"Standard" London & North Eastern Railway signal box - Brunthill, Harker - 1945
Some one has spilt a beverage over this print but it is still of interest. The LNER, formed as part of the 'Grouping' of Britain's mainline railways in 1923, like the other three 'Big' railways took some time to find its feet 'architecturally' and indeed, partly due to funding being perennially tight, for the first few years of its existance sort of 'made do and mend'. However by the 1930s the company was starting to look at adopting 'standard' designs for built infrastructure to bring a stronger corporate identity to the public's view as well as being able to afford economies of scale. The other railways were also starting to explore similar schemes, the Southern Railway possibly getting further down the line (they liked concrete so much they had their own works) but the LMSR were also starting to move towards a more 'streamlined' architectural look.
In some ways the Big Four were following in the footsteps of London Transport who, through their consultant architect Charles Holden, and access to more money, had developed a house style of srchitecture that by the 1930s was utilising reinforced concrete and brick - in a style that leans towards a North European 'modernism' as found in the Dutch 'De Stijl' or the German 'Bauhaus'. There's a wee flavour of that here at Brunthill, a box that was sitiated on the now closed Waverley Route, just north of Carlisle and close to Harker. Sadly, the war intervened before any real strides could be made in widespread application of the 'Standard' and this box has gone. However, I believe that the Scottish Region of British Railways, the nationalised organisation into which the LNER was taken, adopted this design as 'their' standard for both ex-LNER and LMSR lines north of the Border. Anyhow, it is possible someone 'out there' knows a bit more. The box certainly has a 'moderne' feel about it - no sign of traditional timber here - it is difficult to know if there is a prefabricated concrete frame and then a brick skin or of it was of 'traditional' wet trades construction. However, the large concrete lintels, the flat roof and the steel framed windows' are very contemporary - I wonder of those windows warped, a frequent issue with units of such size at the time!
"Standard" London & North Eastern Railway signal box - Brunthill, Harker - 1945
Some one has spilt a beverage over this print but it is still of interest. The LNER, formed as part of the 'Grouping' of Britain's mainline railways in 1923, like the other three 'Big' railways took some time to find its feet 'architecturally' and indeed, partly due to funding being perennially tight, for the first few years of its existance sort of 'made do and mend'. However by the 1930s the company was starting to look at adopting 'standard' designs for built infrastructure to bring a stronger corporate identity to the public's view as well as being able to afford economies of scale. The other railways were also starting to explore similar schemes, the Southern Railway possibly getting further down the line (they liked concrete so much they had their own works) but the LMSR were also starting to move towards a more 'streamlined' architectural look.
In some ways the Big Four were following in the footsteps of London Transport who, through their consultant architect Charles Holden, and access to more money, had developed a house style of srchitecture that by the 1930s was utilising reinforced concrete and brick - in a style that leans towards a North European 'modernism' as found in the Dutch 'De Stijl' or the German 'Bauhaus'. There's a wee flavour of that here at Brunthill, a box that was sitiated on the now closed Waverley Route, just north of Carlisle and close to Harker. Sadly, the war intervened before any real strides could be made in widespread application of the 'Standard' and this box has gone. However, I believe that the Scottish Region of British Railways, the nationalised organisation into which the LNER was taken, adopted this design as 'their' standard for both ex-LNER and LMSR lines north of the Border. Anyhow, it is possible someone 'out there' knows a bit more. The box certainly has a 'moderne' feel about it - no sign of traditional timber here - it is difficult to know if there is a prefabricated concrete frame and then a brick skin or of it was of 'traditional' wet trades construction. However, the large concrete lintels, the flat roof and the steel framed windows' are very contemporary - I wonder of those windows warped, a frequent issue with units of such size at the time!