Signal box

This signal box was built in Hoogezand-Sappemeer for the national railway company in 1911. It was decommissioned in 1986, after which it was reconstructed on the grounds of the Railway Museum in 1988. The large ‘T’ above the entrance to the signal box was used to indicate that either a train dispatcher worked in the signal box or that the box held a telephone or telegraph you could use to contact a train dispatcher. Train dispatchers were tasked with overseeing the safety of a specific section of railway, which included responsibility for the signals.

Signal boxes like this one are no longer used today, as the modern rail network is operated from thirteen main dispatch offices. This is why the job we used to call the ‘signalman’ is now known as a train dispatcher.