Introduction

This page describes the signalling at Pilton on the former narrow-gauge Lynton & Barnstaple Railway (L&BR) in North Devon. Please see the separate Introduction page for general background information and details of other pages on RailWest about the signalling of the L&BR. Click here for more general historical details about the L&BR and a Bibliography.

Pilton Yard (also known as Pilton Bridge or just Pilton) was situated on the outskirts of Barnstaple, about a quarter of a mile from Barnstaple Town station, and was the location of the L&BR's locomotive and carriage works. A signal-box and passing-loop were provided here and these form the subject of this page. There are separate pages on RailWest about the other passing-loops at the main intermediate stations on the line, and also about the actual L&BR signals themselves.

Basic Layout

The signalling at Pilton was installed by Evans O'Donnell (EoD), who were the L&BR's original signalling contractor, although after 1923 some alterations or replacements were done by the Southern Railway (SR) using equipment of former London and South Western Railway (L&SWR) design. The basic layout at Pilton (illustrated by a outline diagram below) consisted of a passing-loop on the single-line between Barnstaple Town and Chelfham stations, laid on a long reverse curve running roughly south-west to north-east in the form of an elongated 'S'. On the Down (north-west) side of the Down Loop there was an additional loop - not used by passenger trains - from which various sidings trailed into the works. The signal-box (marked SB on the outline diagram below) was located at the Town end of the loop.

Immediately south-west of the passing-loop the single-line crossed Pilton Causeway by a gated level-crossing and then about 100 yards further on towards Barnstaple Town station there was another gated level-crossing across Braunton Road. Between these two crossings on the Down side of the line there was a siding to a wharf on the River Yeo - in the early years this siding was accessed by a point at the Pilton end facing to Up trains, but at an unknown later date (believed to have been pre-1923) the arrangement was altered to a connection at the Town end facing to Down trains and provided with its own ground-frame.

On 4th May 1898 Lt Col HA Yorke inspected the L&BR on behalf of the Board of Trade and his subsequent Inspection Report contains some brief details about the signalling at Pilton, but unfortunately as no numbered signal-diagram for Pilton has come to light yet a number of un-answered questions remain about some features. The outline diagram below is intended to show those features of the signalling which are known to have existed at Pilton during the final years of the railway. (NOTE: The ground-frame (GF) marked near the Wharf Siding is for working the siding only and not the adjacent level-crossing.) It is curious that the facing point for the Up Loop (marked 'A') was situated further away from the signal-box than the maximum distance permitted by the Board of Trade for mechanical operation, yet Yorke made no mention of this discrepancy in his Inspection Report.

Known features of the signalling at Pilton circa-1930

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The Signal Box

Pilton signal-box was located on the down side of the line between Pilton Causeway crossing and the Town end of the passing-loop. It was an elevated structure to an EoD design and contained a 9-lever frame located at the front of the signal-box. Only Pilton and Barnstaple Town had elevated signal-boxes - the other stations had just small platform-level huts. Pilton was a block post for the single-line Electric Train Tablet (ETT) system and controlled sections to Barnstaple Town and Chelfham. At Pilton the ETT instruments were housed in the signal-box itself, whereas at the stations (except Barnstaple Town) they were kept in the booking office.

Pilton Signal-Box (circa-1930)

Unlike the EoD all-timber signal-box at Barnstaple Town, the Pilton signal-box appears to have been originally a timber upper-floor superstructure on a stone-built lower floor. However at some unknown date the building was reduced substantially in height, with the lower floor becoming in effect just a tall plinth, as illustrated in the photograph (click the picture for a larger image (73KB)). It is not clear why there should have been a difference in the original construction, but it is possible that it was related to the fact that there was a history of flooding in the Pilton area because of its proximity to the River Yeo. Whilst both signal-boxes had a door in an end wall, in Pilton it was towards the front of the box, whereas at Barnstaple Town it was towards the back.

Whistle Codes at Pilton
Pilton Yard to Barnstaple Town	3 Short
Down Trains from Barnstaple Town to Lynton	1 Long
Up Trains from Chelfham to Barnstaple Town  (about a mile outside of Barnstaple)	1 Long 1 Crow
Up Trains from Chelfham for Pilton Yard  (about a mile outside of Barnstaple)	2 Long
Down Trains from Barnstaple Town for Pilton Yard	2 Short 1 Crow

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Signals

At the Lynton end of the passing-loop an Up Home signal (marked UH on the outline diagram above) was provided to control entrance into the Up Loop. An Up Starting signal (US) was provided also and originally this had been located at the Town end of the Up Loop, in the conventional position such that any Up train standing at the signal would not foul the Down loop for any approaching Down train. However Yorke requested that this signal "...be placed close to the gates which it is intended to protect..." and so the signal was moved beyond the loop points to a position opposite the signal-box and immediately to the east of Pilton Causeway crossing. From the information in Yorke's Report this signal can be identified as being worked by lever 3, the only signal for which a lever number is known.

A Down Home signal (DH) controlled trains approaching from Town station and this was situated west of the Braunton Road crossing, so that it protected both that crossing and the one over Pilton Causeway, as well as the entrance into the Down Loop.  The original EoD signal was replaced at some unknown date, as a photograph in Aug 1926 shows it to be a L&SWR-style LQ arm on a wooden post with a ball-and-spike finial. At that time the signal only had a single arm, but a second, lower ringed arm was added on 30-Aug-1927 - the purpose of this ringed arm was to control access into the Yard, presumably because any train standing at the Down Home was out of sight of the Pilton signalman and therefore could not be 'flagged' past the signal.

The Down Home signal (DH) was 'slotted' by Barnstaple Town signal-box to act as its Down Advanced Starting signal, which meant that the signal would only go to 'off' when both the Pilton and Barnstaple Town signalmen had operated their respective levers. This slot arrangement may well have been an original feature and it was extended to include the second arm when that was added. In addition, after the Southern Railway take-over, a further set of slots was added from the ex-L&SWR main-line signal-box at Barnstaple Town after the rationalisation of the signalling at that station.

One unsolved mystery about the original signalling arises from a photograph taken at Pilton yard on or about the opening day in 1898, which shows two signal wires extending alongside the Up Loop towards the Lynton end. Presumably one of these wires was for the Up Home signal (UH), but the purpose of the other wire is unknown, as there was no other known signal at the Lynton end of the loop. One possible explanation might be that Pilton initially had been equipped with an Up Distant signal (presumably because the Up Home could not be sighted from a sufficient distance), but there is no other supporting evidence yet for that theory.

Points

There were three main sets of points which were controlled directly by Pilton signal-box and these are marked 'A', 'B' and 'C' on the outline diagram above. At the Town end of the Yard line there was a 'trap' point to protect the Down loop and the usual arrangement would have been for this point to have been worked from the same lever as that working the entry facing point (C) - this has been assumed. The points D at the Lynton end of the Yard line were not worked directly from the signal-box, but instead by a local ground-frame. All the other points in the Yard line, which lead to the various carriage and locomotive works sidings, were worked locally by adjacent hand-levers (cast with the legend "White & Sons Ltd, Engineers, Widnes"). The original control arrangement for the Wharf siding is unknown and it may have been connected directly to the signal-box lever-frame, but in later years it was controlled by its own local ground-frame.

One surviving L&BR relic is a damaged example of one of the plates which would have been fitted to the levers in Pilton signal-box, giving the lever number and description of its function - in this case the plate (illustrated) was from lever 6, painted black (denoting that it worked points) and bearing the legend "Main to Yard Points and FPL". This indicates that it worked the facing point marked 'C' on the outline diagram above, together with its 'economic' Facing Point Lock (FPL). The plate makes no specific reference to the associated trap point, but this is not necessarily unusual and it is unlikely to imply that the trap point were worked by a separate lever. The identification of lever 6, when read in conjunction with additional information in Yorke's Inspection Report, helps to identify lever 5 as working the Down Loop facing points (marked 'B' on the outline diagram above).

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Ground Frames

The points (marked 'D' on the outline diagram above) which provided an exit from the Yard line at the Lynton end were not worked directly from the signal-box, but instead by a local ground-frame (GF) located on the outside of the Yard line. In Southern Railway days at least this GF had a single lever and was unlocked by the single-line tablet for the Pilton - Chelfham section. Exactly why this arrangement was used is unknown, especially as these points were closer to the signal-box than the Up Loop points 'A' - perhaps the GF arrangement was considered to be more economical.

In later years a GF was provided also to work the Wharf Siding points and FPL, after the siding had been altered to face the Town direction. This GF was unlocked by the single-line tablet for the Pilton - Barnstaple Town section. It is believed (but not confirmed) that this GF had 2 levers, which suggests that perhaps at that time it was fitted with an ordinary FPL, rather than the 'economic' version. The GF is believed to have been on the Down side of the line, and it has been marked as such on the outline diagram for reference, but no supporting photographic or map evidence is known. It is unknown also whether, when the siding originally faced towards Pilton yard, the points were connected directly to the signal-box lever-frame or to another, earlier GF.

Level Crossings

The level-crossing over Pilton Causeway was located immediately on the Town side of the signal-box and was equipped with a set of 4 wooden gates. Because the road was much wider than the railway the gates, which met in the middle when closed across the road, overlapped each other when closed across the railway. The gates would have been worked by hand on the ground by the signalman and then locked in position across the road by a lever in the signal-box lever-frame. Only when the gates were locked safely across the road would the lever-frame interlocking permit the signalman to clear any signals for the passage of trains over the level-crossing. Curiously the ornate iron caps which adorned the main gate-posts bore the initials BWH&A - the nearby Bideford, Westward Ho! & Appledore Railway, which closed in 1917.

The gates at Braunton Road crossing were also locked from Pilton signal-box, but because this crossing was about 100 yards away towards the Town station it was provided with its own crossing-keeper, who would have worked the gates locally by hand. It is not known whether Braunton Road gates were bolted directly by the lever in the signal-box, or by a separate ground-frame adjacent to the crossing which then was locked from the signal-box. Both methods are possible, but in the absence of any evidence for another GF the use of direct bolting from the signal-box seems more likely. This photograph (click the picture for a larger image (89KB)), looking towards the Town station in Aug 1926, shows the gates closed across the railway - the rear of the Down Home signal can be seen (at that time only with one arm), with Barnstaple Town signal-box in the far distance.

Braunton Road Crossing

In Southern Railway days the Braunton Road crossing-keeper and Pilton signalman communicated by means of bell signals. However a report into an accident at the crossing in 1910 makes reference to the crossing-keeper giving hand-signals to the Pilton signalman to indicate that the gates were closed. A crossing-keeper would have been needed on duty throughout the working day at Braunton Road, so it is to be hoped that some form of shelter was provided for him and indeed the 1910 accident report does mention a 'hut', but photographs of the crossing area have not revealed any obvious structure other than perhaps something built into one of the piers supporting the footbridge.

According to SR Signal Instruction No 4A of 1925, at that time the following bell signals were used between Pilton signal-box and the Braunton Road crossing-keeper:-

Bell Codes for Braunton Road Level Crossing
Pilton Signal Box to Braunton Road Level Crossing
Open gates to Railway for Down train	1 Beat
Open gates to Railway for Up train	2 Beats
Braunton Road Level Crossing to Pilton Signal Box
Gates open to Railway and line clear	3 Beats

The Instruction required the Pilton signalman to send the appropriate code to the crossing-keeper three minutes before a train was due to pass over the level-crossing. However by 1930 the bell codes had been changed and the warning time reduced to two minutes - click here to read the later SR instructions (83KB).

There was an 8 MPH speed restriction over both level-crossings in both directions.

© Chris Osment 2003-2013
No6 plate photograph courtesy of David Hudson