The panel will move from Swindon to Didcot on Saturday 2 April on a road lorry, leaving Swindon at approximately 9am. When it arrives there it will be placed onto a railway wagon for transit into the Railway Centre later that day.

We will be very pleased to receive photographs of the panel on its journey – being lifted off the panel roof, being transported by road, being lifted onto the train, then being moved by train into the Railway Centre (including through Didcot Parkway station!)

Photos that you have taken can be sent to us via any of the usual methods (or by reply to this email). The best photograph we receive by midnight on Sunday will receive a Swindon Panel goody-bag!

Needless to say, no Flying Scotsman antics trying to get the best shot!

Thank you very much to everyone who has helped at Swindon Panel over the last weekend. After much planning, preparations and a bit of a paperwork battle with Network Rail, Swindon Panel has now moved its first few inches towards preservation. Swindon Panel is now in the air!

Excellent progress was made and we are well on the way to moving the panel. All the steelwork has been delivered, and the panel has been lifted up and the first parts of the lifting frame inserted underneath. These will hold the weight of the panel when it is lifted by the frame. The clamp bars have also been inserted above the metalwork inside the panel to hold the panel down to the frame. The sections will all be bolted together longitudinally next weekend to make the grid base formation when some further steelwork is lifted up from ground level into the control room.

A lot of work was also carried out inside the panel to remove breakable items and unnecessary heavy items in readiness for the move, and tidying up and tying up cables inside the panel to stop them falling out on the way. Inside the panel is very full of thousands of wires, all going in different directions, and none of which were installed with moving the panel in mind!

Some of our small-part steelwork.

It is a very exciting time, now that our plans are finally coming to fruition, and we are very excited about the next couple of weekends leading towards the (planned) move date on 2nd April.

Some of the Swindon Panel members in the panel on Saturday enjoy a cup of tea from a Southern Region mug!

Special thanks from all those members present on Sunday go to James Nelhams who cooked us a full Sunday lunch in the panel kitchen!

Sunday Lunch in the Panel! Very civilised.

Thank you to everyone who has helped out, this weekend and previously to help us get to this stage. A huge number of people have done us a huge number of favours, we are very grateful indeed and promise to be putting everyone’s effort to very good use!

Click to enlarge.

Happy Birthday Swindon Panel!

To celebrate Swindon Panel’s 48th birthday (opened 3 March 1968), we are delighted to release our set of six, limited edition, Swindon Panel Society pin badges to celebrate the life of Swindon Panel and its movement into preservation.

Each badge is a different shape and colour and depicts a Swindon Panel-related image.

SN48, the signal on the end of platform 1 at Swindon, was picked as the panel was 48 years old this year.

The badges are £2 each or a complete set of 6 for £10.

The complete sets are available now via HOPS: https://www.heritage-ops.org.uk/product/242/
(Unfortunately it is not economical to sell the individual badges online, these can be purchased from us at DRC or any of our events).

All proceeds used in the move and preservation of Swindon Panel. Only a limited run will be produced so don’t miss out!

Thank you very much indeed to the operators and members of Rail UK Forums (http://www.railforums.co.uk/) who have generously voted to donate their 2015 operating surplus of £1000 to Swindon Panel Society.

SPS achieved the most votes out of 18 contenders, all nominated by the forum members.

Thank you very much indeed to everyone who took part and voted for Swindon Panel!

Our BBC Radio Wiltshire appearance this morning is now on BBC iPlayer:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03jlx57

We are on at 2:25:20 (and then they also put us in the news at 3:02:40).

The official definition of a tamper is now “ruffles up the ballast”!

I apologise for having taken until Thursday to write this (I am a bit swamped at the moment!), but THANK YOU very much indeed to everyone who gave their time and support at Swindon Panel last weekend!

All the Domino tiles were removed on Saturday, which was very impressive – I didn’t expect to get them all out in one day. The nameplates were also removed from the outside of the signal box and safely stored for preservation. Later that afternoon, two Network Rail people turned up with the intention of removing the plate, and it is doubtful whether they would have gone to the trouble that Andy and Vincent went to to remove it without damaging it, and much more likely that it would have been snapped off some of the difficult-to-remove bolts. So well done for saving the plate from the bin! We were also able to have a first look at the removal of the end doors.

As all the panel work had been completed on the Saturday, on Sunday we concentrated on doing work relating to the development of the electronic simulator for the panel. This advanced the work normally carried out on Monday evening telephone conferences by several weeks, so many thanks to everyone for getting involved in that. It was pleasant to be doing this in the surroundings of the panel that it is all in aid of.

Thank you very much for coming and giving your time and support. We are at DRC this weekend continuing preparations on the building, and then at Swindon PSB again every weekend after that until the move. Hopefully we’ll see some of you again over the next six weeks.

Thank you!