It's the end of the line for Birmingham's famous Brutalist pre-cast concrete signal box after 57 years

It's the end of the line for a famous Brutalist signal box which will move its final train on Christmas Eve – after 57 YEARS service.

The pre-cast concrete signal box at Birmingham New Street station has divided opinion since it opened in 1966.

Fascinating pictures reveal the distinctive ‘Brutalist’ style of the Birmingham Power Signal Box (PSB).

The Grade Two Listed building has been at the heart of Britain’s railway network with signallers directing 1,200 trains a day from inside the Soviet-style building.

It used a huge telephone exchange linked to mechanical relays controlling signals and points, with staff manually setting safe routes for trains through Britain’s busiest station outside of London.

When it first opened it controlled trains between Hampden-in-Arden, Warks., through Birmingham and towards Stourbridge and was one of four power signal boxes in the region.

Since 2005 the other boxes closed and the panels in the Birmingham PSB got smaller and smaller as sections of the signalling system were modernised.