Signal Box at Billinghurst Railway Station

The Signal Box at Billinghurst Railway Station was built in 1876 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway, supplied by Saxby and Farmer. It is an S & F type 1b box, featuring a timber frame and a hipped slate roof. The locking room is covered with horizontal boarding and has a large structural post at each corner, along with a two-light window. The upper floor has continuous glazing on the track side, except for a central timber mullion. It includes fixed six-pane windows in the center, with outer four-pane sliding sashes on each side. The short side facing the road has two four + four sliding sashes, with another at the rear. The platform end has a timber stair leading to a door and window above; however, the window is obscured by the adjacent footbridge.

Inside, the signal box contains a 15 lever Saxby & Farmer rocker frame No 2273. Although it is recorded as having been built in 1876, the production of the Type 1 box had ceased several years earlier, suggesting it may have been reused from an earlier site, possibly dating back to the 1860s. This signal box is likely the oldest working signal box with its original frame in the British system and is the only remaining example of the first standard signal box design from the company that patented the interlocking frame, establishing the signal box as a building type.