Curious names of signalboxes, on which we have previously commented on p. 117 of the March-April [1943] issue and p. 308 of the September-October [1943] issue of the Railway Magazine, continue to excite the interest of readers, judging by the correspondence received. The Rev. C. St. M. B. Macfarlane remarks on the fact that the G.W.R. has not merely a signalbox and station named after a motorcar (Morris Cowley), but also a box that takes its name from a tyre - Firestone - on the Brentford branch. Dr. Day's Bridge Junction, at Bristol, has often been the subject of comment; South Liberty Junction, just beyond the West Depot, is another odd name in the Bristol area.
Parts of South Wales, Mr Macfarlane continues, appear to be subject to particularly breezy conditions, as there is a Stormy Signal Box on the main line between Bridgend and Pyle, a Stormstown Junction between Abercynon and Pontypridd, and a Wind Street Junction in Swansea. Sylvan scenes are conjured up by such names as Yew Tree Crossing on the Abertillery-Brynmawr branch, Walnut Tree Junction near Penrhos, and Cherry Orchard, between Cardiff and Caerphilly, Oak Tree on the Eaglescliffe-Darlington line of the L.N.E.R., is a similar example. Fleur-de-lis platform and box on the Bassaleg-Aber Bargoed line have their counterpart in Belle Isle, outside Kings Cross in London. Zig-zag Lines Junction outside Merthyr, G.W.R., is an oddity sufficiently explained, in this mountainous area, by its title.
Mr John L. Maikin writes of a signalbox named Lighthouse which existed at one time near St Annes-on-Sea on the L.M.S.R. Blackpool Central line; when this was opened, it was in full view of a lighthouse built on a sand dune 1/2-mile away, but whereas the lighthouse disappeared early in the century, the box retained its name until, in its turn, the cabin was demolished in 1934, and its signals were replaced by signals power-operated from the adjacent boxes. These auto-signals still retain the name of "Lighthouse," though rows of houses now intervene at this point between the line and the dune on which the lighthouse once stood.
As regards the explanation of certain of the names already given, Mr. W. E. Coffrey writes that Weekday Cross Junction at Nottingham takes its name from a street above, and this, in turn, was named after a cross which once stood in it, and round which a marked was held on weekdays only. Bo-peep Junction, St. Leonards, S.R., is the name also of a road junction and a bus stop, we hear from Mr. R. A. H. Weight; the hotel bearing this name carries on the tradition of inns of earlier names, once the haunt of shepherds who, like the lady of the nursery rhyme, had "lost their sheep" on the adjacent marshes.
Odd L.N.E.R. signalbox names mentioned by Mr. Weight include Pye Pitts, near Malton; Black Bull, on the Malton-Whitby line; and Adventure Pit, on the Leamside line near Durham. Severus Junction, York, Mr. F. Grimoldbury writes, has now exchanged its classical title for the much more prosaic name of York Yard North; and Sessay Wood on the main line 7 miles south of Thirsk, is now Pilmoor South - a much less euphonious appellation.
