Signal Boxes

Another of my railway books. It would be hard to out-nerd me on this one: Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Traffic Control Maps, Volume 3 Yorkshire 1895, by T. T. Sutcliffe. It is a book of sketch maps and other details about signal boxes on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. 

It is mainly maps and tables. One of the simplest maps is of our local line between Shepley and Penistone. To the North, it continues to Huddersfield, and in the opposite direction from Penistone, after initially turning West, it continues South and East to Sheffield Victoria or Barnsley. 

At Penistone we can also see the junction to the Woodhead Tunnel route to Manchester, which closed to passengers in 1970, and completely in 1981. The Yorkshire section is now a cycle path, and trains between Penistone and Sheffield are diverted through Barnsley, increasing the journey time from about 15 minutes to an hour. Sheffield Victoria railway station is also now no more. 

The map also shows the branch to Clayton West which as well as passengers, also carried coal. Building a tunnel on the line involved shattering large quantities of slate at Skelmanthorpe, which is still known locally as Shat. The branch line closed in 1983, and the track bed is now used by the volunteer-run narrow-gauge Kirklees Light Railway, a tourist attraction. 

The book contains few photographs, and the few there are make the book even more esoteric because they are all of signal box architecture. One shows the Clayton West Junction box which is close to the top of the sketch map. According to the text, this box is of interest because of the unusual design of the eaves. The Note 8 referred to, gives details of the original designer. I told you it was nerdy. To find images of wider interest you have to look on the internet. 

As well as the maps, the book lists all signal boxes (or cabins as the author prefers to call them) in the region, together with statistics such as their sizes and the number of levers they contain. The map symbols mark bridges, tunnels, level crossings, water troughs, and other features. Signal boxes are named and shown as a circled cross. 

The book also covers other lines I know well: such as around Huddersfield and Leeds, and the journey I used to make regularly between Goole and Leeds through Rawcliffe, Snaith, Knottingly, and Methley Junction when I first started work. Some maps are much more complicated, such as Wakefield. Mainly for my own interest, here is the Goole page. 

But instead of more signal box maps and images, I would rather show this enormous and incredible mural (widely available on the internet) at Manchester Victoria station, which shows the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway network from Liverpool to Hull. It is thought to date from 1904. How’s that for a Monday mural, Andrew in Melbourne (High Riser)? Enlarged (open in new tab), the whole network can be made out clearly.  

I also like the lists of shipping destinations, especially from Goole. The railway company had its own fleet of Lancashire and Yorkshire steamers, nicknamed the “Lanky Boats”. Goole was once around the tenth busiest port in the country (by tonnage), and a small crowd used to assemble each tide time on the Lock Hill to see the ships coming up and going away. 

This is Volume 3 of 4, Yorkshire 1895. Volumes 1 and 2 are Lancashire 1895 and 1922, and Volume 4 is Yorkshire 1922.They were published in the early 1980s. It must truly have been a labour of love, and I can only admire the creator of something so focused and detailed.