Signal boxes of the
LONDON, MIDLAND & SCOTTISH RAILWAY

The London, Midland & Scottish continued to use designs of its three major constituents for some years before producing its own design. Some of these appeared in the wrong "territory". The LMS's own signal box design, when it finally appeared, was a diplomatic mix of the pleasant architecture of the Midland with the economy of the London & North Western designs.

The LMS was not quick to accept the domestic architectural advances of the 1930's, and the use of concrete and metal-framed windows was only adopted when the second world war demanded bomb blast-resistant signal boxes. This design was to evolve, tough, into a modern peacetime design ultimately adopted by the London Midland Region of British Railways.

The LMS was the only company to adopt the Railway Executive Committee's 1921 approved design of lever frame - not an entirely surprising decision as it was a direct development of the Midland Railway's design. Block instruments, however, generally followed the individual pre-grouping railways' practice.

Please click on the thumbnail images for more information on each location.

	Purfleet Boxes continued to be built to the Midland Railway's 1917 design through to 1928.
	Barrow Hill Junction The last Midland pattern boxes, built during 1928 and 1929, reverted to the larger window panes of the Midland's 1908 style, but differed from these through the omission of finials.
	Barrow Hill Up Sidings A sidings box of similar design also followed pre-grouping practice by being fitted with a double-wire operation lever frame.
	Lloyds Sidings North Many early LMS boxes were built to London & North Western Railway design, too.
	Madeley One of the first LMS standard boxes, this demonstrates the combination of panelled brick base and gabled roof pf the LNW with the large and elegant glazing of the Midland Railway.
	Forders Sidings An all-timber example of the same design.
	Keswick No1 Variations from the 1930 standard included smaller-paned windows and a stone base on this example.
	Kettering Junction The design was updated in 1933 to omit the Midland-style corner fillets in the windows.
	Longforgan Meanwhile, the Scottish Division adopted their own design in 1929, featuring an attractive hipped roof and a bay window.
	Blackford A similar box, provided with a LMS-pattern frame.
	Coupar Angus South A simplified design, based on the 1929 Scottish model, was introduced in 1939.
	Barrhill A second-hand example of the Glasgow & South Western 1901 design was erected in 1935 to replace one that had been burnt down.
	Greetland No2 An example of the ARP design as used south of the Scottish border., a design used from 1939 through to 1950.
	Caverswall A conventional LMS box opened during the second world war, without locking-room windows.
	Thornhill The Scottish Division introduced their ARP design in 1940, with strengthened walls and roof to withstand enemy damage.
	Aberdeen South By 1947, the design of ARP boxes in the Scottish Division had developed into even sturdier structures.
	Elmton & Cresswell Junction A LMS box built during the post-war period.