Much of the signalling on the North
Midland line as it skirted Sheffield was renewed in early LMS days, although
plans may have been hatched by the Midland before the grouping. The box itself
(which was originally named Staveley Junction) is certainly of Midland design,
being to their fourth style introduced in 1906 with plainer window panes still
(see West Hampstead for the previous style)
resulting in a pleasing and tidy design. The nearby
Barrow Hill Up Sidings was similar in
design. As with the previous type, many smaller boxes had divided panes - see
Purfleet. The LMS eventually, of course, developed
its own box design, an example of which can be seen at
Kettering Junction.
A whole chunk of the former Midland line north of Chesterfield passed to the Eastern Region after nationalisation, and this is reflected in their colours of grey and black having been applied to the box.
Barrow Hill Junction controlled and important junction leading to various coalfields; Seymour Junction was just a few boxes away.
The box
contained a 100 lever frame of a type developed from the Midland Railway's
tappet frame by the LMS. These were known as REC (Railway Executive
Committee) frames, as it was they that decreed that these were to be
adopted as standard by all of the "big four" railway companies after the
grouping. An advanced and efficient frame it might have been, but the remaining
three companies ignored the directive.