# Bescot Up Sidings Signal Box



## fluffy5518 (Oct 24, 2009)

Hi all,!!!
Thought i'd grab a couple of pics of the disused sig box near the Walsall end of Bescot Yd-that's the large railway complex you see just after junc 6 northbound on the M6-Its not exactly an exciting explore but Hey its derelict.
Bescot yard used to be a Hump marshalling yard-humps were basically a small hill in the track where a shunt loco could push wagons onto the top of before rolling down the other side(without brakes) and hopefully being sent into the correct siding on top of other wagons without a large crash !! After the wagons were uncoupled from the train the shunt loco would push them up the gradient and when they were at the top would apply his brakes.The section which had previously been uncoupled would then career off down the gradient chased by a brakesman whose job was to control the speed of the movement by applying the correct amount of handbrakes on the wagons.Obviously mistakes were made and injuries were common but it is amazing to think that brakesmen were still employed by BR well into the 70's.Bescot,as far as i am aware, had two humps one on the down side (this was a much larger affair and used air operated retarders to slow wagons down) and one on the up side.This small 1950's box controlled the pointwork and signalling for the up side hump and yard.When hump shunting finished the box was used by shunting staff as a ground frame to control the local points etc before all the pointwork became hand operated and the box was completely redundant sometime in the 1980's.It remains today as just a rotting shell and no doubt before too long will be just a memory along with most of our railway system !!!
Front and side views of the box









Climbing the rusting stairway




Inside the box








and finally downstairs in the old locking room.








Notice the Baby Belling Cooker in pic 4 every sigbox/messroom/cabin etc used to have these BR must have bought MILLIONS !!! and although i'm no expert that could be a tin of Glitto next to it,no doubt placed there by an urbexer who had just liberated it from a nearby ROC post !!!!
PS Just to round off a good nite at work some thieving Gypo scum decided to steal the signalling cables in the Kenilworth area and so i had to sit for over 4hrs waiting for it to be repaired,still, got a nice piccy of the train at Coventry (Pity its not a British loco on the front !!!!)


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## phill.d (Oct 24, 2009)

Love the internal signal box pic, i bet they were cosy in the old days watching the steamers pass on a cold night with the coal fire burning.
Nice one!


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## night crawler (Oct 24, 2009)

Nice one Fluffy trust you to be able to getin to places like that. Is that your train in the Photo


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## yamahapaul (Oct 24, 2009)

Donn't you mean junction 9? junction 6 is Perry Barr....


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## fluffy5518 (Oct 25, 2009)

yamahapaul said:


> Donn't you mean junction 9? junction 6 is Perry Barr....



Probably mate i'm just a big southern non driving type !! I'm sure that when we get a taxi to Bescot (at work) we turn off at junc 6 !!!!!


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## spacepunk (Oct 25, 2009)

Well done dude.


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## sleepless (Oct 25, 2009)

Great report! You must be an insider to get in places like that - it's lit up pretty well all the time!
I worked at Bescot as a shunter for two years around 1993. Had a very boring job of burning old records that were stored in the bottom of the Down Tower. 
I'm still on the railway in Control but not working for freight. 
Thanks for the pics, I never managed to get around to going in there!


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## fluffy5518 (Oct 25, 2009)

Hi Sleepless
Thanx !!! Yes i am on the railway,work for EWS or DB as its called this week !!! Have been going to Bescot since about 1995 so might even have seen you there.Its not the same place all the names have gone only ones youd probably know are Plackett and Downs !!!Down Tower is still in use but only by Network Rail to give slot to/from Walsall panel,all the points in the yard have been converted to hand points thats progress these days !!!
PS yes Mr Crawler that was my train for that evening its not MY TRAIN however,i'd never own anything so RANCID !!!!!!!


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## Daddy_Longlegs (Nov 6, 2009)

I've driven past Bescot and been past there on the train and always wondered what it would be like in the old box... Nice shots there Fluffy, i've got a bit of a thing for old signal boxes 

We've still got a baby belling in the messroom at the depot- everywhere you go you see these things... As you say, BR must've bought hundreds of the things!!!

Am i reading that right- 66001?!?! I've got a collection of 001's and now i now she's in EWS (sorry, DB :icon_evil) i'll be on the lookout for 66001... Are those rail transprorters you're pulling?

I'm not ashamed to admit i'm a tiny bit of a spotter


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## Runner (Nov 7, 2009)

Love those internal shots there Fluffy, the railway takes on a totally different atmosphere at night.
Shame there's no mechanical levers and instruments left tho!

I remember the hump shunting yard at Scunny when I was a nipper - there were regularly wagons crashed into the buffers awaiting repair- just memories now, it's all been ripped up


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## trailblazer (Nov 8, 2009)

that is such a gorgeous building, i love the pics... nicely done


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