Thank you and well done to everyone who has been involved in the donation of the READING PANEL SIGNAL BOX 1965-2010 HST nameplate from GWR to SPS.

An unveiling and re-dedication ceremony took place on Saturday 11 May, attended by many ex-Reading Panel signalmen, where GWR Managing Director Mark Hopwood formally handed the nameplate over.

It is great to see it on display in the panel room, and we are delighted to have been trusted to look after this item of Western Region and signalling heritage.

THANK YOU very much to SPS member and author of “A Chronology of Railway Signalling 1825-2018”, Peter Woodbridge, who has donated the proceeds from the sale of his book – £1000 – to Swindon Panel Train Describer restoration fund!

Copies of Peter’s book are still available – Peter can be contacted via SPS or via the comments below.

As you’ll see from the photos, it has received great reviews in magazines and has been justifiably placed alongside the three excellent major IRSE publications “Railway Signalling”, “Railway Control Systems” and “Railway Signalling and Control”. High praise indeed!

It is planned that Swindon Panel’s train describer will be the next stage in its restoration and will feature VDU, solid state and Sodeco mechanical units – all three technologies that were used in Swindon’s TD in its lifetime.

Thank you Peter for this most generous donation, and thank you to everyone who has bought Peter’s book and therefore contributed towards the restoration of what will be a very rare, if not unique, installation of a mechanical TD in preservation.

The SPS Demonstrators’ Workshop in March was a great success, and one of the things to come out of it was the desire to hold a follow-up for less formal sharing of best practice among demonstrators.

The first of these will be held on Saturday 18 May, after the AGM. The exact venue on the DRC site is TBC (as the panel will be open to the public). When the panel closes at 4pm we will move into the panel room.

Attendees are welcome to stay at this session until 7pm, after which everyone is invited to a meal in the Prince of Wales, opposite Didcot Parkway station. No need to book in advance, we will arrange informally on the day.

All demonstrators and prospective demonstrators are welcome to attend this session.

Swindon Panel will be hosting a technical conference on Saturday *16* November 2019 [Date amended], starting at 10.30am, where we intend to explain all the details of our extensive simulator system.

PRE-BOOKING is required – please see below.

A detailed presentation will be given on the subject of the simulators that drive Swindon Panel, including:

– the interlocking simulators
– “outside world” simulator
– train describer
– JMRI/Panel Pro
– interlocking XML generator
– HTML/PHP control tables interpreter
– PCB designs and operation
– TC64 units
– what went well and what went wrong
– future developments

Some brief details will be given of the wiring of the panel, but only sufficient for understanding of the simulator (otherwise this could take up a whole day on its own)!

No previous attendees’ knowledge will be presumed, apart from the basics of signalling and panel operation, and the basics of computer use, so hopefully the day will be of interest to everyone, but particularly those who are involved in other similar projects, either with clubs or privately.

If you haven’t already seen Swindon Panel in action, we recommend visiting on one of our public open days before attending the technical conference, but if you can’t don’t worry. https://www.swindonpanel.org.uk/activities-2019/

There will be plenty of opportunity to see the hardware and software in action, and to ask as many questions you like of those responsible for creating the system.

No information will be withheld, we will be very happy to share all intellectual property, plans and designs that belong to SPS.

The event is free to attend for SPS members. Please pre-book as below and show your SPS membership card at the DRC booking office to gain access.

Non-members are also welcome, donations towards the continued upkeep and development of Swindon Panel (registered charity) welcome. Please pre-book as below and you will be able to access DRC by your name being on a list at the entrance gate.

PRE-BOOKING IS REQUIRED. Attendee spaces are limited. Please contact us via email or Facebook message with your name, if you are attending from another club/organisation, and how many people will be in your group, to book your spaces.

See you there!

Thank you to everyone who attended the Swindon Panel Demonstrators’ Workshop Day on Saturday.

28 SPS members, including some new faces, took part in “Welcome Host” training delivered by Tourism South East, plus an explanatory tour of the other signalling attractions on the DRC site and a general look around the Railway Centre.

We hope you all found it useful – we certainly came away with a lot of things to think about and great ideas for the future!

Swindon Panel Society is holding a Workshop for volunteer demonstrators on 16 March.

There are still places available, and as you’ll see there are some good opportunities for us all to improve our skills, whatever our background level of signalling experience.

If you might be interested in demonstrating Swindon Panel to visitors at Didcot Railway Centre – please get in touch!

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Hello everyone,

Thank you for volunteering to attend the SPS Demonstrators’ Workshop day!

We have constructed the timetable for the day to hopefully enable everyone to get the best from it, as you’ll see from the schedule below. To avoid overwhelming the different aspects of the day there will be two groups, with slightly different times.

*** Please could I ask everyone to let me know their preference for Group A or Group B or if you don’t mind either please let me know and I will allocate you to even out the group numbers. ***

The most important important parts of the day are the Welcome Host for Volunteers training programme from Tourism South East, and the Didcot Railway Centre signalling tour. These are great (and expensive!) opportunities, so let’s all try to make the best out of them. Our panel-specific skills are of secondary importance on this day.

A buffet-style lunch will be provided (if anyone has any allergy etc requirements please let me know).

Recognising that many attendees will already be fully comfortable with operating the panel, the ‘Panel’ items have been put at the start and end of the day so that those already familiar with how it works can arrive late or depart early if they wish. Group A has this at the end of the day, so the ‘fixed’ part of Group A’s day is 0915-1545, with as much ‘Swindon’ time after that as you wish. Group B has this at the end of the day, so the ‘fixed’ part of Group B’s day is 1100-1700, with as much ‘Swindon’ time on the start of that as you wish.

Group A:
0915 fixed start time
0930 – 1230: Welcome Host for Volunteers Training Programme, run by Tourism South East
1230 – 1300: Lunch
1300 – 1500: Tour of the other signalling exhibits in the building, Radstock and Frome signal boxes, and DRC in general.
1545 onwards Swindon Panel explanations and practice (optional). If you are already familiar with the operating of the panel then please don’t feel obliged to attend this part.

Group B:
Arrival until 1100: Swindon Panel explanations and practice (optional). If you are already familiar with the operating of the panel then please don’t feel obliged to attend this part. The panel will be open from 9am (approx!)
1100 – 1300: Tour of the other signalling exhibits in the building, Radstock and Frome signal boxes, and DRC in general.
1300 – 1330: Lunch
1330 – 1645: Welcome Host for Volunteers Training Programme, run by Tourism South East
1700 finish (unless you would like to ‘play’ on the panel for longer!)

Many thanks to everyone for contributing your time to Swindon Panel. This Workshop will hopefully improve all our skills at handling visitors and delivering demonstrations, no matter what our background level of signalling experience.

If there are any queries please let me know.

Remember to please let me know your preference for Group A, B or ‘don’t mind’!

Many thanks

Danny Scroggins

We are delighted to have been invited to Didcot Railway Centre’s Civil Engineering Group’s Grand Dinner, on the evening of 23 November 2019.

The surroundings will be a bit more salubrious than in the photo! (The photo shows a Sunday Roast cooked in the panel by James Nelhams during deconstruction work at Swindon in 2016 – it was excellent!)

All SPS members (and partners etc) are welcome to the Grand Dinner. The exact times and location will be confirmed closer to the time, but it is normally somewhere within 30 minutes’ drive of Didcot. There are normally an informal after-dinner ‘quiz’ type entertainment to get everyone laughing (or groaning!)

The CE Group conducted the planning, procurement and nearly all construction work for The Signalling Centre, in which Swindon Panel is now displayed, and we are delighted to maintain close friendships between SPS and the CE Group.

Joining instructions will be posted here, and messaged to anyone who indicates they’re ‘going’ or ‘interested’ in this event, as well as via the other usual methods.

See you there!

Demonstrators’ Workshop Day on 16 March 2019.

Everyone who currently demonstrates Swindon Panel or wishes to in the future is encouraged to attend.

Will all be informal and discussion based including:
– Method of operation of the panel for those who feel they need it
– Dealing with visitors, framing our description, pitching to the right audience
– Input from DRC, of which we form part to visitors
– Input from Tourism South West
– Discussions between everyone on what they’ve found works well and what doesn’t.
– Explanations and discussions with the DRC signalling team about the other items of signalling equipment in The Signalling Centre and around the DRC site, so that we can answer questions etc
– A brief note on dealing with lost children, first aid incidents, etc

Lunch will be provided. All discussion based, everyones’ views welcome – there won’t be any tests or assessments!

If you wish to attend please ensure you advise Danny, Tom or Jamie, or ‘click to volunteer’ on the roster on HOPS. If you’ve never been involved with Swindon Panel before, but would like to be, this is an ideal time to get involved! Please contact us for more info!

SPS AGM 2019.

All SPS members are invited to the SPS AGM on 18 May 2019, at Didcot Railway Centre, commencing at 1pm.

The panel will be open as part of its normal open day from 10am until 4pm, so even if you’ve never visited before, you can come and see how it all works!

Please show your SPS membership card at the box office to obtain entry to Didcot Railway Centre.

The AGM is an “official” affair, but there will be an opportunity for informal questions and answers after the formal business. Non-members are welcome to attend in an observer capacity (but may not vote).

There will also be the opportunity to look round the rest of the Railway Centre, engine sheds, other signalling exhibits, etc, and a light buffet will be served in the afternoon (donations welcome).

All SPS members are invited to Members’ Weekend to see the latest progress and developments at Swindon Panel and Didcot Railway Centre. Whatever your level of signalling knowledge or experience, come and visit the panel you’ve all contributed to preserving and have a chat with some old friends and maybe make some new ones too!

The panel will be open from 10am on Saturday 7 September to 4pm on Sunday 8 September… CONTINUOUSLY!

Yes, that’s right, the challenge of the weekend will be 30 hours of continuous Swindon Panel operation!

There will be rostered slots for panel signalmen and some ‘free-for-all’ periods, following approximately the schedule below:
10.00 Sat – 12.00 – rostered signalmen
12.00 – 15.00 – free for all
15.00 – 18.00 – rostered signalmen
18.00 Sat – 10am Sun – rostered signalmen (more than one shift)
10.00 – 12.00 – rostered signalmen
12.00 – 16.00 – free for all
16.00 Sun – close.

The Railway Centre is open from 10.30am, so all members are welcome to ‘drop in’ at any time from 10.30am each day. (Please show your SPS membership card at the box office).

The Signalling Centre will be closed to the public from approximately 4.30pm, so SPS members might like to take advantage of this opportunity to exclusively view the rest of the exhibits in the exhibition.

There will also be the opportunity to look round the rest of the Railway Centre, engine sheds, other signalling exhibits, etc.

If you are interested in taking on a rostered session on the panel during this period please contact Danny Scroggins. Sleeping accommodation can be arranged for this event at DRC if required.

See you there!