Epping signal box
Epping signal box on the Central line was opened by London Transport in 14th August 1949. It was built to the London Transport Type design and was fitted with a 47 lever Westinghouse 'N2M' frame (frame number 216) The new cabin replaced the original Great Eastern Railway signal box, which had stood on the down platform of Epping station. It was closed on 29th July 1996 and the box is preserved although the frame has been removed. Control passed to Loughton signal box push button panel until control passed to Wood Lane 28th February 2000. Epping signal box is now being preserved by Carens Heritage trains and the lever frame from Hainault signal cabin has been aquired in May 2005 to install in Epping signal cabin because the Epping lever frame had been removed before preservation.
Left: The frame is a Westinghouse Style 'N2M' power frame and was mechanically interlocked between levers with electrical lever locking.
The frame was formed of 4 x 12 way section which making a total of 47 levers, {4x12}-1 = 47 levers, as the last “lever” space is unavailable. 15 levers levers worked the point, and 29 levers worked the signals with 3 other levers being provided.
Picture is reproduced by kind permission of © Bob Yeldham @ Carens Heritage trains.
The branch was re-signalled to the then LPTB standard of two-aspect long-range colour-light stop signals (red and green) plus fog repeaters (with a black 'F' on the yellow aspect), which could be switched on when required. To give the necessary stopping distances for steam hauled freight trains distant signals of the externally floodlit disc type showing a black fish-tailed bar on a yellow background were provided. A new brick and concrete signal cabin was built at Epping complete with a Westinghouse K-type power frame with 47 miniature levers and illuminated diagram. The cabin was coded 'LW' and it was commissioned ready for electric trains working through to Epping from 25 September 1949.
The 47-lever frame was necessary because freight traffic was still playing its part on the railway. Epping had a large goods yard and gasworks siding, in addition there was still a locomotive shed and carriage sidings to cater for the Epping-Ongar services and early morning services to London that were still steam hauled. The line to Ongar was finally electrified on 18 November 1957. Freight traffic continued until 18 April 1966.
2019
Epping signal Cabin has now been preserved. details are avilaible by following this link here
A single line used to continue on to Ongar. The "Ongar shuttle" used to call at Ongar, Blake Hall, North Weald & Epping where it terminated in platform 2. By September 1994 there were only 21 operational levers on the frame and with the closure of the Ongar section this was reduced to 14 levers, although to operate the normal service only seven levers were needed. The Central Line was re-signalled to modern standards with all movements being controlled from Wood Lane Signal Control Centre. On Sunday 28, July 1996, the 01.02 departure was the last train to be controlled and the cabin was switched out. For a short while all points and signals at Epping were controlled by a temporary panel in Loughton signal cabin prior to the eventual transfer of operations to Wood Lane.
Picture is reproduced by kind permission of the © Henry Davidson
Illuminated diagram shows the single line to Ongar inset bottom left. The main service used platform 1 to reverse. Picture is reproduced by kind permission of the © Henry Davidson
Epping signal cabin official photo January 1950. Photographed by Walter A Curtin.
Diagrams
Attached a railway and signaling track diagram from London Transport Central Line Extention 1946 - 1957. This diagram can be downloaded opened in your browser in Adobe PDF format provided the Adobe browser is loaded, otherwise you will be able to save the file to your computer until such time as you have an Adobe Reader installed to read the file - Adobe reader is available free, just use the Adobe Reader icon below to get your copy.Diagrams