WENSLEYDALE Railway has been awarded a grant of £80,000 by The Railway Heritage Trust to restore and relocate a Grade II listed signal box.

The timber-framed signal box to the East of Hertford East Station and was in the way of a planned platform extension to cater for newer and longer trains.

It is now destined for Leyburn where it will control a recently restored passing loop.

Each piece of the signal box has been carefully catalogued, removed, packed and transported to North Yorkshire, where it will be worked on over winter and installed at Leyburn later this year.

The box will control the station site at Leyburn and will be located to the east of the station, the same place as the original signal box which was dismantled when the line closed to passenger traffic in 1953.

The original signal box at Leyburn Railway Station

The original signal box at Leyburn Railway Station

Built by Great Eastern Railway in 1888, the signal box is a typical example of the railway company’s standard design introduced in the mid-1880s, with an external timber-framed staircase and balcony, a slate roof and brick chimney.

This is a joint project between the Wensleydale Railway, The Railway Heritage Trust, Network Rail and Greater Anglia trains.

Rachael Roberts, Wensleydale Railway spokesperson, said: “This is a really exciting project for the Wensleydale Railway and we are looking forward to seeing the box rebuilt at Leyburn Station where it will allow us to operate regular shuttle services between Leyburn and Redmire whilst also running east along the line towards Bedale and Leeming Bar.”