This photo was kindly given to me many years ago by my good friend, the amiable academic author and historian John Bentley, of Briercliffe.

The cameraman was John's late father, Arthur Bentley, who took many fine views of old Brierfield over the years of which, fortunately, quite a few, have survived.

Brierfield Station was opened back in 1849 as Marsden Station then, during the mid-1850s, became known as Brierfield in Marsden until in 1857, the present name of Brierfield Station became official.

The signalbox at Brierfield was built in 1876 by Saxby and Farmer and later became L and Y box no. 280. The Brierfield goods signalbox was built in 1902 and was L and Y box no. 281, however, was sadly closed down in the spring of 1967.

The Brierfield Station box is, I'm proud to report, still in situ to this day and I'm even more proud to say that, during the summer of 1963 on my career as a British Railways signalman, I worked at box no. 280 and can still recall, on a hot August evening with a golden sun setting in an azure-blue sky, I rang the bells and pulled the levers as the majestic "Royal Scot" class engine of no. 46106, "The Gordon Highlander", flashed by the ancient signalbox which, by its sheer momentum of the mighty locomotive's propulsion, caused the box to quiver and shake for the next minute!

During that summer of over 45 years ago, I worked at a total of four signal boxes of the 12 on the line from Colne to Burnley: Colne No. 1 box 275, Chaffer's Siding Box 277, Nelson Station Box 278 and Brierfield Station Box 280.

Today, of those dozen signal boxes, only Brierfield survives, which marvellously still has its Midland Railways nameplate in maroon and egg-shell blue.