I've been wanting to do something like this for a long time, ever since the announcement stream for this route, but now we have finally had the release of Spirit of Steam: Liverpool Lime Street-Crewe, it's time for a little fun challenge that I thought up of in the weeks leading up to this routes release. If you have watched any of the development streams in the months leading up to this point, it's often been mentioned that the route has 73 signalboxes dotted along at various points along the route. I've always wondered whether this was true, but I also thought that when time comes to actually go out and find these signalboxes, I don't just want to do this all on my own, I want to get you lot on this forum involved as well. So the challenge that I setting on this forum is for you to got out there and find, name and photograph every single signalbox that's on Liverpool-Crewe and then log them here on this thread for everyone to see. I will keep a list of all the signalboxes down below, which will be continually updated every time a new signalbox get's found. But it should be worth noting that once that signalbox is found, you cannot post another picture of it here on this thread, this is make sure we don't end up with 20+ pictures of the same signalbox. Always check this list down below to make sure you're not posting a signalbox that has already been found here. Signalboxes on Liverpool-Crewe (38/73 Found) 1. Crewe South Junction 2. Crewe North Junction 3. Crewe Coal Yard 4. Runcorn 5. Edge Hill No. 2 6. Picton Road Junction 7. Liverpool Lime Street 8. Mossley Hill 9. Woodside Sidings 10. Verdins Sidings 11. Hartford 12. Harford Junction 13. Halton Junction 14. Acton Bridge 15. Birdswood 16. Speke Junction 17. Olive Mount Junction 18. Waterloo Tunnel Mouth 19. Edge Hill No. 4 20. Allerton Junction 21. Edge Hill No. 3 22. Edge Hill No. 5 23. Pigue Lane Junction 24. Garston Junction 25. Wavertree Junction 26. Winsford Goods Yard 27. Winsford 28. Minshull Vernon 29. Coppenhall Junction 30. Sutton Weaver 31. Engine Shed Junction (Edge Hill) 32. Exhibition Junction 33. Edge Hill Junction 34. Basford Wood 35. West Deviation Junction (Ditton) 36. Winsford Junction 37. Weaver Junction 38. Hartford Junction C.L.C. 39. Edge Hill Unnamed Small 40. 41. 42. 43. 44. 45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. 68. 69. 70. 71. 72. 73. So with that said, what are waiting for? Get out there and find them signalboxes!
A few to start off with: Runcorn - near Runcorn Station Crewe Coal Yard - north of Crewe Edge Hill No. 2 - East near Edge Hill Station Picton Road Jct. - near Edge Hill No. 2
And I'm not sure if these are technically signal boxes: But they are pretty big to have names on them, for sure.
Birdswood Speke Junction Olive Mount Junction Waterloo Tunnel Mouth If you want to see Olive Mount for yourself you have to head east almost off map up the hill at Edge Hill past No:4 box, possibly a Manchester service?
The second signalbox you posted has already been posted here by somebody else and does have a name (Edge Hill No.2). You can actually see the name if you carefully at the image. Plus, you already posted an image of Halton Junction signalbox here. Just a reminder of once a signalbox has been found and posted here, another picture cannot be posted of it. To make sure we don't end up with 20+ pictures of the same signalbox. Always make sure you check the list on the first post on this thread to make sure you're not posting an image of a signalbox that's already been found. But with thta out the way, some more signalboxes that I have found. Edge Hill No.3 Edge Hill No. 5 Pigue Lane Junction
Three more signalboxes fromaround Edge Hill Engine Shed Junction (Edge Hill) Exhibition Junction Edge Hill Junction
A thousand miles (or at least 40 or so) begins with a single step, and man were they hard to find Beyond south of Crewe, Basford Wood And from out of bonds at Dittion, West Deviation Jct.
2 more that's been sniped on the main between Crewe and Dittion (I've checked) Winsford Jct. And the famous Weaver Jct. (How did many missed this?)
I did snap Weaver Junction yesterday going about 60mph & forgot to turn off motion blur so it was very blurry picture so I didn't submit it.
Does the 73 include the box I can just about see but can't quite get to on the Cheshire CLC line? (Probably doesn't ) can anyone probably on PC (I'm on PS5) get past the invisible wall & snap a pic? It's likely to be Hartford West junction. I can get on to the line but can only go so far up until boom stopped!
Managed to get past the invisible walls and get to the box I think you're mentioning and I can say it does have a name, so I say we count it. Hartford Junction C.L.C.
Excellent work WonterRail thats the box I can see! Thats Hartford West Junction on the CLC, Hartford East Junction is just over a mile away at Greenbank and is the entry to Oakleigh sidings now disused since I think 2013. Hartford West is still very much in use.
It has no nameboard because it was not operational in 1958. All the others were open and should have names.
Does anyone know where Edge Hill no1 signal box is? Also, does anyone know what the elevated box at Crewe station is?
Edge Hill No 1 had gone the way of all flesh by the time we modelled the route - it controlled the tunnel end of Edge Hill platforms and way converted to IBS in the 1940s, I think. The small elevated box at Crewe is Crewe No 3 from memory - I can't find my copy of the 1940 signalling notice, and my 1937 SA is not updated for that end of Crewe.