Fremantle Box 'B' was located on the Perth side of the 1907 Fremantle station, and for the last few decades of its life had a wonderful view (not) of the massive woolstores buildings just across the road), although the window frames on the opposite side of the cabin (facing the harbour) were adorned with lists of the names of many of the ships which visited the harbour. It was of an interesting brick design, perhaps reminiscent of City 'C' Cabin. From the outside, it had the classic W.A.G.R. over-large roof to help shade the cabin in the hot summer months. The very long external staircase, was a bit of a worry in the winter time though, as Fremantle was subject to very cold, driving winds and rain, and the trek across the multitude of tracks to the cabin, and then the long ascent in winter was not for the faint hearted!
The black & white image, from a damaged original colour print, was taken in the early 1970s, when some of the other yard buildings were still in place. One of the sheds on the left of the cabin was used by the shunters, and there was plenty of stories told of the rivalries between the shunters and Signalmen over the years.
One such episode, was of the continuing practical jokes played out between the two groups of workers. It has been said that a Signalman, keen to 'get back' at the shunters for some prior trick, visited and exited their 'humpy' without being seen. Some days later, the shunters began to notice an odd smell in in the tiny room. This room served as their refuge from the weather and their lunch room, so it when they couldn't find the cause of the offensive odour, they were rightly concerned. All was revealled however, when the fish that the Signalman had quite cleverly concealed underneath the table rotted through it's supporting newspaper. It is not recorded what was said after this, but one could bet that it was every bit as foul as the smell!

Towards the end of its life, Fremantle Box 'B' endured the policy of painting lever handles silver as in the Claremont Cabin. Being the 'end of the line' for suburban services to Fremantle, and therefore for many years the end of the Sykes Lock and Block working along that line, the cabin was, almost until the last months of its life, attended by Signalmen twenty four hours a day, all year round - so there was no shortage of lever-cleaning staff! Interesting to note in the picture, is that the Facing Point Lock levers - normally a dark blue colour, are almost sky-blue here. Also, the spare levers near the camera stand testimony of the fact that Fremantle Box 'A' had been rendered obsolete and that end of the yard re-signalled.

Fremantle Box 'B' could work on the eastern side, with East Fremantle Goods Junction Box (demolished in 1964); North Fremantle; Cottesloe; and on the odd occasion with Claremont or Subiaco or more likely on weekends directly with Box 'B' City. To the west, Fremantle Box 'B' worked with Fremantle Box 'A', a small, low level cabin located at the other end of the station for narrow gauge trains, or with Robb Jetty for standard gauge trains.

Fremantle Box 'B' accommodated an 80 lever McKenzie & Holland No. 9 pattern frame. There were a number of controlled (slotted) signals jointly worked with Fremantle Box 'A'. Unlike some of the electrically controlled signals between Boxes 'B' and 'C' in Perth, these were worked mechanically. Of these, Nos. 78, 79 & 80 Home Signals at the Cliff Street level crossing, were quite some distance from Box 'B'. Due to the length of the signal wire run from Box 'B', and the weight of the signal arm's couterweight, the Signalman at Fremantle 'A' was encouraged not to operate his controlled signal lever until he could see the counterweight on the post (pulled by Box 'B') rise. Needless to say, this was not always done, and was only achieved if the 'A' Cabin Signalman was extra diligent, or feeling particularly generous!
Proving that it was not only signals that could be controlled, the YELLOW lever - No. 55 - seen in this view, controlled No. 12 Points lever in Box 'A', and when normal in the frame, it prevented the Box 'A' Signalman from setting a movement across the narrow / standard gauge diamond crossing. On pulling No. 55 in Box 'B', the Signalman here was prevented from setting any conflicting standard gauge moves toward the diamond crossing.

The Fremantle Box 'B' Signalman controlled the up and down main lines, (the start of the Eastern Railway), and for many years access to the three platform roads, Fremantle Locomotive depot and busy goods yards either side of the main lines. In 1966, the Standard Gauge line was laid through Fremantle for trains servicing the new standard gauge marshalling yard at Leighton and the north wharf container terminal. This, and the general downturn in non-container rail goods traffic to and from the south wharf meant that a lot of the narrow gauge yard was discontinued. For the last 30 years of the cabin's life, Box 'B' Fremantle controlled the passage of Westrail's largest (3,300Hp) locomotives, the mighty L Class - a far cry from the diminutive narrow gauge 2-6-0 (A Class) steam locomotive which began the construction of the line in July 1880. Two legendary british locomotives - the Flying Scotsman and the Pendennis Castle have even passed by the box under the watchful eye of Western Australian Signalmen!