Signalling and Signal Boxes along the GNR Routes

A lavishly illustrated look at signalling in the GNR region, formerly part of the LNER.

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The Great Northern Railway out of King’s Cross was always in the limelight with the ‘Scotch Expresses’ and it carried the baton to just north of Doncaster, whereupon the North Eastern Railway took over. The GNR ventured to Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Stafford and Manchester, where a GNR warehouse survives to this day. The Great Northern also reached Leeds and Bradford, where its competitors were mainly the London & North Western and the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway, both of whom were to become constituents of the LMS Railway.

The Great Northern was predominant in Lincolnshire and the company’s presence in Lincoln was recorded before the changes there in 2009. The line from Nottingham to Skegness was mostly semaphore signalled at the survey dates and, as with some other seaside resorts, Skegness retains the feel of a bygone era if not the traffic levels. The Great Northern entered into a joint venture with the Great Eastern in Lincolnshire and their joint line is covered also before the recent modernisation. While the heritage lines will continue with semaphore signalling and nineteenth-century ways of working for the foreseeable future, the day is nigh where there will be no such presence on Network Rail.

In this volume, Allen Jackson explores this history and more, bringing it to life with a thorough collection of photographs and a wealth of technical detail.