Brighton South Signal Cabin

“The distances which separated the different nations and parts of the globe are rapidly vanishing before the achievements of modern invention,” declared Prince Albert in 1850. With its rushing perspective, this photograph of the newly installed 240-lever frame that controlled signals along the route of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway evokes the speed of modern travel and attests to the dense web of track that increasingly wove together the disparate parts of Great Britain in the late 19th century.