We have a signalling theme at Didcot Railway Centre this year as we get our new attraction, the Signalling Centre, ready to open in June.

One of our guards, Richard, is also a member of our Signal & Telegraph Department and has given me some information about a signal box at Princes Risborough.

The large Great Western signal box still stands because it was used as a mess room after its role as a signal box finished in about 1990. It is a listed building, but its continuing life has been thanks to volunteers from the Chinnor and Princes Risborough Railway who have taken action to prevent it falling down, and started to restore it.

Having donated towards its restoration, Richard was invited to an open day at the box one Saturday in May, travelling (of course) by train. Another visitor was a veteran signalman who had worked in a signal box at Greenford. One of the restorers explained how they had propped up the box by fitting steel rods from end to end to stop the end walls from falling outwards, replaced rotten timber corner posts to prevent the roof collapsing and rebuilt a window arch which had fallen. They had also dealt with the aftermath of a serious water leak from a broken supply pipe, the results of pigeons entering the box through the many broken windows, and loose and missing slates on the roof.

The signal box is now watertight and weatherproof, and accessible again via a newly-built external staircase. While there is still much to be done, the box now looks smart again and is being prepared for its future use as a combined signal box and working museum. There are lots of windows, of course, so that the signalmen have a good view all round. All the windows can be slid open, partly to obtain a better view in wet weather or fog, and partly to cool the box which gets very hot in summer from the sun streaming through all that glass.

The box is built to a standard Great Western design with a brick first floor housing the bottom half of the lever frame and the interlocking, and a timber top with numerous windows and a slate roof. The height of the locking required the ground floor of the box to be built much taller than usual, so there are a correspondingly large number of steps up to the working floor.

Visitors to Didcot Railway Centre receive a voucher entitling them to £2 off admission to six local railways, including the Chinnor & Princes Risborough where visitors will soon be able to travel all the way to Princes Risborough.