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There was once an absolute plethora of signal boxes on Teesside, and quite a few are still there although numbers are gradually dwindling. Cargo Fleet Road is one of the smaller ones to have survived into recent years, although it closed in 1987 after spending a large proportion of its life functioning only as a gate box.

This box was located just around the corner from Middlesborough on the Whitby branch.

Cargo Fleet Road is an excellent example of the NE's Stockton & Darlington (or Central) Division's individual architecture used from the 1870's up to the 1890's, although the locking room windows show signs of very recent bricking up.

The most spectacular feature of these boxes is the huge finial and supporting braces, which are frequently missing on the surviving examples of this type. Indeed, the one at the far end of the box appears to have been lost.

This design of Central Division box was superseded around 1899 by the type seen at Billingham.

The crossing is now controlled by Closed Circuit Television equipment monitored from Middlesborough box.

All photographs copyright © John Hinson unless otherwise stated