Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway

Opened: 1874

Closed: 1998

Location code: E47/25

Worksop West originated with the early signalling on the Manchester, Sheffield & Lincolnshire Railway, and demonstrates their early box design, which featured a hipped roof (once surmounted by a large ball and spike finial) and vertical battened planking.

This example does not quite conform with the original design - it lacks the central bank of additional windows (see Blackmoor Crossing) and the locking room windows are, unusually, in the front wall. This may indicate that extensive repairs were carried out at some time. Indeed, with a box that saw 124 years of service, it is highly unlikely that all the original timber survived!

Notice the walkway for cleaning the outside of the windows - the part that would foul the staircase hinges up and is held with a small latch.

Worksop was once a busy freight centre, and the box controlled the east end of a pair of goods loops, together with some yard outlets. The adjacent box on the loops was Worksop Sidings, but the block section extended through to Shireoaks East Junction on the main lines.

Around 1928, a new frame of 28 levers was provided to the Great Central Railway's standard design. These curious frames had a "jug-handle" catch mounted on the front of the lever. It is interesting to note that GC practices were still being followed five years into the LNER period.

On the block shelf are some Tyer & Co. block instruments of MSL/GC pattern and a range of Eastern Region repeaters. Above is the LNER track layout diagram.

Although activities at Worksop declined in recent years with the general reduction in colliery activity, the box survived until 1998, when a new box took over all remaining functions in the area.