Trainspotting at Box Railway Station Eddie Weeks May 2018
Reproduced from John Froud's definitive article about Box Station, British Railway Journal, Special GWR Edition 2
Three of my friends and I used to be trainspotters at Box Railway Station in the mid to late 1940s. The staff at this time consisted of the Station Master, Wilf Clothier; Porters, Mr Farnfield and Sam Cannings; Goods Porters, Jack Dancey and Bill Robbins; and three Signalmen only one of whom I can remember, Mr Cannings, whom I believe was the uncle of the porter Sam. There was also a Ganger who looked after the permanent way and whose accommodation was a small hut near the water tower.
Mr Clothier did not approve of spotters on his platforms so we had to position ourselves on the approach road or at my father's stone yard. However when the Station Master went home and if Sam was on duty we had the free run of the station. We used to help him serve tickets, stick labels on parcels, load parcels onto the trolleys and light the gas lamps on the platforms. The route through Box was a good one for spotters as three trains a day were usually headed by locomotives ex works from Swindon.
It was a sad day when following the Beeching axe in the 60's all traces of the station were eradicated although I believe the coal office in the goods yard remains and is now part of the Northey Hotel.
Mr Clothier did not approve of spotters on his platforms so we had to position ourselves on the approach road or at my father's stone yard. However when the Station Master went home and if Sam was on duty we had the free run of the station. We used to help him serve tickets, stick labels on parcels, load parcels onto the trolleys and light the gas lamps on the platforms. The route through Box was a good one for spotters as three trains a day were usually headed by locomotives ex works from Swindon.
It was a sad day when following the Beeching axe in the 60's all traces of the station were eradicated although I believe the coal office in the goods yard remains and is now part of the Northey Hotel.