Help finding directions to Scottish Signal Boxes

[Yin Morrison]

Hopefully someone on this site can assist me and my Company who are in the process of assuming responsibility for maintaining air conditioning units across the network. We have been unable so far to find out how to find out how to get to most of the locations since there are no postcodes other than for the actual stations along all the routes. Is there someone who can advise or provide a map which not only shows the line routes and boxes etc but how we actually get a vehicle to them. Thanks in anticipation.

 

[bluenoxid]

You should really discuss this with the client as they will have various access arrangements for various facilities. If they haven't provided that, then you really need to start undertaking a very good desktop review. I would be surprised if some places will let you in without a pre-planned appt.

Some elements will only be manned at certain times and I don't know what the view is with regards to the undertaking of FM work whilst certain work is ongoing at the facility you are undertaking work at. You will also have a bit of a fun if you need to isolate electrics for any major works.

Make sure you get a good site list and keep your networks/contacts up to date. A good office based coordinator (if you're big enough for one) will be worth their weight in gold for you and get your on site guys some good business cards. Nothing like rocking up to some of these sites and finding out that either the place is shut/closed or someone cannot meet you.

 

[SignalSighting]

You need to speak to whoever is in charge of your contract in Network Rail. I could provide you with road directions and/or post codes for all the Scottish signalboxes but that wouldn't be very professional for either of us, would it?

 

[infobleep]

I am certain all stations would have post codes and if all signal boxes don't have post codes, they would have addresses as I'm fair sure Scottish authorities would be required to capture them in their address gazetteers.

 

[SignalSighting]

All the boxes - in Scotland at least - do have postcodes but these are not always the best way to pin the actual location down. For example the postcode for Kilmarnock takes you to the Morrisons supermarket on the other side of the railway, requiring a half mile drive round town to get to the road access for the box. The postcode for Kilkerran takes you to a house in the middle of nowhere a few miles from the box. Most boxes are fairly straightforward but Kilmarnock, Kilkerran, Barrhill, Huntly, Kennethmont, Inverness SC, Clachnaharry, Grangemouth Jn, Carmuirs East, Greenhill Jn, Barnhill and Carmont are hard to find unless you know exactly where you're going. Of course most of these don't have air conditioning (Greenhill and Inverness are probably the only ones that do...)

 

[Yin Morrison]

Thanks to you all and I will try again with Client ( I am a sub contractor to my Client who has the actual contact with the authorities not me ) however they have told me even they are having difficulty locating/getting the information as there are so many people to deal with. If I at least had postcodes from somewhere that you can point me in the direction to ie Gazette etc then I would be in with a chance of locating areas. Also according to the paperwork I have there is Air Con in a heck of a lot of them.

 

[steamybrian]

I suspect that for security reasons the location or access to signal boxes is not divulged openly on web sites such as this.
Postcodes are not necessary as ordinary postal deliveries are not made to them. Mail for them is either collected by signalman from a station with a postal address or delivered by another member of staff or in my BR days it was delivered by train.

 

[infobleep]

I suspect that for security reasons the location or access to signal boxes is not divulged openly on web sites such as this.
Postcodes are not necessary as ordinary postal deliveries are not made to them. Mail for them is either collected by signalman from a station with a postal address or delivered by another member of staff or in my BR days it was delivered by train.

I believe the Ordnance Survey product AddressBase contains all addresses in the country including Signal boxes and their locations and it can be purchased. Clearly it's not cheap. So the information is out there at a price.

 

[bluenoxid]

Thanks to you all and I will try again with Client ( I am a sub contractor to my Client who has the actual contact with the authorities not me ) however they have told me even they are having difficulty locating/getting the information as there are so many people to deal with. If I at least had postcodes from somewhere that you can point me in the direction to ie Gazette etc then I would be in with a chance of locating areas. Also according to the paperwork I have there is Air Con in a heck of a lot of them.

If you have a site list, then it will give you a good starting point. Input each site name into Google and see what you get. Compare it to google maps and street view and then create a rough set of directions because postcodes are not going to be amazing. We used nearby petrol stations and supermarkets as the start point for some of the work with Network Rail. I use a similar process for some of the other work I do (fingers in many pies) and it saves me so much work and time. Obviously, the person on the ground is best placed to give an idea of what to look for and their feedback will be useful to any guide you create.

Like I said earlier, get business cards and start collecting a little black book. I use Linkedin to track most of these people. Sadly, it means some of my network is people I have never met but I tend to have a reasonable story about how I know them (this is Jonny, who I know because I needed access to a building to review the facilities and the organisation he worked for appeared to run it).

 

[Yin Morrison]

Thanks again for all your input and I have contacted Ordnance Survey to ask if they have such a map available.