Bridlington South Signal Box

Summary

Signal box, North Eastern Railway Type S1a, of 1893 with some later alterations.

Reasons for Designation

Bridlington South Signal Box, Type S1a, dating to 1893 and built for the North Eastern Railway, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:

* it retains most of its Victorian character, built using good quality design, materials and detailing, including the unusual use of Sussex bond brickwork;
* it shows the versatility of the North Eastern Railway, Southern Division Type S1a design, which could be adapted to be built in multiple bay widths and to accommodate a much larger than normal lever frame when required;
* it retains a reduced, but still impressive McKenzie and Holland 65-lever frame and locking rack, together with its associated circuit diagram, block shelf and block instruments;
* it is the only surviving large 10-bay North Eastern Railway Type S1a signal box in the country.

Group value:

* the signal box has a spatial and functional group value with Bridlington Railway Station.

History

From the 1840s, huts or cabins were provided for men operating railway signals. These were often located on raised platforms containing levels to operate the signals and in the early 1860s, the fully glazed signal box, initially raised high on stilts to give a good view down the line, emerged. The interlocking of signals and points, perhaps the most important single advance in rail safety, patented by John Saxby in 1856, was the final step in the evolution of railway signalling into a form recognisable today. Signal boxes were built to a great variety of different designs and sizes to meet traffic needs by signalling contractors and the railway companies themselves. Signal box numbers peaked at around 12,000-13,000 for Great Britain just prior to the First World War and successive economies in working led to large reductions in their numbers from the 1920s onwards. British Railways inherited around 10,000 in 1948 and numbers dwindled rapidly to about 4,000 by 1970. In 2012, about 750 remained in use; it is anticipated that most will be rendered redundant over the next decade.

Bridlington South signal box is situated on the Scarborough to Hull railway line, which branches to the south-west of Scarborough at Seamer. Bridlington station was opened as a terminus by the York and North Midland Railway in 1846, for their line running from Hull. Just over a year later however, an extension northward to Filey and then on to a junction at Seamer was opened which connected it with the York to Scarborough Line. As Bridlington grew steadily as a resort, so too did the volume of rail traffic and in 1893 the station was re-constructed by the North Eastern Railway, including the building of the Bridlington South Signal Box with a 50-lever frame. In 1903, the lever frame was increased to 100 and after the First World War, when two new excursion platforms were built, this grew to 125, which controlled the station, goods shed, engine shed, and the sidings used to store the many holiday trains during the summer months. With the growth of over-seas package holidays during the late 1950s and 1960s, and competition with road vehicles, rail traffic reduced, and during the 1970s, the introduction of ‘block’ goods trains caused the closure of the goods yard. Consequently, re-signalling work was carried out during the 1970s, which reduced the lever frame to 65 levers. Further changes have since occurred, and a reduction in the number of signal boxes guarding level-crossings along the route has resulted in the Bridlington South Signal Box being responsible for the whole of the section between Driffield and Seamer, remotely controlling eleven level-crossings.

Details

Signal box, North Eastern Railway Type S1a, of 1893 with some later alterations.

MATERIALS: red brick construction in Sussex bond, used for both the locking room and the cabin, secondary uPVC double glazing to the cabin, cast-iron round arch windows to the locking room, a hipped Welsh slate roof with orange ridge tiles and plain timber bargeboards. Galvanised-steel stairs and landing.

PLAN: a rectangular 10-bay plan two-storey structure with galvanised-steel stairs to the south-west elevation.

EXTERIOR: situated to the south-west of Bridlington Station, the signal box is raised on a brick plinth and has a bull-nosed ashlar string course at first-floor level. The locking room is accessed by a four-panelled timber door in the south-west gable wall and is lit in the main (south-east) elevation by seven nine-light cast-iron windows with glazed semi-circular fanlights, all with painted sills and set beneath round arched brick lintels. A similar window also lights the locking room in the north-east gable. Several openings for the passage of signal cables and point rods from the locking room are situated towards the centre of the plinth of the main elevation. The north and the west rear corners have projecting brick corbel plinths, supporting brick piers forming the first-floor corners of the rear (north-west) elevation. The wall is blind and has two projecting chimney stacks that rise to the eaves, but no longer extend beyond the roof line. The cabin is reached by a secondary galvanised steel stair and landing that is built against the south-west gable wall and is entered by a narrow six-light half-glazed uPVC door. Narrow framed, painted timber nameboards, with letters in relief that read: BRIDLINGTON SOUTH are positioned over the windows in both gables, situated beneath cogged brick eaves courses. 19 nine-light uPVC windows, divided by uprights occupy the main elevation, with three similar windows in the north-east elevation, and two flanking the operating room door. Four of the windows are bottom hung casements and are guarded by pairs of galvanised tube rails. A timber signalman’s balcony supported by a pair of timber brackets, is situated in a roughly central position in the main elevation and is accessed by a similar narrow door to that of the operating room. The gabled roof, clad in Welsh slate with orange ridge tiles, has plain timber bargeboards to the gables; the roof verges extend out beyond the wall line, with painted soffits and truss ends, and it is drained by plastic rainwater goods.

INTERIOR: the first-floor operations room is divided in two by a timber and glazed partition wall; all lever frames have been removed from the southern room and an internal signalman’s water closet cubicle projects out against the partition wall. A chimney breast with bricked up fire grates projects from the rear wall into each of the rooms. The southern room has modern domestic fittings. The northern room is equipped with a 65-lever McKenzie and Holland No 16-pattern lever frame with a five-inch pitch against the front elevation. Curved pierced cast-iron brackets rising from the lever frame support the block shelf above, with block instruments, block bells, repeaters, and a CCTV monitor. A track circuit diagram is suspended from the ceiling above. A glazed timber relay cabinet is situated against the rear wall, along with a timber train register table. A cast-iron signal wire tensioner is situated adjacent to the door to the signalman's balcony. The widows are set in a frame with moulded timber architraves. The bases of the roof trusses are exposed in the ceiling and the panels between have been plastered. The room is lit by modern fluorescent lighting. The ground-floor locking room is entered through a four-panelled timber door in the south-west gable wall. It has a concrete floor against the rear wall with an open duct against the front wall. The rear wall has two projecting chimney breasts with small fire grates. The northern area has timber sleeper flooring laid over the duct and part of the front wall has pier and panel construction. The structure has transverse cast-iron panelled tie-beams set at shoulder height, marked in relief: McKENZIE & HOLLAND / PATENT / SIGNAL ENGINEERS / WORCESTER . ENGLAND. The mechanical locking frame occupies approximately half of the length of the locking room and it is supported on cast-iron brackets, projecting from the front wall. Signal cables descend to the floor using pulley blocks and exit through holes in the south-east wall; likewise, cranked point rodding also exits in a similar manner. Electrical signalling relay switch boxes and associated cabling are also situated beneath the lever frame.

This list entry was subjected to a Minor Enhancement to update the text on the 29 October 2021

Sources

Books and journals
Hendry, R, British Railway Signalling in Colour For the Modeller and Historian, (2001)
Minnis, J, Railway Signal Boxes A review, (2012), 34 and 35
Kay, P, The Signalling Atlas and Signal Box Directory, (2010)
Brunskill, R W, Brick Building in Britain, (1997), 52

Websites
Signal boxes that are listed buildings in England, accessed 25 August 2021 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_boxes_that_are_listed_buildings_in_England

Other
Introduction to Heritage Assets: Signal Boxes, J Minnis, Historic England, August 2016.

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