The GCRN Signalling and S&T team are comprised of two
associated groups:
The GCRN S&T Team (Responsible for implementation and overhaul
of S&T equipment) & The GCRN Signalling Team
(Responsible for operating our signalling and signalboxes).
Both teams work closely together to ensure that the signalling at
GCRN continues to be developed and operated, and both are comprised
entirely of volunteers. The efforts of members of both teams are
not always obvious to the visiting traveller from the train window.
However, if you look as you pass over the level crossing, or
perhaps see a group of individuals, all kitted-out in
high-visibility orange jackets working on a signal or strange grey
box, then you are seeing members of these teams hard at-work.
Without their efforts, we simply could not run services.

What we do (S&T)
GCRN is a developing railway with huge potential and an exciting
future. Work is currently concentrated on:
- Completing Ruddington South Junction signal cabin and
commissioning.
- Continued fit-out at Ruddington Signalbox.
- Completion of development of Asher Lane crossing cabin and
signalling there.
- Continued development and provision of S&T cabling to
Rushcliffe Halt, East Leake and south.
We maintain (and are always seeking), additional S&T materials
to be used on the railway. We have been lucky to obtain materials
made redundant from the national network due to re-signalling and
modernisation activities, including colour light signals from the
Midland Line in the East Midlands, Sea Houses on the Durham Coast
and "searchlight" signals made redundant from schemes in the South
East. The latter are of particular interest as the East Leake area
(which is part of our railway) was signalled with "approach lit"
searchlight colour light signals by the LNER in the 1940s. Some old
signal heads can still be seen along the line, between Barnstone
Tunnel and East Leake. Look out for these from passing trains - and
think how we have the prospect of re-installing near-original type
signals to this section. It will be an exciting development that
captures the look and feel of the line as it had been during it's
heyday.
What we do (Signalling Team)
Our key operational focus is currently on providing signallers to
operate the often-busy Asher Lane level Crossing box, regulating
cars and trains safely. But during 2008 we are expecting to broaden
our activities to cover:
- Initial manning of Ruddington signalbox to ease workload during
gala days.
- Training and manning of Ruddington South Junction cabin (where
our services reverse).
- Our signallers come from all walks of life, and most have no
prior professional railway background.

How we work
Our teams are based at Ruddington where we have a large base.
Signallers operating our signalboxes normally go straight to the
signalbox they will operate for a day (or part of a day).
For S&T projects, we plan our work weeks and often months in
advance, and allocate volunteers to specific projects. Where
necessary we provide training and instruction to members of our
team to enable them to help with the development of our signalling
infrastructure. We could be wiring in a "location" cabinet one week
and digging in cables or manual signal "benches" the next.
Our operational signallers are rostered to duty. Joe Peck collates
the availability of signalling volunteers and then diagrams them to
a specific session in a specific signalbox.
As our team comprises volunteers both retired and in employment,
we have groups within the team that work weekdays and/or at
weekends. Weekends is when we have the greatest number of people
engaged on our projects.