Investment signals new era for Stourbridge route

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One of the last pockets of semaphore signals and traditional absolute block working have been abolished in the West Midlands.

Five signal boxes at Hartlebury, Kidderminster, Blakedown, Stourbridge and Kingswinford were swept away over the Bank Holiday weekend, in an investment worth over £13 million, and control transferred to the West Midlands Signalling Centre at Saltley.

The WMSC will eventually control the whole of the region.

Some of the signal boxes dated back to the 1880s and parts of the Kidderminster signal box will live on as some spares are expected to be claimed by the adjacent Severn Valley Railway to help maintain their numerous Great Western Railway manual signal boxes.

The project also sees the SVR, via a series of slotting levers, connected to the WMSC, in its own Kidderminster signal box, control its first colour light signals allowing trains to arrive and depart from the mainline. At the same time as the re-signalling a facing crossover was also installed at Kidderminster allowing for easier access onto the heritage railway.

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