The Salvation Army was playing at the top of Pride Hill as I made my way to the station.
The trip to Crewe went quickly. The weather was sunny and hot on the walk to the Heritage Centre. The most interesting items in the Centre are the three signal boxes, Crewe Junction North, Crewe South and Exeter West. There is also a good viewing platform where one can see the action on the main line north of the station.
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| Crewe Junction North is an early electro-mechanical frame |
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| Exeter West |
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| Exeter West |
Not only has Exeter West been moved up here from Devon but the entire operating floor and frame is fully operational. The bell signals and block instrument functions are controlled by computer leaving the crew to operate the levers and bells just like the real thing. I had a great chat with the two who were working the levers. After a while I noticed that everything was quiet with no trains moving. I mentioned this and they said they had stopped the computer so they could talk to me. They couldn't have done this in reality as Exeter was very busy indeed on a summer Saturday. It was a very friendly and pleasant visit.
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| The Exeter West locking frame is fully functional |
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| The viewing platform provides good views of trains at the northern end of the station |
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| The Heritage Centre has a complete Advanced Passenger Train |
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| I took the one car all stations puddle jumper back to Shrewsbury |
Shrewsbury was pretty busy but there didn't seem to be anything special so far as the Royal Wedding was concerned. We went over to the Three Fishes and had a discussion with a couple of people. I had a pint of Mild and Bitter for the first time in many, many years.
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