St Albans South Signal Box - Open Days in 2018

[John Webb]

This preserved 1892 Midland Railway signal box will be open to the public on the following dates in 2018:
Sundays, 2-5pm:
January 14th
February 11th
March 11th

“The Big Weekend” (English Tourism Week conclusion)
Extended opening 10am-5pm
March 24th (Saturday)
March 25th (Sunday)

Sundays, 2-5pm:
April 8th & 22th
May 13th & 27th
June 10th & 24th
July 8th & 22th
August 12th & 26th

Heritage Open Days:
Extended opening 10am-5pm
Saturday, September 8th
Sunday, September 9th

Sundays, 2-5pm:
September 23th
October 14th & 28th
November 11th
December 9th

Entry to this award-winning project is free! (Donations welcome, of course!) All visitors receive a souvenir "Edmundson" card ticket.

The box is one of very few preserved boxes that has been restored where it worked and is still next to a busy main line.

In the garden around the box we have various working signals, colour light and semaphore - the latter can be worked by visitors. There is also a garden railway and displays of old adverts and railway signs. The ground floor of the box has a museum displaying signalling and other railway equipment, and upstairs the restored operating floor with its 44-lever frame is used to demonstrate how the box worked shortly before its closure in 1979.

2018 sees the 150th Anniversary of the opening of the Midland Railway's "London Extension" from Bedford to London, and we are commemorating this with special displays.

Light refreshments are available on Open Days.

While there is level access through the garden and down a ramp to the ground floor of the box, there is a lengthy flight of 18steps to the first floor of the box; visitors unable to use these stairs can be shown a video of the upstairs workings downstairs. Accessible toilet available.

See www.sigbox.co.uk for location information etc. Group visits away from public Open Days can also be arranged - see the website.

 

[mushroomchow]

I'd like to visit the St. Albans Signal Box, always given it a passing glance when passing and it looks beautifully restored.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Bedpan]

It's well worth a visit - far more of interest there than I ever expected.

 

[MrCub]

I've visited before and shall come along again. It's lovely, very welcoming, and really interesting. Do visit if you've yet to do so!

 

[John Webb]

Thank you, gentlemen, for your recommendations.

 

[acned]

I always loved the design of the Midland 'boxes, well done to the team keeping a little bit of history alive at St. Albans. The character of the Midland was lost for ever once the wires were strung up! Hendon station still sported a few maroon totems into the early eighties. I recall waiting at Radlett for a St. Pancras local one Sunday during the electrification work; I wasn't complaining when 45111 rolled in vice Class 127.

 

[John Webb]

It's probably worth mentioning that the box was listed Grade II in February 1979, so a while before closure in December that year. We don't know who initiated the listing; rumour has it that it might have been the City engineer at that time who was apparently something of a transport enthusiast. The Preservation Trust was formed 2003 mainly by local residents fed up with seeing the box decaying away, but it took until 2006 to get a sensible lease out of Network Rail and only late in 2006 could we get on site.

This year has seen a record 2,709 visitors to the box - some 300+ above our previous best year, 2015.

 

[John Webb]

Brief reminder that the box is open 2-5pm on Sunday 11th February.

 

[jon0844]

I have been with my son once before (I think he was 3 or 4 at the time) and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone!

Hopefully we'll go along again sometime this year for another visit now he's (almost) six.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Thanks for the dates John. I often visit St Albans Abbey but come on the wrong days...

 

[John Webb]

Reminded by a post elsewhere I hadn't posted reminders recently - or any updates on what we're doing.
So we are open on Sunday afternoons, 2-5pm on:
Sept 23rd
October 14th & 28th
November 11th
December 8th

Dates for 2019 are being sorted out currently and will be publicised when available.

Recent happenings included in April our 20,000th visitor since Oct 2008, the donation of a 2ft 3in gauge point from the Talyllyn Railway for demonstration purposes and last weekend - Heritage Open Days - saw 469 visitors over two days and 29 demonstrations upstairs on the operating floor!
See www.sigbox.co.uk for the latest info - updates in particular on the News pages.