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| Brighton signal box with its Westinghouse Brake & Saxby Signal Co. Ltd. Style 'L' Power Lever Frames was erected in 1931/32 when the London to Brighton line was electrified, the signal box opened on the 16th October 1932 to control an intensively used area, Bright station is / was served by a 10 platforms, locomotive sheds, good sheds as well as carriage sheds. Lines converged into the station from 3 directions.. Brighton box closed on 30th March 1985 which is 52 years later, this is when the Three Bridge's Signalling Centre took over all the signalling in the Brighton area. The box was demolished in April 1985. |
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is pictured left in the late 1960's / early 1970's, the building looks odd because this building was originally built into the side of the old Brighton Locomotive Works. The locomotive works was then demolished leaving the box standing by itself. Pictures reproduced by kind permission of © Graham Floyd. |
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Brighton signal box exterior Pictured in 1984 looking rather forlorn and out of use, it was not long after this that the building was demolished. Picture reproduced by kind permission of © Alan Elliott. |
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| The frame is a Westinghouse Style 'L' Power Frame which is all electrically locked. The frame was formed of 18 x 12 way and 1 x 8 way section which making a total of 225 levers, {18x12}+8}-1 = 225 levers, as the last “lever” space is unavailable. 65 of these levers worked the points, 139 signal levers operated the coloured light signals, with 2 special levers and 19 spare levers were provided when the frame was supplied and installed. This made the working lever total of 206. Picture from SRS archive, This images is copyright of the Signalling Record Society, and reproduced by permission. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Brighton signal box interior The track diagrams are still the large original versions, and the signalman's uniform is typical of the period. |
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Brighton signal box interior |
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Brighton signal box interior lever frame detail photograph, with two block bells and the ubiquitous train describer between the block bells, adjacent to a modern clock. Just visible above the signal lenses in the centre of the photograph is the signal lever is the "F" light and this became lit when the lever was normal, all points in the route correctly detected and all relevant track circuits clear. You could pull the lever at any time provided that the locking was correct but the signal would not clear unless the "F" light was lit before the lever was pulled. |
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| Picture reproduced by kind permission of © Alan Elliott. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The Walker's Train Describer consists of a clockwork driven mechanical "Sending" instrument and an electro-mechanical "Receiving" instrument. The left hand Walkers is the recieving instrument, and the right instrument is the sending instrument. Each of these instruments has an identical dial upon which is fixed tablets showing various required destinations and a pointer to indicate the tablet required. The "Sending" instrument has a lever adjacent to each of the tablets, resemble a ship's steering wheel! | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Diagrams Attached is Southern Railway signal instruction 40 notice and signalling instruction 40 track diagram this can be downloaded in PDF format, this covers the opening of Brighton signal box. These diagram(s) are taken from the web site of the Signalling Record Society Research Note37. These images are copyright of the Signalling Record Society, and reproduced by permission. |
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| Please be aware that these files are large and can take a while to download depending on your internet providers line speed. typically file sizes between 300-500K each | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You will need a PDF viewer to read PDF file, if you don't have it its free to download | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Adjacent boxes Brighton signal box worked to:- West Coast line Hove East (1m 80yds away). Hove East (but re-named Hove "A") box was closed on 16/03/1985 and Three Bridge Signalling Centre became the adjacent box. This lasted until Brighton box closed. East Coast line London line |
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| Boxes Replaced The Brighton power signalling scheme displaced 6 mechanical signal boxes and this was typical of the power installation of the times. |
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| The serial number of this frame was L55 and was ordered in January 1932 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © Mark Adlington 2007
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