A redundant signal box on the Wherry Lines in Norfolk has been moved to a nearby museum where it will be restored and preserved.

In the early hours of Sunday, 8th June, volunteers from Network Rail, the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, Norfolk Railway Foundation, and the Lowestoft Central Project moved Oulton Broad North signal box on the Norwich to Lowestoft line to the East Anglia Transport Museum at nearby Carlton Colville.

Oulton Broad North signal box was built in 1905 and extended in 1927, and signalled trains and controlled level crossing gates at the northern entrance to Oulton Broad. It became redundant after Network Rail carried out a multi-million-pound resignalling project along the route.

Reedham Junction was another signal box on the line made redundant, and that has been relocated to Holt on the North Norfolk Railway, where it has now been restored for use as a signalling education centre.

Funding towards relocating the signal box was provided by the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, Lowestoft Central Project, Norfolk Railway Foundation, East Anglia Transport Museum, and personal donations. An appeal will be launched to raise funds towards its restoration.

After Network Rail agreed to gift the signal box to the museum, it took several years to plan the move, including removing the signalling equipment, including the lever frame, and cutting the box ‘in half’ so that it could be transported to the museum by road.

Several permissions were also required to move the box, including line possession, road closures, crane hire, and arranging a police escort.

The box will be assembled in the coming weeks onto a specially built plinth alongside the museum’s narrow gauge railway, and the signalling equipment will be reinstalled.

The move from Oulton Broad to Carlton Colville required careful preparation, with a road closure timed for after the last train ran on Saturday night.

The team moving the box had five hours to complete the task before the road closure was removed and the line reopened, ready for trains to run on Sunday. The move also coincided with the silver anniversary of the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, which supports and promotes use of the railway in Norfolk and Suffolk.

In charge of the project was Matt Newman, a Network Rail Principal Technical Officer in signalling technical support for the area, who previously successfully managed the relocation of Reedham Junction signal box to Holt.

Supporting Matt were volunteers from Network Rail, the Wherry Lines Community Rail Partnership, Norfolk Railway Foundation and Lowestoft Central Project, with members of the East Anglia Transport Museum waiting for its arrival. Crane specialists Wavetrade from Lowestoft undertook the lifting of the signal box, and it was transported to Carlton Colville by MDF Transport of Gorleston, accompanied by a Suffolk Police escort.

Last year, a redundant signal box from Kent was given a new lease of life on the Helston Railway in Cornwall.

“We are very pleased to confirm the safe arrival of the Oulton Broad North signal box from its location at Oulton Broad North station on the Wherry Lines, ready to become part of our East Suffolk Light Railway and a huge step forward for our new land development. “A massive thank you to everyone who helped with the project, especially to those who stayed up throughout the night to assist with the move.”

Spokesperson for East Anglia Transport Museum;