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The Manchester South Junction & Altrincham Railway was a relatively small entity jointly operated by the London & North Western and Great Central Railway. It was always a busy suburban line, giving rise to the nickname Many Short Journey and Always Reliable.

Navigation Road box was located on the approaches to Altrincham, controlling just the end of the loops on either side of the line between here and Altrincham, and the busy level crossing.

The box is a conventional Saxby & Farmer box of the design used between 1876 and 1898 and is very similar to Clayton West Station on the L&Y. The lower row of windows have been painted out, presumably to give the signalman a little privacy.

Saxby & Farmer boxes of this type were used exclusively during the resignalling of this line in the late 1870s and early 1880s, although the Railway Signal Company erected some later boxes.

From 1904, the signalling of the line ceased to be dealt with independently and the Great Central and London & North Western took responsibility on an alternate, annual basis. The only new boxes built during that period were to LNW designs.

The original 21-lever Saxby & Farmer frame at Navigation Road was renewed in LMS days by one of 20 levers which remained in use until closure came in 1991.

All photographs copyright © John Hinson unless otherwise stated