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Sutton Bridge Junction Signal Box is a still open signal box on Network Rail located approximately 2/3 of a mile south of Shrewsbury station, which controls Sutton Bridge Junction, and originally the Severn Valley's junction with the mainline at Shrewsbury. It still controls the junction between the Shrewsbury & Hereford line and the Cambrian line to Machynlleth, Aberystwyth and Pwllheli, and access to Coleham yard. It also has an Up goods loop, which is the truncated 'Up Avoiding' goods only line which originally ran from Bayston Hill signal box to the south (now closed). The Up direction is towards Shrewsbury for the Cambrian and Hereford lines, whilst Up was to the south on the Severn Valley line.
The box was built in 1913 to replace earlier signalling installations at the junction, and is built to conventional GW style of the time all in brick, although because of its location in connection with the Severn Valley line it has full height windows on the operating floor around the whole northern end. Originally, it had a nameplate mounted on both the front and rear, to allow it to be identified from all lines, but the one on the rear's whereabouts is currently unknown. It has a 61 lever 3-bar vertical tappet frame which is original to the box and is therefore of the same vintage. Three of the levers retain brass lever leads (the plate indicating the lever's purpose and what levers must be reversed to enable it to be worked), whilst the others all have the later rectangular traffolite style. Interestingly, the original lever leads related to the Severn Valley line referred to 'To' or 'From' Worcester, for example 'From Worcester Safety' for a lever which worked a trap point for any runaway train coming from Berrington.
The box is built on the eastern side of the Shrewsbury & Hereford line (sometimes referred to as the North & West), and originally the SVR joined this line immediately to the north of the box, coming in from the southeast. The junction and where the line passed under a road bridge can still be readily seen. Until 1988, a stub of the Severn Valley line remained in use, providing via a reverse move access to the site of Shrewsbury Abbey station (Shropshire & Montgomeryshire Light Railway), which remained in use as a fuel terminal.
