Lottery Funding Received

The Friends of Romsey Signal Box have received a grant of £4500 from the National Lottery's "Awards for All" scheme towards the costs of re-building an old wooden pavilion which was donated to the Romsey Heritage Trust and has been stored at the site for some four years now. The erection of the building will be undertaken by voluntary labour, and the funds will permit new materials to be purchased. The Pavilion, when erected, will provide toilet and washing facilities at the site. It will also enable us to provide disabled visitors with the opportunity to see what goes on in the signalbox via a video link, as it is not possible to provide disabled access to the operating floor which is upstairs. The remainder of the space will enable us to improve the information displays currently situated in the old container; and by giving us a larger space we will be better able to accommodate groups of visitors who can't all crowd into the signal box operating floor at once!

New exhibit for Romsey site

The Friends of Romsey Signal Box have just completed the acquisition of another part of Romsey's railway history.

Through a friend of the Friends, we discovered that one of the old station name boards dating back to the days of the L&SWR (pre-1920s) was for sale, and the owner agreed to sell it to the Friends so that it could join our exhibits at the signal box site. The sign is a classic "running in board" that would have been located at the extreme end of the platforms, so that it was the first sign that would be seen from the carriages of a train as it arrived in the station. The board is in enamelled steel, in two parts, and when assembled is about 2.4m long and 40
cm high. The picture shows the board in its current condition, and before it goes on display some restoration work will be done. However, the board will be going to Romsey for the open day in April 2003, so those keen to see the newest acquisition should make sure they get along on Sunday 6th.