IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Ridgmont Road, ST. ALBANS, AL1 3AJ

St Albans South Signal Box was built in 1892 but was closed in 1980. It then became derelict but was restored from 2005 and was opened to the public in 2009. Tours include a chance to try the 44 levers. The volunteers are very knowledgeable and welcoming. The fast trains from St Pancras pass by the box and make it shake. The volunteers also maintain the garden. For more information on the signal box see the Trust's website at http://www.tlr.ltd.uk/sigbox/home.eb

The Old Wooden Signal Box - St Albans City Station - taken from the main open car park at the station. Signal Box is in poor repair at the moment (May 2007) although cleared of plant growth and graffiti, having been in the care of the St Albans Signal Box Preservation Trust for just over a year. The box has been fenced off from the track and access improved ready for restoration to start later in 2007. The results of the work can be seen at Image and Image and on the Trust's website http://www.sigbox.co.uk.

The interior of the St Albans South signal box after restoration to its 1970s appearance, seen here during a public open day in January 2011. The interior was restored entirely by volunteers of the Preservation Trust following professional builders' work on the structure. Visible is the 44 lever frame once used to operate points and signals in St Albans City station and dating from April 1906. Above them are the 'Block Instruments' which connected this box with its neighbours at Napsbury and Harpenden and by which trains were passed from one box to another by a system of bell codes. The instruments are connected to a computer simulator which allows Trust members to show on open days how this "Absolute Block" system worked. For information on open days see http://sigbox.co.uk - details about the restoration and becoming a Trust member are also available there.

For many years the electrical connections between signal boxes for communications and to equipment worked by the boxes has been, with a few exceptions, by cables buried in the ground. Previously circuits were carried on open air 'pole routes'. To show how this used to be done, the St Albans Signal Box Preservation Trust was able in late 2016 to arrange for the erection of a short demonstration pole run in the garden of the box. The four poles are seen here from the top of one of our signals. Open day dates and times can be found at the Trust's website: www.sigbox.co.uk.

The 1892 Midland Railway signal box seen in March 2009, following major restoration works undertaken by the St Albans Signal Box Preservation Trust. This is the largest Midland Railway box preserved in the country and one of the few boxes preserved where it used to work. How it looked before the restoration work started can be seen at Image The box is now open regularly to the public - see the Trust's website at http://www.sigbox.co.uk for details of open days and for a comprehensive look at the way the box was restored by professional builders and Trust members.

Seen from the multi-storey car park.

The box has undergone major structural repairs, repainting and other restoration work since the previous submission two years earlier Image (See the website of the St Albans Signal Box Preservation Trust at http://www.sigbox.co.uk for details of the restoration work and current public open days.) The building at left is the Ziggurat Image

The ground floor of the restored St Albans South Signal Box, which has been altered to display the wide range of signalling and other railway items the Preservation Trust has acquired in the past eight years. see www.sigbox.co.uk for details of open dates, location etc.

St Albans South Signal Box was built in 1892 but was closed in 1980. It then became derelict but was restored from 2005 and was opened to the public in 2009. Tours include a chance to try the 44 levers. The volunteers are very knowledgeable and welcoming. The fast trains from St Pancras pass by the box and make it shake. This is one of many railway relics that the Trust have collected. By the time you had worked out what this meant, you would probably be over the bridge. For more information on the signal box see the Trust's website at http://www.tlr.ltd.uk/sigbox/home.eb

An office block built in 1988 alongside the railway, occupied by the employee benefits consultancy, JLT Benefit Solutions. It replaced a former warehouse of the company Heath and Heather, producer of herbal products, which was established in 1920 by local seed merchant, Samuel Ryder, more famous for the golf Ryder Cup, and his brother James. The building echoes in size and appearance its predecessor, which was a prominent feature in the approach to St Albans City station from the south (see Image for photo of original building). Postscript: JLT Benefit Solutions vacated the building in August 2013. Further postscript: The building has since been converted into apartments, and the block named Ridgemont Plaza, the conversion project being completed in 2015.