LMS Route: Rugby to Wolverhampton

LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Lichfield

LMS Route: Birmingham New Street to Soho and Perry Barr

Curzon Street Goods Station: lnwrcs3863

A Signal Lineman's Trackside cabin is seen on the left, with other cabins on the right, at Curzon Street Goods Station circa 1967. Eric Steele writes, 'the Signal Lineman's cabin was for for the Proof House district until New Street Power Box was commissioned. It was occupied for about 20 years by my grandfather, Charlie Steele, who joined the LNWR in 1919 after leaving the army. He had joined up at 15, was back in England at 16 having been wounded at Aubers Ridge, then when he got to the official joining up age he was sent back to France where he stayed until the end of 1918. During the Second World War he was based at New Street and was on duty when No 5 Signal Cabin took a direct hit. Fortunately a few minutes earlier he had taken shelter in Suffolk Street Tunnel. In 1947 he became the Signal Lineman for the Proof House district. He remained in the job until New Street took over in 1966 then stayed on to install the signalling for Curzon Street Parcels depot. I worked with him as a trainee at that time. He finally retired after 49 years service. I can't remember what the other cabins were, I think they were used by the Carriage & Wagon Examiner and the Numbertaker.

In 2013 I made a model of the cabin that now stands on the Black Country Blues model railway which has made several appearances on the exhibition circuit. A video of the model is available on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KVzUYesrUI The model was built by the Stafford Finescale Group at Doncaster 2014 and its an EM gauge model railway based on the Industrial West Midlands of the 1970s. Although known as Charles or Charlie in most places these days, I was always called by my second name, Eric, in the close family and on the railway to avoid confusion with my grandfather Charlie.

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