Signal Box Photos

[Dunsignalling]

7 minutes ago, MidlandRed said:

These are ubiquitous features on stations on the old SECR - a particularly good example is Newington, between Sittingbourne and Rainham - where all the fencing is precast concrete, as are the platforms and their supports - the down platform is on an embankment at the up end and even in this area, the varying height platform supports are precast concrete. The fence panels are increased in height to accommodate the erstwhile running in sign boards, where the fixing bolt holes are still present. The fences etc are still in good, albeit weathered condition although there are areas where the concrete has spalled around the reinforcement on the posts and repairs can be seen. Newington was rebuilt as part of the Kent Coast electrification when the line was quadrupled from here towards Rainham - so the platforms must date from the late 50s - and are presumably BR Exmouth products. 
 

Rainham, Meopham and other locations have similar features. Great for railway modelling. 

Thanks. They are certainly not the standard SR pattern, which comprised square panels, which were stepped rather than sloped on platform ramps.

 

If they did come from Exmouth Junction, it must have been a new design specific to the Kent Coast project. 

 

John

[Poor Old Bruce]

Lenham on the SECR line between Maidstone and Ashford, 26 Oct 1984. The box is obviously not a pre-grouping design.

[Wickham Green too]

On 13/03/2022 at 17:30, Dunsignalling said:

If they did come from Exmouth Junction, it must have been a new design specific to the Kent Coast project. 

Probably dates from the ten-car scheme era :- 

 

Edited April 4, 2022 by Wickham Green too
Photo reinstated

[4069]

21 hours ago, Dunsignalling said:

No photo attached (copyright) but a pal has acquired a print of Birkenhead Park H signal box with a BR green Merseyside EMU passing it.

 

He's curious to know the significance of the "H" suffix, as now am I (the area is well outside my sphere of knowledge).

 

Can anybody help?

 

John   

The Mersey Railway lettered all their signal boxes, starting at A (Liverpool Central East, see https://janfordsworld.blogspot.com/2014/02/railways-around-birkenhead.html ). When the new box at Birkenhead Park was opened in 1938 it retained its designation as cabin H under the Mersey scheme.

Edited March 14, 2022 by 4069

[Dunsignalling]

3 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

Probably dates from the ten-car scheme era :- 

 

I'm familiar with when the electrification took place, but not the "10-car Scheme" how much later was that?

 

John 

[Wickham Green too]

The first units built to enable suburban trains to be increased to ten cars were 2EPBs 5712-78 in 1954. ( 5701-11 were nominally replacements for 2SL  & 2WIM units )

 

Now, of course we have platforms capable of taking twelve cars - but two of our incompatible fleets consist of five-car units so ten is the normal maximum !

[MidlandRed]

2 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

The first units built to enable suburban trains to be increased to ten cars were 2EPBs 5712-78 in 1954. ( 5701-11 were nominally replacements for 2SL  & 2WIM units )

 

Now, of course we have platforms capable of taking twelve cars - but two of our incompatible fleets consist of five-car units so ten is the normal maximum !

There are, however a multitude of fleets, for instance working on South Eastern lines:-

 

2 x 395 = 12 car

2 x 375 (off peak) = 8 car 

3 x 375 (peak) = 12 car

2 x 376 = 10 car

2 x 707 = 10 car

2 x 465 =   8 car

2 x 465 + 1 x 466 = 10 car

1 x 700 (Thameslink to Rainham or Sevenoaks) = 8 cars 

 

The 10 car units tend to be North Kent or Sevenoaks to London Bridge etc. 

 

[Wickham Green too]

Sorry, I was being a little more specific to the photograph, to the suburbs, and to the Hayes line in particular, where only Networkers, 376 and, now, 707 are to be seen. The Networkers - like the EPBs before them - can include multiple two-car combinations .... it's called flexibility !

 

( You omitted the 377s from your comprehensive list : they seem to be restricted to Victoria - Maidstone - Ashford services so they don't get confused with 375s ....................... and, of course, there are the three-car 375s to throw a spanner in any scheduling ! )

[LNERGE]

Again moving next door to my previous posting...

[MidlandRed]

On 14/03/2022 at 20:00, Wickham Green too said:

Sorry, I was being a little more specific to the photograph, to the suburbs, and to the Hayes line in particular, where only Networkers, 376 and, now, 707 are to be seen. The Networkers - like the EPBs before them - can include multiple two-car combinations .... it's called flexibility !

 

( You omitted the 377s from your comprehensive list : they seem to be restricted to Victoria - Maidstone - Ashford services so they don't get confused with 375s ....................... and, of course, there are the three-car 375s to throw a spanner in any scheduling ! )

Sorry - off topic re signal boxes

 

Ok - does this mean that the off peak Hayes trains (normally 2 x 465 - 8 cars) can now be 2 x 707 (10 cars?)

 

Yes I forgot about the the 377s - as you say, the 377s tend to run in pairs (8 cars only). Although used on the Victoria/ Maidstone/Ashford services, they also appear on other workings - I used to catch an 8 car working - always 2 x 377 (and sometimes including one of the 377 1xx in Southern livery), at Bromley South which ran Swanley to Victoria as a sort of semi fast - calling at only Bromley S, Beckenhan J, Penge East and Herne Hill - basically only the interchange stations (Penge E involving at bit of a walk) - as I alighted at Beckenham J, the journey time was under 5 mins!! As you say the 377/5 and 377/1 do not work with any other type of unit. 

As well as the 375/3 used on the Sittingbourne/ Sheerness and Medway Valley (Strood - Paddock Wood), odd units are included in the mainline services with a pair of 4 car 375s to make 11 cars in the peak - there used to be a morning peak Ramsgate-Cannon Street (last stop Rochester but routed via Bromley South) which was comprised of three 375/3s - it returned in the evening peak. 
 

The timetables (particularly off peak) are still much reduced so I’m not up to speed on the set formations currently - the last time I used the service a couple of weeks ago there were still 12 car units in the peak and 8 car off peak - just fewer of them - I would guess the 375/3 are used randomly in 12 car sets in place of 4 cars sets (thus being 11 cars). 

Edited March 17, 2022 by MidlandRed

[MidlandRed]

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Edited March 17, 2022 by MidlandRed

[MidlandRed]

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Edited March 17, 2022 by MidlandRed
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[Dunsignalling]

I've just begun scanning my old 35mm stuff and came across this view of Honiton, BR (s) Box, taken in August 1989.

 

This was three years before my professional relationship with the building began. Of note is the presence of the old PWay bothy, later replaced with portacabins. There must have been recent clearance of undergrowth because ISTR it had regrown sufficiently to hide much of it once more by 1992.

 

The greenery half-concealing the redundant lamp hut (right) seems to have been left alone and, by my time, the hut had disappeared almost completely under it.

 

Both these minor structures would be demolished during the construction of the up-side car park and platform improvements in connection with the introduction of the Class 159 trains.

 

John

 

Edited June 13, 2022 by Dunsignalling
Photos reinstated

[Poor Old Bruce]

Charing, SECR, 26 Oct 1984

 

[Michael Hodgson]

Looks like this thread is well and truly b*ggered for now.

Let's hope the images can be recovered in due course.

[Wickham Green too]

Let's see whether a new entry works OK ??!?

 

Tonbridge : 22/3/22

 

Edited May 31, 2022 by Wickham Green too
Photos reinstated

[4069]

Anything after 31 May 2021 (around the middle of page 50 of the thread) appears to be affected- before that date they are fine. I have replaced the (few) pictures that I had posted since then.

Edited March 31, 2022 by 4069

[Davexoc]

9 minutes ago, 4069 said:

Anything after 31 May appears to be affected- before that looks fine.

 

Nothing that I've uploaded since 1 Jan 21 seems to be showing. I went to my profile, 'my atachments' and everything after is currently missing.

I did reupload several images by opening the linked page from there and editing the post by adding the original again and deleting the old one.

Three done, about 150 more across loads of threads to go.....

[4069]

On further inspection the pictures for May 2021 are all there, but January - April seems to be missing. I've put some more of mine back. Very frustrating.

Edited March 31, 2022 by 4069

[Wickham Green too]

The pictures I added on Thursday ( 31/3/22 ) appear to be still there - but those I thought I'd reinstated yesterday seem to have disappeared overnight ! ............... very odd !

 

 

Edited April 6, 2022 by Wickham Green too
Monday's pictures back now : 6/4/22

[Dunsignalling]

43 minutes ago, Wickham Green too said:

The pictures I added on Thursday ( 31/3/22 ) appear to be still there - but those I thought I'd reinstated yesterday seem to have disappeared overnight ! ............... very odd !

There is something strange going on. I've noticed some images that were visible a few days ago no longer are. In the Gunpowder vans thread some posted by Rapidoandy are OK but the one in Miss Prism's reply is not and one of the two (!) in the one after that likewise. Also most recent images posted to Wright Writes. Very odd.

Edited April 5, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Moxy]

There has been some more maintenance on RMWeb done a couple of hours ago, some pictures are re-indexing, including recent ones.  I would leave it a few days until the site catches up with itself, the pictures may reappear in due course.

[Dunsignalling]

4 minutes ago, Moxy said:

There has been some more maintenance on RMWeb done a couple of hours ago, some pictures are re-indexing, including recent ones.  I would leave it a few days until the site catches up with itself, the pictures may reappear in due course.

Thanks. I was a bit mystified why I could still see some pics that were visible yesterday, but not others....

Edited April 5, 2022 by Dunsignalling

[Wickham Green too]

Yeah - I thought there was ongoing .... er something ! .............................. the text emojis comments 'flags' at the base of each post ( whatever they're called ) are rather peculiar too !

[corneliuslundie]

I assume that some of you must have been reinserting your photos as there are some from after 31 December 2020 now appearing.

But I also notice that there are some earlier ones missing. I thought they should have been there., But let's wait until Andy has finished sorting things out properly and see what is there and what isn't.

If you can't remember what you have posted you can sort the Excel file by the name of the person posting and/or by date. Unfortunately the last two pages had not been indexed as I was just about to do it when RMWeb disappeared.

Anyway, in the meantime I shall be putting back the photos in the Little Things thread.

Jonathan