Norwegian at Wittersham Road

An unusual view from the Signalbox window today, but it was an unusual day. First it was a special 1940s event weekend where there were many period related activities including singers and bands, people dressing up in costumes of the time and service uniforms. There were cars and other vehicles from the era and an aerobatic display by a Spitfire.

There was also a more intensive train service with 8 trips with 3 trains running. Unfortunately things conspired to go wrong from the outset. I turned up at Wittersham without the opening token believing to be on a earlier train as per the traffic notice. That train was cancelled, but I didn't get the email so had to go back and collect it.

Then we had problems getting a token out from the Wittersham - Rolvenden machine (seen here at the bottom right). After many attempts a token was obtained and an already late service was sent on its way even later. Next I had to show the red flag at the box to stop this train to give instructions to the driver. The Norwegian had failed and was limping back to the yard. In this shot the engine was just pulling gingerly away from the box. A sight I see often, but not able to take any photos as I'm usually too busy.

The block instrument worked OK for several trains, then it failed again for the last two up trains. So we had to obtain a token from Rolvenden and bring it by road to Wittersham for the train to proceed. No idea what the problem was. One of the signalling inspectors stayed to help out to close the box as we needed to get a token out for that to happen. He was talking about low voltages and Ergs (?) and pins not dropping. We obtained at token and were able to switch the box out and go home some 45 minutes late.