Which Signal Box would you have liked to work?

[Springs Branch]

Not getting out much at present, I've being blowing off the dust and re-reading some older items on my bookshelf.
This week it's been Adrian Vaughan's Signalman's Morning - an account of life in the 1960s in the mostly bucolic mechanical box at Challow on the GW main line in the Vale of White Horse.

I've always fancied the life of an old-school bobby in the right sort of signalbox, although, as with any job, I'm sure some aspects of reality would be less pleasant than expected.

Reading the book got me thinking - given the choice, exactly which box would I have liked to have worked in the steam era, pre-Beeching?

• Does anyone else have fantasies of working a mechanical signalbox in the "good old days"?
• Which box would you choose?
• What characteristics would appeal to you? - a remote location, very busy junction, variety of traffic etc.

The conclusion for me was: Whelley Junction.

This box was in Lancashire on the Whelley Loop line (a freight by-pass for WCML freight around Wigan) and its appealing features were:-

1. It was a junction with a short spur connecting to the Lancashire Union line from Boar's Head to Adlington. So a bit of points-changing and traffic regulation to do, but nothing too onerous.
2. The location had a rural outlook, situated in open green fields and well away from the collieries and slag heaps of the coalfield.
3. Most traffic would have been a procession of various short, medium and long-distance goods trains, including in later years the well-known and much-photographed (on the S&C) Long Meg to Widnes anhydrite train.
4. There would be a few daily passenger trains (e.g. Manchester Exchange to Windermere) and plenty of Blackpool excursions on summer weekends.
5. For variety and to test your mettle on the block bells, during engineering work around Wigan NW, all the WCML traffic would come this way.

Some pictures from my prospective workplace:-

Images by Peter Worthington at Wigan World website.

After Whelley Junction, my next choice was Hindley & Blackrod Branch Junction - east of Wigan, a bit quieter with less variety than Whelley, but another rural setting with birdsong to enjoy between trains and a great view of Winter Hill.

 

[Cowley]

I really enjoyed reading those books and remember wishing that I was doing his job in those days.
I think if I had a time machine and found myself as a fully trained signalman I’d like to have worked in Cowley Bridge Junction signalbox in the early 1970s when there were still a few diesel hydraulics around and plenty of interesting traffic on the Barnstaple branch.
(Not my photos)


Lovely location with the river behind and the pub opposite, plus two minutes walk from my house.

 

[High Dyke]

Both Bottesford West and Bingham for me. It's the only boxes on the route I never signed. Perhaps the boxes at Grantham North, Yard Box and Grantham South, as well as my namesake at Highdyke.

 

[Cowley]

Both Bottesford West and Bingham for me. It's the only boxes on the route I never signed. Perhaps the boxes at Grantham North, Yard Box and Grantham South, as well as my namesake at Highdyke.

Out of curiosity what sort of boxes would have been the most enjoyable/interesting to work?
Would it have been the cut and thrust of a busy junction working with other signalmen, a booking boy etc?
Or a nice quiet box where you’d be alone much of the time?
I suppose it would depend on your personality a bit?

 

[Revaulx]

Altrincham South. It was a heartbroken ten year old that turned up at Alty station one day to find it had completely disappeared

Or maybe Northenden Junction, as I enjoy heights

 

[High Dyke]

Out of curiosity what sort of boxes would have been the most enjoyable/interesting to work?
Would it have been the cut and thrust of a busy junction working with other signalmen, a booking boy etc?
Or a nice quiet box where you’d be alone much of the time?
I suppose it would depend on your personality a bit?

I enjoy the cut & thrust of a busier location to an extent, but also enjoy sitting out in a country box with a couple of trains per hour. Highdyke would've been good when the iron ore branch was open with regular movements to/from the branch and sidings. Grantham North would probably have been an interesting box to work, with regular movements on/off the steam shed as well as controlling the north end of the station.

 

[Springs Branch]

Out of curiosity what sort of boxes would have been the most enjoyable/interesting to work?
Would it have been the cut and thrust of a busy junction working with other signalmen, a booking boy etc?
Or a nice quiet box where you’d be alone much of the time?
I suppose it would depend on your personality a bit?

Maybe this depends on your age as well as your personality.

If asked the question in my twenties or thirties I would likely have gone for the cut & thrust and teamwork option.

Now, in my seventh decade, I'd go for a calm (but not too quiet) box and being left alone to enjoy England's green and pleasant land, with the occasional chat with a Rule 55 loco man, or the PW lads calling in to fill up their tea cans.

 

[Cowley]

Love it.

 

[Aictos]

Well I would have liked to have seen the following in operation:

Accrington North in 1960
Hertford North in 1970
Edinburgh in 1980
Leeds in 1990
Birmingham in 2000
Cardiff in 2010
Three Bridges in 2020

 

[Ashley Hill]

Torre,a nice tall 42 lever box with just enough to keep you busy without exhuastion. It must have been an interesting place to work in its heyday.
Dawlish Warren would be my second choice,a bit more exertion here though but the free golf balls are a bonus!

 

[4F89]

Firsby station, would have been great with all the different workings and branches. Not even as a bobby, just on the platforms would have been great "back in 't' day"

 

[John Webb]

It was Adrian Vaughan's books that triggered off a deep interest in signalling which I'd already been intrigued in by my late father's interest in railways. Which is why I got involved with the St Albans South preservation/restoration project when it got off the ground. So having spoken with former signal men who worked the box, I have to say it would be this box I would like to have worked in reality. Quite busy - some 285 trains in 24 hours in a typical 1970s weekday - 24 of them between 8 and 9am!

 

[Journeyman]

Anywhere with only a couple of trains a day, a comfy chair and a big stack of books.

 

[yorksrob]

How about Bexhill West ?

Loads of room and plenty of levers, but only one or two trains an hour to worry about !

 

[ChiefPlanner]

Walnut Tree Junction (Taffs Well) , which I worked as a trainee for a week or so in 1979.

2 track passenger , 2 track permissive goods lines to Radyr. Double junction to Penrhos /Aber with incline working arrangements , single line to Nantgarw.

Very busy with up to 4 tph passenger (some semi-fast) , but the real skills were in regulating the freights. Not much time for sitting down in between trains. Were it there today - with that traffic , I would happily stay there.

 

[Bald Rick]

Reedham Swing Bridge (but I’d want the winter off), or Chippenham Jn.

 

[306024]

Reedham Swing Bridge (but I’d want the winter off), or Chippenham Jn.

Chippenham Jn? Is there a smaller signal box?

Three Horse Shoes, just because of the silly name. Had to phone them once for some long forgotten reason. “Shoes“, the siggie was most surprised at getting a call from ”The Smoke”.

Shenfield was always a fascinating box to visit in the peak, I’d have enjoyed that, no time to sit down for a couple of hours.

 

[Peter C]

If I was given a time machine and could go back to control any signalbox, it would probably be something on my local line (the Cotswold Line). That would probably boil it down to either Moreton-in-Marsh signalbox (I'd actually be quite content operating it in the modern era - still has semaphore signals - but I'd probably go for 1980s. I like the traction a lot more from back then - loco-hauled services and slam doors - the lot! ) or maybe Kingham (1920s-1950s era). Both of them had plenty of operations and track to cover, making for an interesting day!
Now I think about it more, maybe Ascott-under-Wychwood 'box or Swindon Panel could be interesting - I really like the way those types of panels work. Swindon Panel is currently preserved at Didcot Railway Centre so I've had a go at setting routes many times on it and then Ascott panel is still in-situ. The latter controls a much smaller area and also interfaces with the older equipment of Moreton 'box and has a level crossing to control. Interesting!

-Peter

 

[Bald Rick]

Chippenham Jn? Is there a smaller signal box?

Three Horse Shoes, just because of the silly name. Had to phone them once for some long forgotten reason. “Shoes“, the siggie was most surprised at getting a call from ”The Smoke”.

Shenfield was always a fascinating box to visit in the peak, I’d have enjoyed that, no time to sit down for a couple of hours.

Chippenham Jn is now twice the size it was than when I made my first visit. When doing box visits there in the old days there was no chance of social distancing! I’m still not sure there was enough room to pull the levers, particularly the main crossover which was (and probably still is) a right b******.

 

[splashoutradio]

Not as adventurous as some replies, but Crow Nest Junction (near Hindley), before it was rationalised and still worked AB to Lostock Junction.