St Bees Signal Box

Railway signal box, 1891, for the Furness Railway, possibly by Paley and Austin of Lancaster. Furness Railway Type 3 design.

MATERIALS: red sandstone, slate roof.

EXTERIOR: two-storey signal box with a steeply pitched hipped roof. The signal box's base is stone built with snecked stonework that has a gentle batter so that it tapers up to the operating floor's window sill. Central to the rear wall there is a projecting chimney stack that survives to full height. This is quoined with grey sandstone with its base supported by three corbels. The locking room (the ground floor room) is lit by lancet windows to both front and rear, with a larger window in the north end, all now boarded but originally with a lower large pane with four square panes arranged in a square above. The operating room (the upper floor) is entered from the southern end, via a modern porch at the head of an external staircase. The operating room has windows to all sides, being continuous to the east (facing the tracks with seven windows) and north (overlooking the crossing with six, narrower windows). These windows were originally arranged with plate glass lower sections with four small panes in a row above. These windows have been replaced in uPVC with undivided top-lights.

INTERIOR: the signal box retains its original lever frame, of 24 levers, supplied by the Railway Signal Company.