By the time that the Forge Valley line was built, British railways had adopted the block working system, so the signalling equipment was installed during construction rather than afterwards.

However, given that this line was almost entirely single track, and was to be worked on the token system, relatively little equipment was needed. Points, gates and signals at the stations were controlled by ground frames on the platforms, so the only signal boxes needed were at crossings away from stations.

Just south of Pickering, the line crossed the main road to Malton (now the A169), and the gate box shown here was provided to guard the gates. The location was named Eastgate Crossing on the signal diagram. This was probably the largest signal box on the line.

I actually missed this structure during my A-level Art researches, because I didn’t venture farther west along the course of the line than Thornton Dale. Later, while driving along the road, I spotted the box and stopped to take these photographs. It’s just as well that I did, because the building was demolished some time in the 1990s, and I have seen no images of this crossing anywhere else.

Back to Index Page