BEECHING AXEfell on boxes

Originally, all signalling was done at the trackside but it was realised that control should be concentrated into one building, which came to be known as a signal box.

Each was manned by a signalman who communicated with colleagues up and down the track.

The raised design used for most of them also provided the signalman with a good view of the railway under his control. The first use of a signal box was by the London and Croydon Railway in 1844.

Many were decommissioned following the closure of branch lines as a result of the Beeching Report in the 1960s.

In recent times signalling operations have been concentrated in huge signalling centres such as that in Doncaster, which controls the railway signals on a long stretch of the East Coast Main Line.