BRM GUIDE TO POINT RODDING

n enduring feature defining the steam-age railway was the mechanical signal box. Even as late as the final quarter of the last century, sections of the East Coast Main Line were controlled by mechanical ‘boxes. It was to be a decade later before the ex-GWR main line to the West Country, at least as far as Devon, lost its mechanical ‘boxes. Even today, more-remote sections of our railway system still have mechanical ‘boxes controlling the trains. Mechanical signal boxes worked semaphore signals via wires and pulleys, and the pointwork under their control by