The Signal Box
Embedded Files
Erected in 1892 and supplied by Dutton & Co., of Worcester, the signal box at Douglas Station features a lever frame consisting of 36 “drink-handle” type levers and controlled the majority of the once expansive yard at the terminus. The base of the building is of brick construction in brown brick with red Ruabon brick quoins and edging, whist the top is of timber construction with slated roof and red ridge pieces. It has a fireplace built into the rear right of the upper portion. Although history does not recall the initial colour scheme of the new cabin it is likely to have been dark green and either cream or white. Certainly, early views of the structure support this theory of a dark and pale shade together. There are images dating from the 1950s showing the colour scheme as pale blue/turquoise and cream with window detailing picked out in white (the image on the right shows the cabin in this guise and dates from 1963); by 1967 it had been repainted red and cream. Until this time it carried a tinplate advertisement for Dewsbury Salts & Mineral Waters, but this was removed and replaced with a hand-painted “Douglas Signal Box” notice in red and white at this time. By the time of the railway’s nationalisation it carried a green and cream scheme, with a new maroon sign with yellow lettering which was typical of this time.
These were all supplied by Dutton & Co., of Worcester at the time the ’box was installed and were all flat-ended with the exception of the home signals protecting the station which were fishtailed initially, though these later gave way to the more common design. All were painted red on the front with a white vertical stripe, and white on the rear with a black stripe although there were notable exceptions to this: namely the “shunting arms” which were red with a cut-out white “S” attached to them, and other variations which featured a solid white circle in lieu of a stripe, or in one case (on the inner home signal for the south line mounted on the side of the water tower to the rear of the workshops) a cut-out white circle. Certain examples of signal arms from the station can be found on display in the railway museum adjacent to the terminus, Port Erin Station. In more recent times the Association have carried out voluntary works inside the box, including the repaintint of the iconic lever frame, reinstating the fire, historical signage and cleaning and burnishing the lever handles for the open days which take place each summer. During the Manx Heritage Transport Festival each July the cabin is open as part of the popular workshop tours.
With it was relocated in 1999 it was again repaired and repainted into the present maroon and cream scheme carried by the majority of stations, and a name board in then “house” style was made. Internally the ’box carries a cream colour scheme with the chimney breast and fireplace in matt black. The lever frame installed in the ’box by Dutton consisted of 36 levers (the final three of which were initially designated as spare though later connected to yard points) described as either “spring” or “drink” handle as the mechanism as the handle itself is pivoted at the top thereby incorporating a locking device rather than the more common practice of having an associated locking rod. This system did however have its own inherent difficulties whereby an accidental knock to a dropped lever would result in it springing back into the vertical position thereby setting the associated signal to “danger”. An early modification to the levers was a metal collar, which fitted over the burnished handle to prevent this from happening by pushing it up under the handle. All signals with the yard and home signals were mounted on square section white posts with distinctive cast iron finials and dual spectacle plates with red/green glasses.
Roger Webster operating the lever frame in the summer of 1972.
No.11 Maitland departing the station passing the relocated signal box.
Army workers working on the box in 1979 as No.11 Maitland passes.
The interior being stripped out as part of a 2014 Association project.
Association volunteers tending to the lever frame ahead of a 2013 open day.
Scaffolding around the signal box for an exterior repaint in maroon and cream.
2014 Association project of restoring the cabin interior and removing shelves.
No.18 Ailsa on the workshops road with the signal box in the background.
Close up showing the scheme carried by the signal box prior to the 1967 opening.
Lever Frame Colours
Distant Signals GREEN
Stop Signals RED
Point Levers BLACK
Locking Bars BLUE
Spares WHITE
Douglas Station : Road Layout
ROAD DESCRIPTION LOCATION
No. 1 Engine Shed Release Road Northern Extent
No. 2 Peel Departure Platform(s) Platforms Nos. 1 & 2
No. 3 Peel Arrival Platform Platforms Nos. 3 & 4
No. 4 Peel / Castletown* Release Shared Release Road
No. 5 Castletown*Arrival Road Platform No.5
No. 6 Castletown* Departure Road Platform No.6
No. 7 Spare / Rolling Stock Storage Yard
No. 8 Spare / Rolling Stock Storage Yard
No. 9 Rolling Stock / Goods Storage Yard
No. 10 Goods & P.W. Storage Siding Yard
No. 11 Sunken Siding / Interchange Southern Extent
Other** See Notes Below Carriage Yard
* The South Line roads and platforms are noted as “Castletown” rather than “Port Erin” in order to correspond with the Dutton & Co., diagram that is displayed in the signal box. This in itself appears to be an anomaly as the ’box was commissioned and installed in 1892, some nineteen years after the South Line was opened so there seems to be no logical reason why “Port Erin” was not used on the diagram.
** Road Nos. 12 & 13 accessed from the headshunt (referred to as “shunting neck” on deposited plans) for the carriage shed to the rear of the signal box; four further roads off this spur fanned out into the shed itself and these were numbered separately with Road No. 1 from the signal box-side and No.4 being the southern boundary beside Quiggin’s Yard, though not marked as such.
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