St Albans: Travelling back in time

As I travel back and forth into London on a regular basis I chug past the St Albans South Signal Box. Up until 1979 all trains passing through St Albans City station were controlled, announced and shepherded through by the staff in the signal box.

A few times a year the volunteers who keep this signal box hold 'open days' allowing members of the public to come and have a look around, pill levers and press bells.  My daughter was visiting with the Little People for the weekend in October and it was one of the open day Sundays.

Little boys and bigger boys all love train sets and for a change we were home this weekend and stopped in to have a look.

There is no charge but there is a donation box raising funds to keep the signal box open to the public on select dates.

The signal box was built in 1892 by the Midland Railway and used right up to 1979 and fully restored by 2008 when it opened to the public.

The Little People really enjoyed ringing bells and watching the signals change. They pulled real levers in the garden area and saw how the tracks moved before we went upstairs into the actual signal box.

It was surreal as modern day trains whizzed past us into the station,

as we pulled the levers imagining we were sending the carriages to their next destination!

We had a coffee on the lawns on a lovely Indian Summer Sunday afternoon and can heartily recommend anyone local or localish to check out the website for opening dates and times and pop in for a trip back in train history.