Thetford Signal Box

Signal box built for the Great Eastern Railway in 1883.

MATERIALS: reddish-brown brick laid on Flemish bond and slate roof covering.

PLAN: it stands immediately to the west of the main station building on the north side of the line, and is rectangular on plan with a rear extension.

EXTERIOR: the signal box has a pitched roof with boarded gable ends and overhanging eaves. The bargeboards and south (front) fascia bear a decorative scalloped moulding. The ground-floor locking room is divided by brick pilasters into three panels with decorative cogging, each panel pierced by the original six-light window with glazing bars and segmental arched brick heads. It is accessed via a timber plank door on the west side. The front and much of the side elevations are continuously glazed with horizontal sliding windows: the front has six twelve-pane windows, the east side has two twelve-light windows followed by one nine-light window, and the west side has two twelve-light windows. A balcony for cleaning the windows runs around three sides of the building. The upper operating floor is accessed via an external flight of metal steps, dating from the third quarter of the C20, through a timber door with glazed upper panels, which is not the original. There is a lean-to extension on the north side, dating to at least 1905, which has, on the west side a timber plank door, and a small flat-roofed extension, added in the second half of the C20.

INTERIOR: the signal box retains its original 1883 McKenzie & Holland lever frame to their pattern of c1873. A false ceiling has been inserted and secondary glazing fitted.