Sent to me by an email contact:

"The local edition of newport matters (council mag) says they have secured £10500 to restore the police box..."

Anyone know more?

Further up this topic, Glen.
I haven't been there since the spring, and there was no sign of any action then.

Crispin

Quote from: kiwidoc on Aug 02, 2010, 10:18 pm
"The local edition of newport matters (council mag) says they have secured £10500 to restore the police box..."[/i]

Anyone know more?

I just checked the facebook page on this one, and someone there went to check it out August 12th 2010.
They posted two photos of the restoration work, and said they almost lost it when they took off the door.

Half the Box is being supported by that timber!





As it is we can clearly see the interior in the photos, there are a few bits hanging about.

1) There is a switch for the heater in the bottom middle.

2) Top left, is the switch and button for the Lantern on top.
(This comes from the guys at Avoncroft who said that was how the switches worked for the Posts and boxes originally)
One is a switch to turn the lamp solid if there was a policeman inside
the button was to test the lamp and bell for the station to call


3) Apparently pebbled glass was in the windows? Hammered?
The windows like this appear on the three sides opposite the Telephone wall.

4) The remains of the ericcson speaker telephone setup in the middle left.

5) I assume the desk was against the Telephone wall but its hard to tell since there are no brackets. but just under the telephone there looks to be some wear where a desk could have been.

Can anyone infer more from the photos?

Is anyone close enough to check on the progress?

Cheers

~Starcross

Well, I'm glad they've got started! I was passing by in July and there was no sign of action then...

Crispin

As a Newport resident (and fairly new to the forum so I've only just found this page - sorry!) I can confirm that the box has now been fully restored.
I'll take some more snaps at the weekend for posting, but here are few internet shots.
"Looks rather splendid, doesn't it?"
£10500 of lottery funds well spent!

It looks in good shape I don't know if I'm glad the scarf has gone or not! lol

Perhaps a bow tie would be more contemporary? 

It's good to see it back in near-pristine condition (it would've been nice if the signs and windows could've been restored to how they once were, but you have to account of today's teens)... going from a shambolic wreck to tidy and restored in almost the same amount of change (for the good) as the Tom Yardley Jones prop at the Experience went through.  Hopefully it won't be treated so badly this time around.

Wonderful restoration of the newport police box and the care and attention to detail can clearly be seen. A true work of art.

So pleased to see her all fixed up like new  A lovely restoration job and just in the nick of time before we lost the old girl forever.

As promised, here is how she looks yesterday (16/04/2011) for prosperity. Still scarfless and fortunately clear of the local tribe's "artwork"!

Great to see it brought back to its former glory from the brink of total collapse.
Bill "the Doctor" Rudloff

What a transformation - I'm so impressed with the care they've taken.    Anyone know how they actually restore it so well?

Quote from: Kingpin on Apr 14, 2011, 08:37 am
It's good to see it back in near-pristine condition (it would've been nice if the signs and windows could have been restored to how they once were, but you have to account of today's teens)

Ah yes, but what did they look like all those years before? Well wonder no more, I've located a photo of an original while still in service. From what I can tell it must be a new website, because its the first I've seen of it in my research runs. Newport Past - History of the City of Newport.



Things to note about this one, is the K1 Telephone box in the background. A sign of early days perhaps, regardless its certainly beyond 1932 in the photo because the windows look a bit broken here and there. Vandals or debris from cars flying around it constantly?

The windows all seem to be either open, or broken in the exact same spot, on the two visible sides. Possibly how the boxes were ventilated 

The door was painted a darker colour than the rest of the box. Could it have had the same livery as the old K1 telephone boxes, white with red windows and doors? The damaged interior views that were captured certainly indicate the windows were red trimmed. The Last of the boxes were photographed in the early 1990s(?) as being white. Strong evidence, but its still hard to tell with Black and white photos; the world must have been a sad grey place before colors were invented by kodak.


Now then as for restoring it to original with signs, why wait for action from a 3rd party. A bit of constructive graffiti with the right templates would make a fine addition to the restoration work. The police signs are the same as the Glasgow boxes carried, and the "Police, Fire, Ambulance" sign in red is available to copy from any number of preserved Boxes or Pillars. A bit of work on templates, a masking of the general area, and a bit of spray paint; and one complete set of signs to original specs. (Mind you I'd probably practice a bit before trying it on the real thing.)

The little air vents could be made from bending some cheep sheet metal, and get fastened on over the air vents as per original spec. Shame they pitched the originals, there were a few still hanging on.

The windows are done for however, nothing to be done as they kept the sheet metal over the back and right side. They appear to have kept the door close to original. It seems like a bit of the trim around the door has been removed to flatten the panel but it looks okay. Probably not best to paint the trim around the door red, it wouldn't look right without the glass.


Still it looks fantastic for what they started with, but I wonder how it looks inside. Did they just leave it the way it was or did it get a bit of a clean up?


Cheers,

~Starcross

This is amazing! Thanks for that link, because what's even more incredible is the fact that this is Allt-yr-yn Road and only about 100 metres from my house! It makes it even more ironic that I should choose to build a Type 40 Time Capsule replica so close to where an original box used to stand! Many thanks again. - John