PHOTO GALLERY: BRITISH RAILWAYS (NORTH EASTERN REGION)
Balne
OPENED: 1957. CLOSED: 2015
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Located a little way north of Doncaster, as one of the most southerly locations of the former North Eastern Railway, Balne outlived many of the surrounding signal boxes on the East Coast main line. The reason for its survival was the adjoining level crossing.
John Hinson
The architecture represents the final design for mechanical boxes on the North Eastern Region of BR, used between 1957 and 1967. It featured the return of a gabled roof, but many other features were in common with the earlier flat-roofed design illustrated at Low Gates, Northallerton.
Balne was once a wayside station with small goods yard, but these are long gone and it was subsequently reduced to gate box status with just five levers. These levers were, in turn, replaced in 2008 with a switch panel.
Phil Deans
Its life came to an end on 25th April 2015 with the introduction of level crossing obstacle detection technology, allowing the crossing to be remotely managed from Doncaster power box.