Helsby Junction Signal Box

Railway signal box, 1900, by and for the London and North Western Railway, Type 4 design of 1876, extensively renovated circa 2003.

MATERIALS: brick base with timber upper floor with horizontal weatherboarding; uPVC windows replicating the original pattern; Welsh slate roof.

EXTERIOR: the signal box appears to be single storey with a half basement, the floor of the lower, locking room being below the level of the surrounding station platform. At the south-western end of the box there is a small annex which, although of matching construction, is a later addition, providing a staff toilet and a porch to the entrance to the operating room. The timber structure of the upper, operating room is slightly set back from the brick wall face of the locking room below. The locking room is lit by four, segmentally arched windows to front and back, with a single window to the north-eastern end. The operating room is accessed via a short, modern steel staircase rising into the porch from the south-eastern side. Glazing on this side of the signal box is continuous with eleven 4-pane sashes arranged 2-2-3-2-2, most being fixed, but some horizontally sliding. Glazing on the north-western side is similar being nearly continuous with 10 sashes with a single central gap. The north-eastern end is also nearly continuously glazed except for a single, sash-sized gap. The roof is gabled to a shallow pitch, finished with timber spiked finials set into plain bargeboards.

INTERIOR: the signal box retains its original 45 lever London and North Western Railway Tumbler frame.