Totley Signalbox (The Final Shift) 

Farewell and best wishes from a train driver who has driven many times across The Hope Valley.....

I know we must celebrate progress and a move to a centralised, modern world. But whenever I see a local signal box close as a result of an amalgamation into a bigger Route Operating Centre, I feel nothing but sad. Another iconic piece of railway heritage consigned to the history books forever. The art of railway signalling and indeed signalling trains will soon be long forgotten

Very sad to see the end of an era, thank you to everyone over the years for your dedicated service. This is sad for me , I'm 58 now but when I was little I spent alot of weekends looking at the trains from the bridge & I use to wave to the signalman below. Happy times. 😊😢❤

Great video. Good to see the legend Steve on shift to close it up!

Fascinating to see the levers and computers together. Farewell ye signalmen and the romance of the box.

Many happy days in the early 1960’s spent at Dore and Totley Station waiting for the Thames Clyde express headed by a Jubilee to pass through - always exciting.

Railways have to evolve, they are not museums. When I started my career on the footplate as a driver's assistant in 1978, there were many hundreds of working signal boxes in the areas I worked over... 40 years later when I retired as a driver in 2018, there were almost none left. We should not get teary eyed over the loss of old railway signalling, as it diligently served it's purpose until usurped by newer technology... and besides, anyone who has ever driven trains, or had to climb rickety ladders to maintain the (paraffin) oil signal lamps will tell you that those quaint looking semaphore signals definitely belong in the past (or in preserved railways)... Old signalboxes are now considered to be listed buildings, so I predict that Totley & Grindleford signalboxes will still be standing many years from now...

The signal man was a point of contact in the area of an emergency , with a local crew to block and repair . Where are they now , instead of a couple of miles , now it's god now's where . Ah well , they call it progress .

Absolutely fantastic video 😊 Thanks for recording this end of an era in railway signalling 😢 Well done Steve 👍🏻

Sad, yet another one bites the dust, yet New Mills South Junction box has just been done up! All the best from one retired railwayman to another.

I hope they save at least some of the equipment would love to get some for the museums here

Perhaps I've read too many stories, but I'd imagine signal boxes to be quite evocative, even eerie places depending on the location. Looking out into an inky black night with only your own thoughts and the occasional bell for company.

i hope the stuff can be reused on the other railways for restoration. grear video but sad .nice work guys and network rail

Never been inside one of these so this was an education for me, albeit a sad one.

Great video. Sad to see another box close. That sounded like a 6-5-5 from Grindleford instead of the usual 7-5-5?

Hopefully the box can be preserved for open days.

. . . end of days . . .

Shame didnt catch the crew of 1L21 whistling up. Reliably informed both Driver and Guard did 😊

Good luck in whatever you do Steve all the best from the retired side

Another one gone. I don't think it ever fringed to Trent PSB though.

It never fringed to Trent PSB, Trent never worked north of Horns Bridge south of Chesterfield. And Trent's area of control never migrated to York, Trent migrated to East Midlands CC. I think there's a bit of play acting going on here - once a signal box has closed to you you don't call him back again to close to him - he's already shut!

......................................................😢

Some great videos. The music grates a bit though....

what a shame