A view of the front of the signal box interior.

The arrangement of levers is not as at Risca but has been modelled
to suit the track plan of the station it was built for! (Vale Edge*)

( * Maybe one day I shall create space in the gallery for my early (1979) model of Vale Edge.v By current standards it was not the best of models but it was certainly great fun to operate and taught me the need to do proper research if the finished model was to be without major design flaws!v But to get back to the interior. . .)

indent Above the levers is a shelf dotted with instruments; two bells (one "Up", one "Down"), "block" instruments likewise and signal repeaters for any signals the signalman cannot see from his windows.v As is generally known, the levers themselves are painted in a (prototypically correct) variety of colours; white means "spare", red is for signals, yellow for Distant signals, black is for points and blue for point locks.vLess well known are some of the other colours; black with white arrows are normally (it varied from company to company), "detonator placers" (and note that the arrows pointed up for the "Up" line and down for the "Down" line!), brown are for non-track operating levers such as shunting gongs, locking levers for wicket gates etc. and there were even brown ones with yellow stripes but I cannot remember what they were for.v (Perhaps it's just as well!)

( * If you are interested, there's a photo below of the signal box on the finished model railway.)

Talking of signals, you may notice that two arms are missing from the signal in this photo.  This is not carelessness or damage; the model was designed as a 1960s layout where the main line had closed but the branch remained open to serve the dairy (the siding on the far right).     Trains arrived from the ex- GWR branch (bottom of shot), into what was now a terminus.  The loco ran round and then pushed the train further up the line before pulling it into the other platform ready to depart!  It made the shunting more fun!