Quiet solitude at Wittersham Road Station

Back to Wittersham Road signal box on the Kent and East Sussex Railway today for another learning turn. This time with the Assistant Signalling Inspector who I suspect is judging how close I am to passing out as qualified to work the box on my own.

It turned out to be an enjoyable but demanding day. Practically, in working the trains I made some few minor errors but in terms of applying the theory learned in the lectures I need to do some homework. I need to be confident about such matters as overiding the back locking, how using the ground frame locks signals and how to use the Sykes key to switch out the signal box if there is still a train in the platform.

The above will not make much sense to you - it didn't to me either but it does now.

This shot was taken before the working day started and shows the isolated quietness of this wayside station. It's like this for the vast majority of the day, only coming to life for a few minutes every hour when a train calls and trains pass. We had one or two people today to watch the trains pass, but nobody got on or off.

A family stopped by in the car park and asked if we knew of anywhere which sold live chickens nearby. Not the sort of thing you get asked every day. I love it here and can't wait to be in the box on my own. Maybe getting a passing out turn with the Signalling Inspector in August.