Signalling
Some of England’s rarest and best preserved signal boxes have been given Grade II listed status thanks to a Network Rail and English Heritage project
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wenty six of England's rarest and best preserved signal boxes have been given Grade II listed status by the Department for Culture Media and Sport as a result of a joint English Heritage and Network Rail project to safeguard the nation's railway signalling heritage. The listings come as Network Rail decommissions many mechanical signal boxes to consolidate signalling into 12 regional centres, as part of a 30 year plan to modernise the system and provide a better value railway for Britain. Heritage Minister, Ed Vaizey said: ‘Our interest in everything to do with trains and railways - and the ‘golden age’ of steam in particular - is one of our most endearing and enduring national preoccupations. Signal boxes are a big part of this, and so I am very pleased indeed to be able to list these lovely examples of the type. It is greatly to Network Rail’s credit that they have worked so constructively with English Heritage to bring this project to such a successful outcome.’
English Heritage has worked in close partnership with Network Rail to identify and protect a representative sample of the most significant designs, especially those within groups of historic railway buildings, capturing a snapshot of the Victorian heyday of railways for future generations.
Much loved local landmarks From Cornwall to Kent and Sussex to North Yorkshire, the newly listed signal boxes date from the 1870’s to the 1920’s. Many still retain their original operating equipment and have become much loved local landmarks. The box designs range from imposing structures, like the enormous Saxby & Farmer designed box at Eastbourne, to simple single-storey timber buildings, like the diminutive Stevens & Sons box at Grain Crossing in Medway, Kent, the last survivor of a once numerous design. In the North of England, Hebden Bridge Signal Box built in 1891, one of only a handful of Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway boxes to survive in anything like original condition, has a time warp quality, where both it and
Beautiful detailing
Installed from the mid-19th century onwards, signal boxes numbered around 10,000 at the peak of their use in the 1940’
s.Today fewer than 500 are still in use by Network Rail. They were built in highly visible spots at stations or level crossings to an infinite variety of designs, sometimes with beautiful detailing and embellishment far beyond what is needed for their practical function. They were constructed both by specialist contractors like Saxby & Farmer and individual railway companies, each developing their own distinctive style.
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