Cliburn signal box
Cliburn signal box
![The signal box sitting in splendid isolation in a field.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image1-410.jpg)
![The windows - many of them smashed soon after the line's closure - were repaired in the 1970s.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image2-410.jpg)
![Looking east towards Stainmore from the former level crossing.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image3-410.jpg)
![The base of the box is brick, with stone string courses. Timber and glass formed the upper operational area.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image4-407.jpg)
![Cliburn's station house still stands adjacent to the box, accessed through an original-looking gate.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image5-399.jpg)
![The station building, beyond the box, is now a private home.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image6-380.jpg)
![In 2012, a renovation of the box was completed, allowing it to become a self-catering holiday let.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image7-353.jpg)
![The work included new gates and an extension to the rear.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image8-303.jpg)
![The signalman would have relished this level of comfort.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image9-238.jpg)
![Captured in the early 1900s, the pristine box stands alongside the level crossing it controlled and the single running line.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image10-153.jpg)
![By May 1966, the consequences of closure are beginning to be felt.](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image11-125.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image1-410.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image2-410.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image3-410.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image4-407.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image5-399.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image6-380.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image7-353.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image8-303.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image9-238.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image10-153.jpg)
![](http://www.forgottenrelics.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/image11-125.jpg)
A year after trains first climbed over Stainmore, the Eden Valley Railway opened a connection from the West Coast Main Line near Penrith through to Kirkby Stephen East.
Cliburn signal box – one of nine on the route – looked after the adjacent level crossing and controlled access into a goods yard which boasted cattle pens and coal handling facilities. There was only a single running line, serving a platform on the Down side. This accommodated the main building, next to which was the station master’s house.
Closure came to Cliburn in September 1956 although through trains continued, requiring the signal box to remain open. But the route succumbed on the same day as Stainmore: 22nd January 1962.
The signal box immediately entered a period of decline; its windows smashed and innards gutted. Some repair work was undertaken in the 1970s but 2012 saw its complete refurbishment, opening as a self-catering holiday let with an extension to the rear.