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Summary

Description

London and North Eastern Railway Company, 1936. Long, symmetrical, 2-storey, 8-bay, power signal box with glazed projection to operation room. Reconstituted stone and concrete construction, built into siding wall to W of Waverley Station. To ground: pair of timber doors to outer bays with roll-moulded surrounds and small window lights flanking and linked by continous cill course. Upper level: tripartite windows above doors with offset recessed detail to each light with pilastered effect. 6-bay glazed projection to centre with canted corners; tripartite glazing pattern to each bay separated by reconstituted stone mullions. Flat roof with felt covering.

INTERIOR: Not seen (2012). Originally power frame signalling installation (1936).

Statement of Special Interest

Signal boxes are a distinctive and now rare building type that make a significant contribution to Scotland's diverse industrial heritage. Of more than 2000 signal boxes built across Scotland by 1948, around 150 currently survive (2013) with all mechanical boxes still in operation on the public network due to become obsolete by 2021.

The signal box at Edinburgh Waverley West is a bespoke London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) inter-war signal box design, modelled specifically for its sensitive location beside East Princes Street Gardens and Waverley Station (see separate listing). While keeping the flat roof of the standard Type 13 on which it is based, it modifies the design considerably using established architectural references including roll-mouldings to the outer doors, cill and string courses and pilastered effect to outer bays at the upper level, giving the structure a strong sense of horizontality and symmetricality. As a 20th century signal box designed to blend with its classical surroundings, it is a particularly rare example. The box is located in a prominent and sentitive location in Princes Street Gardens between Waverley Station and the National Gallery on the Mound. The use of reconstituted stone and concrete reflect the material shortages of the inter-war period.

The Waverley West box was operated using power lever signalling which was the first well-established form of electronic signalling from 1929 onwards and made use of the earlier mechanical lever frame principles. The small desk height levers on early power frames could be operated with one hand as no mechanical effort was needed to move them.

Another signal box by London and North Eastern Railway (Type 15 - designed in 1945) is at Spean Bridge Station (see separate listing) on the West Highland Line. It also features canted corners to the glazed signal room.

Listed as part of Scottish Signal Box Review (2012-13).

References

Bibliography

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