LMS Route: Trent Valley Line

Bulkington Station: lnwr_bulk3948

Another view of Stationmaster Mr Turner and one of the three signalmen based at Bulkington Signal Cabin. Bulkington station's original signal cabin was erected in 1873 and prior to the renewal of the frame in 1911. The signal cabin was built for the LNWR by Saxby and Farmer and is a Type 2 design. In its familiar form, a raised structure with large windows enabling signalman to maintain a look-out, the signal box evolved in the early 1860s from huts and towers housing policeman. Signal boxes were an integral part of the ‘block’ system which was introduced gradually between the 1860s and the 1880s to ensure that there was an interval of space (or block) between trains running over the same length of track. The basic form of the signal box as seen above, a largely glazed structure containing levers, was invented by John Saxby (1821 – 1913). The only major subsequent addition was an enclosed lower storey below the signalman’s operating floor containing the locking apparatus. Saxby made a significant advance in mechanical interlocking between points and signals for which he obtained a patent in 1856. He subsequently went into partnership with John Farmer in 1863 to form the signalling contractor, Saxby & Farmer. Saxby’s first boxes dated from 1857 and a distinctive building type was created.

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