Bt Gate Signal Box in Bytom

The “Bt” gate signal box at Bytom railway station is a Modernist building from 1935 in which the signal room hangs over the tracks on a steel pier. It is listed in the heritage register, and its form is regarded as rare on a national scale.

How the signal box was built

The building was constructed when Bytom (German: Beuthen) belonged to Germany. Traffic at the station was handled by a single dispatching signal box, today's “Bt”, and six executive signal boxes. It takes the form of two blocks on a T-shaped plan, in Modernism in the streamline convention typical of the 1930s. The lower block contains workshop rooms, and the taller one, with a semicircular end, the signal room with its control desks. Both parts are joined by a four-storey staircase, and on its east façade one can see a clock with a square face and the inscription “Bt”.

Why it is a monument

The steel part and the pier are joined with rivets, and the lower block with the staircase is of brick. Prof. Miron Urbaniak considers the signal box unique in the country, because such structures were built almost exclusively in the former German territories, mainly in Upper Silesia. Outside Bytom, a similar building stands only in Gdańsk-Wrzeszcz. There was a dispute over protecting the building: a residents' initiative led to its entry in the register, and the decision covered the whole building together with the sliding-lever traffic control equipment.

Practical information

• Location: the area of plac Wolskiego and ulica Kolejowa, by Bytom station; the owner is PKP Polskie Linie Kolejowe.
• This is a railway facility, not a museum: it is viewed from the outside, from the street and the platforms, without entering railway property.
• Nearby stand the Silesian Opera building and the Franciszek Kachel Park.