Llanelli to lose another piece of its heritage

By Jonthan Williams

Building that has been part of the Llanelli landscape for 135 years to be demolished in January 2013.

The Llanelli West Signal Box is to be demolished as part of Network Rail’s plans to upgrade the Llanelli Station Signalling system, which means that the Town loses another remnant of its industrial heritage which has protected people crossing the line since 1877.

As the crossing will now be controlled by Port Talbot and eventually Cardiff, there is no use for the building which played a small part with the East Signal Box (demolished in the 1980s) in the Llanelli Riots

Extract from The 1911 Riots in the Glanymor & Tyisha Area by John Edwards

Saturday morning passed quietly but it proved to be the calm before the storm. A train bound from Cardiff to Fishguard was standing on the down platform of the station at about 2 p.m.

This train was causing obvious concern to the strikers whose committee were holding a meeting in Copperworks School just over a hundred yards from the western crossing where a crowd of about 250 had gathered.

Suddenly, the train moved out at 2.30 and was pursued by the crowd together with the railwaymen. It came to a halt after half a mile because the next set of gates at the Old Castle crossing were closed and the guard went forward to open them.

Railwaymen boarded the footplate, bundled off the driver who was drunk and raked out the engine fire. The train was going nowhere now. Within minutes, Major Stuart arrived on the scene with a squad of 80 soldiers of the Worcesters with bayonets fixed. The crowd scampered up the banks of High Street and Bryn Road and the soldiers lined up on each side of the train.

Some stones were thrown and Stuart climbed up the bank and spoke to people on the garden wall of No.4. After he had climbed down again, one of his soldiers was struck by a stone and fell to the ground. It was then that Stuart drew up a firing squad of five soldiers and ordered Henry Wilkins, J.P. to read the Riot Act which nobody heard in all the tumult and shouting.

Sadly we all know what happened next.

Benita Rees of Llanelli Historical Society said:

“We always feel sad when there is talk about demolishing part of our heritage and wish greater care could be taken before making the final decision. How often do we find something has been demolished and then someone wants to rebuild it!”

“It is part of local history and a part of the great struggle of the ordinary working man at the beginning of the 20th century. The east and west railway crossing were part of a struggle and innocent men died in the riots of 1911 mainly fuelled by troops being called in. The protest was good humoured to begin with but once the troops came in and the men were killed things changed dramatically.”

“I know it is only a small building but it is part of the large railway heritage associated with Llanelli and it would be great if it could be preserved as a working history lesson for local schoolchildren and a reminder of the struggle that the ordinary workers faced every day.”

A lot of Llanelli’s railway heritage has long since disappeared with campaigners now fighting hard to save the Grade II listed former Llanelli Railway Goods Shed which was built 2 years before the signal box.

Richard Roper, Secretary of Llanelli Railway Goods Shed Trust said:

“I understand that Network Rail are planning to demolish the Signal Box once it has been taken out of use. The structure is not listed so unfortunately they are entitled to do this if they so wish.”

“Nonetheless it is an important and iconic heritage building and should be preserved if at all possible.”

“Ideally the Signal Box should be moved to a suitable location where it could be made accessible to the public but this will be a costly exercise. I would hope that Network Rail might be persuaded to preserve the box in its current position at least for the time being and not hastily demolish it.”

“This will give some time to consider whether a viable scheme for its long term future could be found.”

All that can be done at the moment is hope that an organisation can come forward and stop this from being demolished. The clock is ticking and they have till January 2013.

If anyone has any comments then please let us know.

Llanelli West Signal Box

The first mechanical box reached, when travelling west along the South Wales main line, is at Llanelli, although it is no longer of signal box status. It is retained as a “ground frame” to control the level crossing some distance west of the station.

The box opened around 1877 (as Llanelly No.4) making it a very early survivor of the Great Western Railway’s architecture. The box later became “West” and somewhere along the line the spelling was amended to Llanelli.

Originally, the box was smaller – it was extended in 1904 to accommodate a larger frame; however this no longer survives and the few functions now controlled are worked from switches.

Information from http://www.signalbox.org/branches/rb/llanelli.htm

Pictures:

Llanelli West Ground Frame signal box located alongside the Down Main line by Glanmor Road level crossing. Monday 19th July 1982. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingythewingy/4242351710/ by Ingy The Wingy

Llanelli East Ground Frame signal box located alongside the Down Main line by New Dock Road level crossing. Monday 19th July 1982. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingythewingy/4242350480/in/photostream/ by Ingy The Wingy.