A signal job in the box of days gone by

I often put local railway scenes in my pages, but here is a rare scene inside Portsmouth & Southsea signal box.

By The Newsroom

Published 1st Jan 2017, 06:00 BST

Updated 11th Jan 2017, 04:20 BST

The mechanical lever frame inside Portsmouth & Southsea signalbox. (Barry Cox collection) PPP-161228-173010001

It was from here the trains were controlled that ran into the terminus platforms and those that carried on to Portsmouth Harbour through the high level platforms.

Everything is mechanical, the short and long levers controlling either points or signals.

In those days it was always a signalman who worked in the boxes, but with many women on the modern railway they are now called signallers.

The box, high in the air alongside Greetham Street, was decommissioned in the late 1960s when the modern box was opened alongside Canal Walk.

However, even that one has been closed and everything is now controlled from a modern, computerised signalling centre at Havant. Not ‘box’ any more.

Does anyone know the name of the signalman on duty in the picture?