This page deals specifically with the Signals of the former Callington Branch railway line. Please click here for a general Introduction to the signalling of the Callington Branch, or click here for an Index of all pages in RailWest about the Callington Branch.

Mineral Railway

The East Cornwall Mineral Railway (ECMR) had a rudimentary form of signalling, which was described by JT Burge (one-time stationmaster at Templecombe station on the London & South Western Railway (L&SWR)) in an article published in the February 1908 issue of the Railway Magazine. Semaphore signals were provided at Cox's Park, Monks Corner and Kelly Bray, although Burge states that these appear to have been used only when both engines owned by the ECMR were in steam on the line at the same time! Only Distant and Home signals were provided and these were of the 3-position slotted-post variety, which Burge says were of the "customary two-wire pattern". This is presumed to have been a pattern of signal where the arm was pulled by wire both to the 'off' and 'on' positions when the lever was pulled or pushed. No photographs are known of any signals from the ECMR period.

Light Railway

During the 1908 reconstruction of the former ECMR by the Plymouth, Devonport & South Western Junction Railway (PD&SWJR) the signalling was upgraded to a suitable level for a Light Railway. Home and Starting signals were provided where required, but no Distant signals were fitted originally. Subsequently however one distant signal was installed at Gunnislake in 1938 as a result of a change in signal sighting and another was erected at Bere Alston in 1969, probably for the same reason.

From early photographs the PD&SWJR signals appear to have been lower-quadrant (LQ) arms on wooden posts similar to contemporary L&SWR practice. After 1923 the Southern Railway (SR) replaced a few signals with LQ arms on lattice posts, including the Down Branch Starting and Down Branch Advanced Starting at Bere Alston (later replaced again). Eventually the SR began to use upper-quadrant (UQ) arms on rail-built posts, although both the Down Outer Home and Down Inner Home at Calstock became rare examples of a LQ arm on a rail-built post. At some unknown date the Down Starting at Gunnislake was renewed with a concrete post, the only example known on the branch.

In British Railways (Southern Region) days the replacement programme of signals continued, using UQ arms on rail-built posts. It is believed that the last surviving original PD&SWJR signal was the Up Starting at Callington, which was replaced on 26-April-1960. As part of the layout alterations at Bere Alston in 1969 two new signals were erected there to control the movement of trains to/from the main line, and these were of the standard BR (Western Region) pattern of LQ arm on a tubular metal post. A new Up Branch Distant signal was erected at the same time (with the arm fixed at 'caution') and this probably also had a BR(WR) tubular post, but no photograph of that signal is known. In 1989 both the Up Branch Distant at Bere Alston and the Down Distant at Gunnislake were replaced by reflectorised distant boards. In 1994 another reflectorised board was provided as a temporary Down Distant at Calstock during the temporary truncation of the line there while the new station at Gunnislake was under construction.

Signal Register

This Register lists all the known signals on the Callington Branch from 1908 onwards, with details of the various changes (where known). In the case of Bere Alston only the main running signals applicable to the branch have been included. The following comments should be noted:-

• The signal lever number (where known) is given in the 'No' column and relates to arrangements post-1948.
• It is assumed that all the original 1908 signals were originally to a standard pattern of a LQ arm on a wooden post. The 'Original' column gives the latest known date for any photographic evidence showing the signal still in that form.
• If a signal is known to have been altered then the revised form(s) is described in the 'New' columns and any known date(s) is given in the 'Remarks' column.

© CJL Osment 2002-22