THE efforts of two youngsters whose widely-praised achievements in raising £17,000 to restore a Nene Valley Railway signalbox gutted in an arson attack have been rewarded with a special train to mark its reopening nearly a year to the day.
As reported in Heritage Railway issue 305, Orton Mere signalbox was severely damaged by one of several deliberately-started fires in the locality on March 12/13, 2023, which also destroyed several cars and damaged a sheltered accommodation home.
When dawn broke, it was apparent that structure of the building and roof needed major repairs, while most of the signalling equipment inside the ‘box – which had been donated or purchased over the years to give a– had been severely affected. Thankfully, the actual lever frame escaped largely intact thanks to its robust construction; modern electronic signalboxes would not have survived.