by Jonathan Williams

The Llanelli West Signal Box might now be saved for future prosperity thanks to Your Llanelli and the quick thinking actions of The Llanelli and Mynnyd Mawr Railway Group (LMMR).

Following our email to them asking for their thoughts on our story of Llanelli losing another part of its Heritage, Des Thomas the chair quickly got in touch with Network Rail to register their interest in preserving the box.

Des said:

“We contacted Network Rail straight away as soon we heard of your story.”

“We would be glad to give the signal box a home for future generations.”

Robin Basu, Community Relations Manager for Network Rail confirmed that someone had been in touch, he emailed to say that:

“There has been some interest from an outside party; our liabilities team are going to discuss the feasibility of this directly so I will update you once this has been done.”

Just in case though, we contacted CADW to ask if the signal box could be listed, they replied saying:

“We are aware of the proposal to demolish the signal box and the case for listing is currently being considered by our Historic Buildings Inspector.”

“Our target date to deal with such requests is 10 weeks. However we are aware of the urgency here and will deal with the matter as quickly as possible – a lot is dependent on whether a full site inspection is needed and whether access can be easily obtained.”

Hopefully the box can now be saved and viewed for another 135 years.

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

Picture:

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