Hidden …. forgotten ….. and neglected ….. a piece of our old technology

Now I remain fascinated by those odd bits of our old technology, and so is my friend Barbarella who came across this box.

She told me “It was above a train line, in Cheadle, just passed the Mersey and before the Garden Centre”.

And I think it is a Lucy box, which according to I Spy Lucy Boxes, "is a name applied to boxes, about 3 feet high, about 2 feet wide and about 18 inches deep, which are to be found on pavements throughout the city.*   

Such boxes were originally used in connection with the tram network and then with the trolley bus network; and as part of the general electricity supply network; and for telephone purposes…….. 

The name 'Lucy box' was applied to these boxes because the great majority of them, in the early days at least, were made by the Lucy Foundry in Oxford.**

The equipment in them was used to isolate a section of the tram or trolley bus route - that is, to stop electricity running through that section. 

It could also be used to make the route solid, that is, you could make the electric current bypass the isolating components in the box; this would enable you to work on the box while the trams or trolleys continued running”. 

Of course I might have got this terribly wrong, but then someone will tell me, which is the joy of the blog.

Location; Cheadle

Pictures, what Barbarella saw, 2022, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento

*I Spy Lucy Boxes, http://www.historywebsite.co.uk/articles/lucy/lucyboxes.htm

**W. Lucy & Co., https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._Lucy_%26_Co.