obvious that they could make better use of an otherwise redundant signal box on our network that would otherwise have been demolished.

Terry Denyer, Regional Asset Manager for Buildings at Network Rail

“The intention is to site the signal box at Prospidnick using as many of the original materials as possible. The structure has received little investment over the past 30 years as it was no longer needed for the modern railway, so we expect the wooden upper structure will require some significant attention.

Colin Savage, Chairman, Helston Railway

“We are pleased to be supporting the Helston Railway with the re-location of this historic signal box. Rebuilding it on a heritage railway will allow it to be better appreciated by more people”.

Tim Hedley-Jones, Director of the Railway Heritage Trust