PLANNING chiefs at Warrington have given the go-ahead for a historic railway signal box to be repaired and refurbished.
The Monks Siding signal box is located alongside Beaufort Street, near to Warrington Bank Quay Station.
The historic railway signal box was built in 1875 and is Grade 2 Listed as it provides a good representative example of the typical form of the London and Norther Western Railway Type 3 signal box.
The Warrington box is still in use – and will continue to be so.
Just after World War One it was estimated there were between 12,000 and 13,000 signal boxes in Great Britain. British Rail inherited around 10,000 in 1948 and there followed a rapid decline in numbers until 2012 when there were about 750 still in use.
It was estimated most of these would be declared redundant over the next decade.
Network Rail – who sought Listed Building Consent for the railway signal box from Warrington Borough Council – will repair and renovate the signal box.
They say the scheme is necessary to improve and extend the safe operation of Bank Quay Station which, in turn, preserve’s the building’s character and use.
The work will not be to the detriment of the building’s historic character.
