Milton signal box was built some fifteen
years later than Haydon Bridge, but the
similarity is noticeable. The most significant difference (apart form the use
of brick construction), is, as mentioned on that page, the arrangement of the
locking room windows. From the 1890's, Northern Division boxes had the locking
room windows in groups of three as shown here, with smaller windows either side
of the main one.
Notice also the original pattern ventilator at the apex of the hipped roof. This would have been necessary in early railway days to allow the fumes from the oil lighting to escape.
The right-angled arrangement of the staircase is very typical of North Eastern practice (and played a significant part in the initial detective work on identifying Mrs. Holah) and the distinctive NER milepost is noteworthy.
Some later boxes were built to a similar design but with a hipped roof - see Goswick for an example.
Milton was a small cabin, its function being to control the adjoining level crossing between Brampton Fell and Low Row. It is possible that it never acted as a block post, but may have always acted just as a crossing-keepers cabin.
This view of the interior of
the box shows the original Stevens & Sons lever frame. This type of frame
was fitted to the majority of Northern Division boxes but few have survived
into recent years. Other contractors did some work in the Northern Division,
see