NEWS 2025

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September - October

A 'Rotten' start to October
We've mentioned below the rotting timber of our Finial display. October started off with having to deal with two other areas of rot.
Path Edging in front of box:
    
The badly rotted timber                            Where it was      And its replacement with a 'Plastic Wood' plank.
                                              (This 'plank' is made from recycled plastic and is said to have a 40-year life.)

South End Name Board:
Following the Heritage Open Days, we decided to take a close look at this board.
                 
The visible rot which had caught our attention                  Measuring the sign  and the blank south end of the box.

Commemorating 'Railway 200' celebrations
We were given a garden bench by one of our supporters and it was recently installed:
This followed its restoration by members of HACRO* and the installation of a mosaic designed and made by the St Albans Art Group. The subjects are on the left a 810 unit, about to come into East Midlands Railway service, on the right a 700 unit on our local trains, and Locomotion No.1 (designed by a child) in the middle.

It was unveiled during HODs by Judith Carruthers, Engagement Manager from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

(* HACRO = Herts Association for the Care and Rehabilitation of Offenders - they did last year's 'Photo Gallery' and some of their photos now adorn the station.)

HERITAGE OPEN DAYS
Our usual extended opening over the weekend of the 13th/14th September. Just over 300 people came, about the same as last year. Unfortunately we had similar damp weather to last year as well, which probably deterred some people!
   
The entrance and sales area;      Signs from the collection of one of our trustees.

   
Two model railways for younger visitors; outside our garden railway saw two trains on the extended line now that James has been fitted with radio control!  And upstairs some 35 demonstrations were given over the two days.

July - August

Signal and Station Finial Display problems
Our display has been on show for some years. It also supports the control box for our LED signal display and a mains power socket. But in August it suddenly started to collapse due to the wooden supports rotting away. As a result we've had to remove the finials and prop the stand up with metal stakes. Work is in progress to replace the timber with 'Plastic Wood'.
  

Signal Works

 A view from the box showing the range of signal visible in July 2025 - they were joined by another signal in late August, the Great Northen Railway (Ireland) signal acquired via the closed Winchcombe Museum.
Works in progress:
        

Post and other bits under restoration; the erected post, adding the bits and the arm, and the 'Unveiling' during the September Heritage Open Days by Andy Savage, Chair of the Railway Heritage Trust. The signal was donated by Mike Marr, to whom we give our thanks.

Colourful Engines and New Trains: 
​On the left is a pair of Class 20 diesels in Harry Needle Railway Company livery, and below we have one of the new Class 810 'bi-mode' now regularly passing the box on driver training duties:

April - June

The Garden Railway Extension

June 11th - The First Train Runs on the new extension:
    
Percy was chosen - he leaves the older section, passes the new fencing, rounds the viduct, into the tunnel and finally rejoins the older layout. All done over some eight months by the work shown below and in 2024's Newspage.

   
In the left photo, our two 'Civil Engineers' (Tony and Adrian) look at their trial run for the viaduct forming the return loop at the end of the new section of line. Centre: The viaduct is permanently mounted, and awaits its parapets and other work to complete it. And right tracklaying commences to enable the trains to reach the viaduct.
     And a fence has been added to stop track trespassing as seen here:

 Tunnel portals remain to be fixed in place.

Indoor work at the Box:

Not everything was being done outside in the garden. Inside the box our two display cabinets were relit with LED strip lights to replace old fluorescent fittings and the contents reorganised.

Upstairs the lino was washed and rewaxed and polished.

 And the bells attached to our Tyer's Single Line token machines were replaced with recently donated spiral 'gongs' more typical of such installation - and an interesting contrast to the nearby standard 'block bells'.
  

 

January - March

The Garden Railway Extension
       
In January the base for the extension had reached the footpath to the north end. (First two photos.)
In February we'd started to clear the north flowerbed (third photo) and started lifting the footpath and install the metal tunnel. By late March the tunnel was installed and work started on the trackbase in the north flowerbed.

Spring Flowers - a selection:
     

Southern Railway Disc Signal
   
This was moved in 2024 to a position where it could be worked from one of the box levers.
The move was completed in February when its floodlight was wired up.

Other People at Work!
Regular weekend closures have been taking place to allow Network Rail to inprove the overhead wiring that supplies the trains with 25kVolts to power them. The two pictures below show various 'Road/Rail' vehicles during the operators' shift change:
  

New Acquisitions
We have obtained a number of items from the (now-closed) Winchcombe Railway Museum in Gloucestershire. 
     
Once conserved or restored we shall get them displayed around the box garden.

A Tribute to Les O'Leary - Trustee and Webmaster

Les, as he was known to all, was involved in setting up the Trust in 2003 and then its website, hosted on his company's site. He was active in preparing our 'Articles of Association' which enabled us to achieve charitable status, and was a good designer of publicity materials and information posters. He was one of two original trustees still serving, the other being Keith Webster, our President. He died on January 9th 2025 after a lengthy illness, and is much missed by Trust members. Some photographs of his activities follow:
1.  2. 3. 4. 
Les, here on the right of photo 1, is about to help the early investigation of our septic tank!
The information boards on photo 2 were designed by Les and describe the restoration and workings of the box. A duplicate set is on display at the box.  In photo 3 Les is helping Keith Webster move a Midland Railway lamp-post out of store to be taken to the box and in photo 4 is the path accessing the box in which Les took a lead in getting the paving slabs laid.

In 2019, the Trust was asked if we could produce a 'Timeline' of the station's history to commemorate its 150th Anniversary. Les came up with:
    
                                                                Les (second from left) is seen here with Andy Buckley of the Community Rail Partnership, Robert Voss (HM Lord Lieutenant of Hertfordshire), Janet Smith (Mayor of St Albans) and Tom Moran (MD Thameslink and Govia Great Northern) after the unveiling ceremony.