No shed turn today, as I have attended the Volunteers Forum at the theatre last Saturday and I have a whole day training this coming Sunday, along with a meeting on volunteer recruitment this afternoon. In the interests of domestic bliss I shall be collecting compost - actually leaf mould - for Mrs H's allotment.
But where to find leaf mould? The most interesting option is obviously here, at the sunny little oasis that is the railway's most Eastern outpost, Cromer Beach Signal Box.
The box is shown on the 1900 OS map as a tiny hatched box, bottom left:
Here's the back of the box today, still facing out over the remains of this once busy station - the remains of the engine shed, turntable, carriage sidings, coal and goods yard sleeping underneath Morrisons.
This is the cattle dock, with the route of a second siding shown by the gravel path behind the box. Originally there were two cattle pens behind the platform, sufficient to hold enough animals to fill two vans. The slope in the background with the white gates is the cattle drove up to the main road.
This is an interesting little widget - it's a detonator placer. In times of fog, it was common for 'fogmen' to strap detonators to the line to warn of approaching trains, for example, if a failed train was blocking a section. The approaching train would roll over the detonator and there would be a mighty bang, audible to the crew, who may not have seen a stop signal in the fog.
Alternatively, a detonator could be placed in a fixed position using this device, operated by a lever in the box. Here, the detonators, represented by the two biscuits are in the unarmed position away from the rails:
If you look closely you can see that I have operated the lever to raise the detonators to the armed position:
Next, we have two Mutual Improvement Classes on boiler design and firemen's rules.
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