If you've only ever visited Dduallt in the last 20 years you could be forgiven for not realising there ever was a signal box here because it was torn down a few years after the passing loop was taken out of commission.
You could also be forgiven for thinking it looks more like an overgrown potting shed than a signal box, but this is the FR of the 60's and 70's where practicality and getting back to Blaenau were the only criteria that mattered.
The box was tucked in the corner between the start of the new Deviation spiral and the line to the Old Moelywn Tunnel.
In the year we chose to model Dduallt - 1988 - there remained a very short stretch of this line forming a short siding behind the signal box. It gives us lot more operational flexibility when running the layout at exhibitions and a handy place where we can leave items of rolling stock on display while the trains run.
The model was built by guesstimating the dimensions because I never did take the opportunity to measure it while it was still standing. Using a comprehensive set of pictures - that I did have the presence of mind to take - I based the design around the size of the average front door knowing that the FR most likely built it using off-the-shelf components.
I think it turned out pretty well.
"practicality and getting back to Blaenau were the only criteria that mattered" sounds good to me. A much more interesting period I suspect than the future where a tendency will be toward the twee. Maybe the last days when the railway was treated as a railway than a tourist attraction ?
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