Exminster Signal Box Photographs

DAY 9 - 29th Sept.

Photographs by Danny Scroggins.

	A tea-pot in the signal box.
	The signal box (makes me happy when skies are grey....)
	Inside the locking room, looking out.
	Inside the locking room, looking up. (Alternative caption: George's arse.)
	Underneath the front, lower, windows, showing where the whole building is bolted to the concrete base.
	Angle grinding the nails that secure the roof to the top panels of the building.
	Angle grinding.
	How we reached the difficult to reach area of the roof, above the stairs..... don't show this to the GWSR Health & Safety.
	More dodgey ladder work :-S
	The crane arrives...
	... it starts to rain...
	... and the crane sets up.
	"You're not taking a photo, are you?"
	We're trying to work out if his phone is in his left hand.
	The crane's height in relation to the signal box.
	The tall crane.
	The tall crane.
	Connecting the slings and hooks on.
	Connecting on the 1941 roof, two fifths of the roof structure.
	Much thought and preparation goes into the first, tentative lift.
	Much thought and preparation.
	Lots and lots of thought and preparation.
	Yawn. Are we ever going to lift this roof?
	From inside, connecting the roof up.
	The staff start to evacuate as the we countdown to the lift ;-)
	Chains.
	George headbuts the hook. Good job he was wearing his safety hat....
	Oooo. Fingers are crossed around the site as the 1941 roof is lifted.
	Up, up...
	... up it goes...
	... where it stops...
	... no-body knows.
	The crane swings round.
	In swinging round, due to the proximity of the track, the crane had to, obviously, swing away from the track, so had to swing-round the long way, instead of the short way.
	Lifting over the field.
	A scarey floating roof.
	How many times can one roof be photographed?
	Ready to put down in the car park.
	Ian, the world's strongest man, lifts the roof with one single hand!
	George places the roof down.
	Ian gives the thumbs up.
	OH NO! Someone's stolen our roof!
	Andrew the tea-pot.
	We're running out of spaces to lean the ladders.
	Separating the corners was one of the most difficult things...
	... until angle-grinder-Scroggins comes along.
	Danny and Andrew examine the corner.
	More angle grinding.
	Danny sets fire to the signal box.
	Another roof section gets the treatment.
	There were cows in that field sometimes, good job they moved out the way when we were lifting!
	Lowering down.
	Open-top signal box.
	From the car park.
	From inside.

	From the footpath.
	The walls were quite wobbly!
	The 1941 part of the upper rear wall is lifted.
	Away it goes.
	The front wall is connected on.
	Andrew on the phone.
	Preparing to lift the front, upper 1941 wall.
	Hold on tight. Actually, Danny and Kevin are stopping the straps sliding into the middle of the panel.
	Lifting away.
	Then, with the 1941 section of the box taken all the way down to operating floor level, we start bolster-chiselling the roof up from the wall panels, to expose the nails.
	Don't worry that we wrecked some of the window frames to expose the extnesion-connecting bolts, they weren't original.
	The open-top signal box, from the road bridge.
	Ooo, my favourite photographic feature, a good sky!
	More sky. Oh yes, a signal box underneath it.
	The next lift is prepared. The already lifted panels are on the ground in the foreground.
	The stairs and hand-rails survived almost the longest out of all the parts. At one point on day 10 they led to no-where!
	The phone comes out again.
	The straps are prepared to lift the 1924 roof. This is three fifths the length of the building, about 24 feet long.
	Angle grinder man is back on the case.
	The join. Unlike Exeter West Box, where the upright supports run from ground to eves, these were all split at operating floor level (about 11 feet from ground level). In this case, at the join between the old and new buildings, the uprights were keyed together as shown. In other places they weren't connected together at all.
	If I had a hammer...
	... I'd hammer my signal box.
	The parts in the car park.
	The 1924 roof in the car park. Between the last photo and this one, the 1924 roof was lifted. See the video in the video section.
	The roof it put down in the car park.
	Eventually.
	Finally.
	Getting on well now.
	George thinks he's Danny from Grease as he starts performing 'Greased Lightening'.
	The start of the aborted attempt to lift the 1924 front windows.
	Separating the corners, again.
	Making a minor adjustment.
	Some of the outside woodwork comes off.
	Roof, walls and floor, all disappearing fast.
	Panels being stacked in car park.
	No-where to lean the ladder now!
	The last upper rear wall section is lifted.
	The crane.
	The last rear, upper wall panel comes out. Incorrectly marked 'Rear Wall Centre' by me! So now we have two 'Rear Wall Centres' and no 'Rear Wall Plymouth End'.
	Over the field it goes.
	And gets...
	...put down...
	...in the...
	...car ...
	...park.
	Almost all of the upper lever gone.
	Kevin.
	Evesham Signal Box pays us a visit(!)
	From the car park.
	Flat-packed signal box.
	The roof on the floor.
	The view along the roof. Compare with the photos on Day 2, where the same views are taken, with the roof still in place.
	Roof view.
	Roof view again.
	The roof.