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Wednesday 23 Sep 2026

Schools lined up to take lessons in unique signal box classroom

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North West & Central

| North West & Central: North West

Schools across Lancashire are being invited to hold lessons in Britain’s quirkiest new classroom – a former railway signal box on the West Coast Main Line.

The decommissioned building at Hest Bank on Morecambe Bay is now a ‘first-of-a-kind’ community space to inspire and teach schoolchildren Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) subjects relating to not only the railway but also the bay.

The London Midland Type 15 box, built by British Railways and opened in December 1958, closed in 2013 with signalling control diverted to Preston Power Signal Box.

It had been standing empty until some thinking ‘outside the box’ by Network Rail, its Community Rail and train operator partners*, who between them secured the £14,000 needed for a unique and clever conversion.

Now known as the ‘Box on the Bay’ – it’s been taken over by the Leeds-Morecombe Community Rail Partnership - which will run educational sessions for schools across Lancashire.

It completes a three-year-project to breathe new life into a piece of railway heritage in the famous and only location where West Coast Main Line tracks actually run directly beside the sea.

The first children to take advantage of the new facility were ten Year 5 students from Heysham Saint Peter's Church of England Primary over the summer.

Now students are settled back into lessons after the summer break, the centre is available for bookings for other schools who are interested in making use of the unusual educational setting.

Amelia Routledge, Network Rail Infrastructure Maintenance Delivery Manager, said: “It's brilliant to see a bright future for this signal box when the alternative was demolition and this piece of railway heritage being lost. The fact it is now inspiring the next generation of future engineers and getting them engaged and excited about about STEM subjects is even better.

“This project has been a huge collaboration across the industry with Network Rail, the Community partnerships, the Leeds to Morecambe Community Group, Avanti West Coast, Transpennine Express, and Northern all involved - either through funding, support or ideas - and working together to make it happen.”

Brian Haworth, Leeds to Morecambe Community Rail Partnership officer, said: “This now opens us up to a totally different way of engaging young people, where rather than going into schools to teach we can bring them to the railway itself. You can actually see level crossings work, you can see the sequence that they have to go through and we can explain how you have to use them and stay safe. And when you see a train coming past the window every few minutes at a hundred miles an hour, it’s the perfect safety lesson, right where it's actually happening!”

For more information on the signal box people can visit: https://thebenthamline.co.uk/box_on_the_bay/