Midland Railway Signalman Lookout Sign

Original Midland Railway Cast Iron sign, painted in black with white lettering and border.

Before the invention of modern materials, railway signs were usually made of wood or cast iron, or occasionally, carvings were made into the stone that made the buildings on which the sign needed to appear; this usually only happened in the very early days of railways, as they soon found out that changes could not be made once done.

The Midland was a prolific user of cast iron.  Usually, such signs appear, threatening those who dare to trespass with the full majesty of the law.  But they also appeared to provide other information, sometimes to the public, sometimes to staff.

This sign is a message to staff.  We do not know the precise circumstances that caused it to be provided and it is the only example that we know of. Still, signs like this usually appeared after some form of accident, and in this case, we hazard a guess that a signal lineman had been hit by a train, so this was provided to remind staff that a look out could be provided if they wished.  The KWVR has a similar example from the Great Western Railway, which is located on the inside of the cab of locomotive 5775, which exhorts locomotive crews not to stand on the outside of the locomotive when in motion; again, we can only presume that something awful had happened which caused this reminder to appear.