Most depressing and loneliest box on the network?

[matchmaker]

Longannet. Stuck beside a huge stinking power station, dealing with nothing but MGR.

 

[The Planner]

Id imgaine Moira West would be a bit dull....

 

[Kneedown]

I'd have to say Blotoft on the Joint line between Sleaford and Spalding.
2 trains an hour and nothing but flat farmland for miles around. I'd imagine it'd make the signalmans day if he saw a tractor!

 

[CarterUSM]

I don't know about this, having only a few trains per day(or shift) sounds great to me, you're getting paid a decent amount of cash and having little workload.

 

[The Planner]

Wouldn't be a huge amount as most of these boxes are likely to be grade 2 or 3 at best I'd have thought.

 

[CarterUSM]

Sure, but still a living wage I suppose.

 

[ChrisCooper]

I suppose a lot of it is subjective. Some people are going to like the busy and stressful life in an IECC, wheras others will apreciate the peace and quiet of a mechanical box out in the middle of nowhere. One advantage of signalling compared to some jobs is that at least it's pretty regulated, and it's one of those things where you are either working or switched off. I imagine at quiet boxes the signallers will deal with the train and then sit back with something to read and a cup of tea, knowing that was it for a certain time. What I hate are "cold tea" jobs, where you decide it's quiet and make a cup of tea and as soon as you sit down for it everything kicks off and by the time you sit down again it's gone cold!

 

[Donny Dave]

Scunthorpe PSB must be pretty depressing as well. The Steelworks at the back and right hand side, a bridge to the left, and the running lines plus coal reception sidings to the front. Not much to look at really.

 

[jopsuk]

Unless they commute using them, surely IECC signallers barely see actual trains- the impression I'd got from articles is that it's somewhat akin to playing a rather graphically boring, stressful, computer game all day (but with much, much higher stakes and truly dreadful consequences if you f*** up). No disrepect meant to the signallers that work there.

 

[Hydro]

Sellafield signalbox must be the most depressing and loneliest box on the network. Even though it's on the Cumbrian Coast line, itself a very unique and beautifully sculptured railway, the box is in the middle of nowhere, with the vast sea on one side, a massive nuclear reprocessing facility on the other, and not much activity going on on the lines for most of the day. The box looks really small as well, so when the weather is bad (with the wind a rain battering it from the sea) and it's pitch black outside, i would nominate this box to be the worst to work in anywhere!

The duty bobby seemed quite cheery when I had dealings up in Sellafield.

 

[TheBigD]

The lonelier the better. Less likely to meet the public

Blotoft, between Sleaford and Spalding is pretty isolated. Not a lot apart from fields.
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Shippea Hill box is pretty depressing. Situated miles form the nearest town, surrounded by 3 caravans, 2 houses and a closed down christmas shop, in the middle of desolate rural fenland. The poor guy in the box has only 1 train per day stop at his station (but no return train) and has to operate crossing gates.

I'm more than happy there thanks!!!

 

[Trog]

It must have been St Pancras Tunnel Box.

http://www.signalbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2316

 

[dk1]

Shippea Hill box is pretty depressing. Situated miles form the nearest town, surrounded by 3 caravans, 2 houses and a closed down christmas shop, in the middle of desolate rural fenland. The poor guy in the box has only 1 train per day stop at his station (but no return train) and has to operate crossing gates.

Not that bad, us boys & girls up front on NXEA give them a cheery wave.

 

[me123]

I don't know about this, having only a few trains per day(or shift) sounds great to me, you're getting paid a decent amount of cash and having little workload.

For some people, that might sound good. For others, like me, it would be soul destroying. If you have a look at this excellent video (of Glenwhilly signalbox, also on the Stranraer line), you'll see what is pretty much the extent of their job.

 

[Yew]

Id imgaine Moira West would be a bit dull....

For a second I thought that said Moria West, and was wondering when the Rail system started connections to middle earth? Maybe HS3?

 

[Welshman]

Id imgaine Moira West would be a bit dull....

I used to know a Moira West.
Dull she certainly wasn't.


Seriously, I would nominate Rectory Junction, just out of Nottingham on the Grantham line.
Just next to the Oil terminal, and there always seemed to be a strong smell of gas as you passed by.
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I'd have to say Blotoft on the Joint line between Sleaford and Spalding.
2 trains an hour and nothing but flat farmland for miles around. I'd imagine it'd make the signalmans day if he saw a tractor!

.

In the days of resident signalmen [before Network Rail signallers commuted in by car], Blotoft and its neighbouring Helpringham box would have suited someone with independent financial means and other interests outside the railway.

I'm told the man at Helpringham used to cut hair in his box on Saturday mornings - a facility most of the locals greatly appreciated, and he also used to play the organ in the local parish church on Sundays - a facility which perhaps fewer of the locals appreciated!

Helpringham box is now demolished, along with the station, but Blotoft has been recently renovated. It still has no service on a Sunday and no evening/night shift, which is why there is no service between Sleaford and Spalding after about 5pm on a weekday, and none at all on Sundays.

It may all change, though, if the plans to run more freight traffic on the Joint Line come to fruition. No time for a quick short back and sides then!

 

[Saltleyman]

I should think that (when it was open) Nunnery Main Line Junction must have been a wonderful place to work,such scenery ! Also the box in the tunnel at Walsall likewise.

 

[TheBigD]

Not that bad, us boys & girls up front on NXEA give them a cheery wave.

Indeed, most of the NX and EMT crews wave.

 

[strange6]

Indeed, most of the NX and EMT crews wave.

The control centre in the original, 'The taking of Pelham 123' looks a pretty bleak place to work, especially when you're working for that moaning signalling supervisor git, Caz Dolowicz.

 

[CosherB]

Shippea Hill box is pretty depressing. Situated miles form the nearest town, surrounded by 3 caravans, 2 houses and a closed down christmas shop, in the middle of desolate rural fenland. The poor guy in the box has only 1 train per day stop at his station (but no return train) and has to operate crossing gates.

And it's flat as a fluke. No hill despite the name!

 

[krus_aragon]

It's not neccesarily depressing, but Llanrwst North is a bit lonely. From dawn to dusk you'll only see six up and down services, and all worked by the exact same unit. And unless you happen to have a railtour coming in, you're an intermediate block post on what is these days effectively a 'single train working' branch.

 

[Scotty]

How about this one... http://goo.gl/maps/bUX0

 

[Kneedown]

I used to know a Moira West.
Dull she certainly wasn't.


Seriously, I would nominate Rectory Junction, just out of Nottingham on the Grantham line.
Just next to the Oil terminal, and there always seemed to be a strong smell of gas as you passed by.

Heaven compared to the smell of rotting flesh and maggots from the nearby maggot farm on a hot day.

 

[RichmondCommu]

Blea Moor must be pretty grim too - or has that been closed now?

Blea Moor is very much alive and kicking! The box was refurbished during the early part of 2003 and given the single line working over Ribblehead Viaduct will hopefully be there for many years to come. It certainly is a long old walk to the road at Ribblehead for the signalman though!

The LMS built railway cottage next to the signal box is an absolute eye sore. It would be great to see it converted into a visitor centre for the National Park (so much history in that area) but money is tight at the moment.
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Been there, done that. At least it has trains, even if only a minimum of 1tp2h. Think of those on the Far North line (no, it's not scenic), or those stuck on little used freight branches, especially around coalyards in the East Mids, or, as Mojo says, along vast, empty freight branches.

What coal yards? They've all gone!

 

[scotsman]

Is the Far North Line mechanical? Thought it was all that RETB rubbish.

It is