Signal boxes of the
LONDON & NORTH EASTERN RAILWAY

As far as mechanical signalling was concerned, the LNER was somewhat conservative, sticking to tried and tested practice. From its inception, the LNER was divided into three separate "Areas" which closely related to its predecessor companies. Each division pursued its own designs until 1943.

The area where innovation was evident was with power signalling, and many small (by present-day standards) schemes were implemented during the company's lifetime. Some of the boxes provided for these projects were strikingly modern in style, and this eventually reflected itself in mechanical box design although this was more extensive in British railways ownership.

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

	Park Drain The LNER built a few boxes to the fesigns of the constituent companies - this example is the the Great Northern 1907 design and may havre already been on the drawing board when the LNER was formed.
	Woodhouse East Junction In 1924, the Southern Area of the LNER introduced its new design, based upon Great Northern's 1915 practice. These featured plain bargeboards and (until the 1930's) two-pane high windows. This example was originally all-timber but the base was bricked in as wartime bomb-blast protection.
	Hilgay This second-hand box was erected by the Southern Area around 1925. It has been constructed from parts of a Great Eastern cabin of their 1883 design, but LNER habits dominate in the provision of a rear-mounted frame and corresponding unglazed portion of the front wall.
	Barton Hill The North Eastern Area's first design appeared in 1933 and was a dramatic step forward with the provision of a flat concrete roof and steel-framed windows accompanying the brick construction.

The three separate areas of the LNER all fell to different portions of British Railways - the Southern Area became the Eastern Region, the North Eastern became (surprisingly!) the North Eastern Region and the Scottish Area formed part of the Scottish Region.