Birkdale Signal Box

Railway signal box, 1905, by and for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

MATERIALS: timber with horizontal weatherboarding; slate roof finished with a perforated terracotta ridge with curved finials.

EXTERIOR: the signal box is of two storeys with a hipped roof. The upper operating floor is jettied out to the east (towards the line) and south (towards the level crossing), supported by iron brackets. The signal box retains its original operating-room windows which are a mixture of fixed and horizontal sliding sashes, all of four panes, the glazing being continuous to the front and sides. Below the main windows there is a row of small fixed panes. The signal box also retains its external board walk supported by simple metal brackets (designed to provide access for window cleaning), as well as late 1930s London Midland Scottish Railway name boards. The lower, locking-room floor was lit by four pane windows to the sides and ends, but these have been boarded over. Access to the signal box is via the ground floor from the northern end. Some of the perforated ridge tiles have been broken, although the majority are intact, as are the finials.

INTERIOR: the signal box has not been modernised internally, the operating floor still being open to the rafters. The box also retains its original 24 lever Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Tappet frame dating to 1905. Access to the operating floor appears to have been via an internal, rather than the more usual external, staircase.