Handmade in Sammamish, WA

Seattle's light rail, live on your wall.

Every 1 Line and 2 Line train, moving across a handmade LED map in real time, with a countdown board for your station. Plug it in, join your Wi-Fi, and it runs itself.

The holiday batch: 10 signs, $250. Order by Dec 10 for Christmas.

Check availability

In the Seattle area? Local pickup on Facebook Marketplace.

Sold out, or want one for your city?

Join the waitlist and tell us where you ride. The next city is picked by who asks.

Just news about new batches and cities. No spam, and you can unsubscribe in one click.

What it does

Every train, live

Each train is a light on its own track, right where it is now, with a short fading tail showing which way it's heading. Updated every 15 seconds.

Your station's arrivals

The board in the corner counts down the next trains in each direction. When nothing is due soon, it shows the next scheduled train.

Fits your day

A clock in the corner, dimming in the evening, and dark overnight. It turns itself off while the trains aren't running.

No app, no subscription

Settings are a page in your phone's browser. The live data is included, and new features arrive by themselves overnight.

Built by hand

The sign straight on: the light rail map on LED panels behind a laser-cut wooden front, with the arrivals board in the corner — Stations, Puget Sound and Lake Washington, engraved in birch.

The sign from the side, showing the box's finger joints — A finger-jointed plywood box, cut and assembled here.

The sign on a shelf in a kitchen, below posters — Stands on a shelf or hangs on the wall.

Made in Sammamish

Signal Box started as a sign for my own home: I wanted to glance up and know when to leave for the train. The map is two LED panels behind a laser-cut birch plywood front, and every sign is assembled, flashed and tested by hand before it ships.

Seattle is first. Want one for another city? Join the list and say so: that's how the next one gets picked.

$250 plus shipping

Order on Tindie, or pick it up locally around Sammamish.

SizeAbout 10 x 13 x 1.4 in
DisplayTwo 64 x 64 RGB LED panels
Lines1 Line and 2 Line
UpdatesEvery 15 seconds
PowerPlug-in supply, included
Wi-Fi2.4 GHz home network
SetupA couple of minutes, from your phone

Questions

Is there a monthly fee?

No. The live data service is included in the price, with no account and no app.

How do I set it up?

Plug it in, join the "SignalBox" Wi-Fi from your phone, and pick your home network. Then open signalbox.local on your phone to choose your station.

Will it work on my Wi-Fi?

It needs a 2.4 GHz home network, which most routers have. Networks with a sign-in page, like many work and school networks, won't work.

Does it get brighter, dimmer or turn off at night?

You choose the daytime and evening brightness and when it goes dark. It also switches itself off while no trains are running, and back on for the first train.