Yes it's a signal box
thebeautyoftransport.com
Thanks, I grew up at Trowell Junction, so I only know what Midland Railway ones look like. Did the FR have any more archtectural flourishes?Yes it's a signal box
Mad as a Box of Tudor (Furness Railway signal box, Carnforth, Lancashire, UK)
We think we know what signal boxes look like. They are neatly rectangular and plain-walled, they have pitched or hipped roofs, fully glazed uppers, solid lowers and a neat little staircase down the…
It was untypical of Furness Railway signal box architecture and was probably built in that grand style owing to its close proximity to public view - and perhaps also to impress the London & North Western Railway. The box opened on 30/1/1882 and closed 22/10/1903, when it was replaced by a standard brick FR box of the era to accommodate a much larger lever frame to control an enlarged layout. It is remarkable that it survived long enough to gain listed status.
![300px-St_Bees_signal_box_front_aspect[1].jpg](https://www.railforums.co.uk/data/attachments/151/151951-70a3bde8524b7ae432954d58cef7e854.jpg "300px-St_Bees_signal_box_front_aspect[1].jpg")
![300px-Water_Tower,_Seascale_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1348657[1].jpg](https://www.railforums.co.uk/data/attachments/151/151952-2b51165894ed679347d6d0c6040b1955.jpg "300px-Water_Tower,_Seascale_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1348657[1].jpg")
That attribution was stated on wiki so just maybe it's in error - or maybe they had a hand in more of the boxes. That's something that may never be known as it seems all the records were destroyed when the last partner retired.
Seascale Station, sadly demolished about 1970 or 71, used to have beautiful quarry black and orange quarry tiled floors. Part of one still exists, or did until recently, on the Down side platform.Just been reading more about Austin & Paley and it seems they had a hand in many of the Furness Railways' buildings. They built these stations, maybe others
Kents Bank
Grange over Sands
Ulverston
Bootle (Cumbria)
Millom
Cark
Kirkby-in-Furness
Sandside
Askham
Seascale
Foxfield
Ramsden Dock
Barrow-in-Furness (Central station)
Ravenglass
Morecambe Northumberland St (for the little NWR, not Furness)
a couple of other oddball designs for the railway
St Bees signal box
View attachment 156341
Seascale station water tower
View attachment 156342
They were primarily known for an impressive array of churches, but also took on secular work such as hospitals, bridges, banks, offices, residential buildings (the Barrow tenement blocks for instance). They also rebuilt / refurbished a number of castles / stately homes. Quite wide ranging and quite important to the architecture of the northwest
You could equally point to Cambridge South station buidling https://www.networkrail.co.uk/runni...he-railway-in-anglia/cambridge-south-station/ currently being built and then compare it to Doleham, a halt of 1906 vintage (the platform and fencing was replaced in the 30s with concrete but otherwise it's just as grand as it ever was): https://www.kentrail.org.uk/doleham_halt.htm.
Very true.
