Signal Box, Beside 2 Bushmills Road, Coleraine, Co Londonderry, BT52 2BN

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

A two-storey signal box aligned N-S along the E side of the double-track railway line at the NE corner of a level crossing immediately north of Coleraine Station.
Hipped natural slate roof with deep oversailing boxed eaves and boarded soffits. Plastic rainwater goods. GF and E elevation are of red brick, the latter over a coursed squared basalt rubble base. The brickwork at S and W has slightly recessed panels, and the W elevation also has two segmental headed window opes with 3x1-pane timber frames and concrete cills.
Except for E elevation, FF is framed and sheeted with timber. E elevation has 6x2-pane timber framed window at left end. S elevation has a pair of 2x2 horizontal sliding sashes and a 6x2-pane fixed window. W elevation has a 6x2-pane window at left, to right of which is a pair of 3x2 horizontal sliding sashes, then a 4x2 and a 6x2 window, all continuous. Below the windows are painted panels, the one on the W side also carrying lettering reading “Coleraine”.
N elevation has a later flat-roofed timber extension at left, on a concrete platform over a red brick base. Its walls are blank save for a 3/3 casement window to E elevation. A steel staircase rises at right on this elevation to a FF door, to right of which is 4x2 window. Flat-headed doorway directly under, to GF.

Setting:
The signal box sits at the NE corner of the level crossing at the N end of Coleraine Station, which is immediately S of the road. To the immediate E of the box is a house and garden. A double track railway line runs along the W side of the box, beyond which is a small industrial estate.

Roof: Hipped natural slate
Rainwater goods: Plastic
Walls: Brick (GF) and timber (FF)
Windows: Fixed timber multi-panes and 2x2 horizontal timber sash

Historical information

Coleraine Station, with which this signal box is associated, with opened by the Ballymena, Ballymoney, Coleraine & Portrush Junction Railway (BBCPJR) in 1855, en route from Belfast to Portrush. When a railway bridge over the River Bann was opened in 1860, there was through working to Londonderry, and the Coleraine-Portrush section became a branch line. A signal box was erected between the two lines to operate the points (shown on 1882 and 1904 maps). From 1892, it also controlled the points on a short spur which had been laid from the station to Coleraine Harbour.
In 1921, the Midland Railway (Northern Counties Committee), who had taken over the lines in 1903, began work on realigning the track over a new railway bridge over the Bann some 350m downstream of the old one. This company was reconstituted as the London, Midland & Scottish Railway (Northern Counties Committee) in 1923, and the bridge, designed by the company’s Chief Engineer Bowman Malcolm, opened in 1924. During this work, the opportunity was taken to replace the original signal box with a larger one at the NE end of the level crossing. It is this new box which is first shown on the 1922 OS map and subsequent editions. As well as controlling all the points, it was also used to operate the level crossing and control the opening section of the new Bann Bridge. At nationalisation in 1949, the LMS line was taken over by the Ulster Transport Authority, the precursors of Translink, its present operators. Translink has since automated the signalling; this entailed removal of the mechanical hand-operated frames to make way for electronic equipment which is used to operate
a computerised signalling system.

References – Primary sources:
1. PRONI OS/8/6/1/6. OS Coleraine town map, scale 1:500 (1882).
2. PRONI OS/8/6/2A/2. OS Coleraine town map, scale 1:1056 (1904).
3. PRONI OS/10/5/7/3/2. OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 7-03 (1922).
4. PRONI OS/10/5/7/3/3. OS 25-inch map, Co Londonderry sheet 7-03 (1949).
5. PRONI OS/11/13/13/1. First edition IG 25-inch map, sheet 13-13 (1967-68).

References – Secondary sources:
1. J.R.L. Currie, ‘Coleraine as a railway centre’, in Five Foot Three, Journal Railway Preservation Society of Ireland, vol.3 (1967).
2. J.R.L. Currie, The Northern Counties Railway, vol.2, p.79 (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1974).

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

A. Style
B. Proportion
C. Ornamentation
D. Plan Form
H-. Alterations detracting from building
I. Quality and survival of Interior
J. Setting
K. Group value

Criteria for listing: historic interest

S. Authenticity
T. Historic Importance
X. Local Interest
R. Age

Evaluation

A two-storey timber and brick signal box erected by the Midland Railway c.1922. Although its original signal lever frame has been removed, this building still retains its original historic character, in particular its deep eaves, continuously fenestrated timber-framed first floor, and external staircase. The cabin survives in its original setting at the NE end of the level crossing at the N end of Coleraine Station (HB03/020/001A) with which it has group value. It is also of local historical interest for its association with the realignment of the line across the Bann in the period 1921-24.