A Look Back at Banbury Lane West Coast Mainline Signal Box 1988

Victorian Banbury Lane Wooden Signal Box Remembered

Wooden Banbury Lane Signal Box with Class 86 Loco Approaching
Photo: Charles Moorhen 

Former Banbury Lane Signal Box, and photographer location (red star next to railway line)            Courtesy: Google Maps

Back to the year 1988 for this photo of Banbury Lane signal box, as an unidentified Class 86 locomotive, in Intercity livery, storms towards it on the West Coast Main Line heading north on an overcast, gloomy day.

Situated on one of the oldest drovers roads in England, which is believed to have ran from Aust crossing on the River Severn to Northampton in the Midlands, Banbury Lane signal box was built by Saxby & Farmer and opened in 1878 for the London & North Western Railway.

On what was then the London & North Western Railway, it was the first signal box controlling a level crossing reached after leaving London's Euston station.

Banbury Lane Signal Box Levers
Photo: Charles Moorhen

The levers in the photo replaced the original Saxby & Farmer lever frame in 1891 with one of the LNW's own design.

Banbury Lane Signal Box Electronic Signalling Board
Photo: Charles Moorhen

The box was closed on the 13th September 1988 and demolished soon afterwards.

The level crossing itself is also no longer there (though some traces of it can still be seen); replaced by a bridge over the West Coast Main Line.

 


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