Whilst the last surviving box of the Whitehaven, Cleator &
Egremont Railway is looking exceedingly sorry for itself, it is worthy of
inclusion in this section because it is one of very few boxes to have survived
into recent years that was built to the contractor Stevens & Sons' own
design. The most distinct feature of their design is vertical timbering in the
gable ends, and this can be clearly seen in the photograph below as some has
broken away.
The WCE was taken over by the London
& North Western Railway in 1877, becoming jointly owned with the Furness
Railway the following year. All subsequent boxes were built to LNW designs
although various frame types were fitted. The Furness Railway took
responsibility for the "telegraphs", so the block instruments were of the
Tyer's one-wire, three-position type in accordance with that company's
practice.