Woking signal box

Woking signal box with its Westinghouse Brake & Saxby Signal Co. Ltd. Style 'L' Power Lever Frame was commissioned on the 27th June 1937, this signalbox remained in use for 60 years until its operation was take over by a Woking Signalling Control Centre scheme on the 22nd Aug 1997. The signal box remains as a listed building. The frame is still in the signal box box but the NX up and down panels installed in the 1970's for Brookwood station and Pirbright Junction have been removed.

Marking the beginning of Southern Railways 'streamlined' design period, this SR type 13 design first appeared at Surbiton, opened on 28/06/1936, at the same time as the Waterloo signal box design. One can argue that it was of the most impressive signalbox designs of the 20th century, with its rounded corners and canopy. Nicknamed 'Glasshouses' with its timer window frames {later steel} for it upper story windows and 18" high embossed letters for the nameplate.. A late 1990's view from the London end of the signal box, as you can see little has changed in the intervining years. Picture by kind permission of © Graham Floyd

Picured above is the view from the Country end of the signal box, taken about 1 year after closure.

Below we see the lever frame looking at the County end which is a Westinghouse Style 'L' Power Frame which is all electrically locked. The frame was formed of 11 x 12 way section which making a total of 131 levers, {11x12}-1 = 131 levers, as the last “lever” space is unavailable. 38 levers worked the points, 73 signal levers operated the coloured light signals, and there were 20 spare levers when the frame was supplied and installed. This made the working lever total of 111.

Looking at the clothing I think these interior pictures inside Woking signalbox were probably taken in the just after the war maybe the 1950's.

This view shows the London end of the Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co. Ltd lever frame, with its indicators behind the levers. The interior of the signalbox is depicted before the alterations and additions in 1967, these alterations can be seen in the next picture. The Walkers Rotary train describer and the Sykes Lock and Block instruments can clearly be seen.Picture copyright © D Cullum, reproduced by kind permission of Middleton Press, from their Waterloo to Woking book in the Southern Mainlines series published in 1986 ISBN 090652038X

John Vincent was a booking boy in 1965, and after the mechinical signalling to West Byfleet was replace with colour light signalling system, John was able to aquire the redundant Sykes block instrument, which he still has to this day.
I am very grateful to John for this photograph which includes an orignal oil lamp from the signal box.
Picture by kind permission of © John Vincent.

The interior post 1967 alterations when Woking took control of Pirbright Junction, just south west of Brookwood Station. The small NX {entry-exit} panels can be seen of the panel block shelf that controls Pirbright Junction are adjacent to the emergency bell plungers to the fringe boxes. The new electronic train describers sending boxes are the next item at the left hand end of the picture, the new four digit format was used e.g. '1P23'. {fast Portsmouth}. The train descriptions were displayed in the signalling diagram shown above. The NX panels were brought into use at the same time as the installation of the adjacent Basingstoke & Guildford Panel boxes schemes.

A good colour picture showing the general interior of the signalbox from lever number 1 onwards, which is the end of the lever frame that controls the Up direction railway lines. Behind the signalling levers one can see the glass roundels that showed the point and signal aspects, most of the first levers indicators are either Shunt signals with their 'on or 'off' with a Red Bar horizontal or at 45 degrees, or a Point indication with an 'N' or 'R' indication for points being Normal or Reverse. Picture by kind permission of © Graham Floyd

Another good colour picture showing the general interior of the signalbox from lever number 131 end of the lever frame, which is the end of the lever frame that controls the Down direction railway lines..Behind the signalling levers one can see the 4 glass roundels showed the signal aspect, being Red, Yellow, Green & 2nd Yellow reading from bottom to top. Picture by kind permission of © Graham Floyd

The Down direction NX Panel for Pribright Junction and Brookwood station, The station has crossovers from the down main to the down local platform at Brookwood station. As well as a crossover from the down local platform line to the down main line. The line diverging on the bottom right is the down Alton branch line to Farnham & Alton. Picture by kind permission of © Graham Floyd

The Up direction NX Panel for Pribright Junction and Brookwood station. The line joining on the top right is the Up Alton branch line from Alton and Farnham .The station has crossovers from the mainline to local {platform} line. As well as a crossover from the local line {platform} to the main line. Brookwood station is the first station travelling in a south west direction on the mainline from Woking towards Basingstoke.

These NX panels are known as “domino” panels, made up from square tiles with various track elements painted on each, e.g. straight track, points, signal. The basic surface is matt green paint, intended to minimise reflections, as these tiles are normally used on the vertical display (only) panel, out of the signalman’s reach. The NX push buttons are then on a desk surface, set into a much smaller scale track diagram, finished to resist wear. True you can see the dirt, and also where the paint is worn away around the NX buttons and individual point switches (round knobs at the top of each panel), but this may be because the wrong materials have been used. Picture by kind permission of © Graham Floyd

The lever frame and block shelf after closure of the signalbox. A sad day but at least the lever frame survives as the signalbox is a listed building. Picture by kind permission of © Graham Floyd

Diagrams

Adjacent boxes

Main line (to the south)
Brookwood box, 3m 1063yds away, was the adjacent box. Brookwood box was closed on 05/06/1966 (controlled from a panel installed in Woking box) and Farnborough (8m 1558yds away) became the adjacent box. Farnborough box was closed on 20/11/1966 when Basingstoke panel box (23m 275yds away) became the adjacent box. This lasted until Woking box closed.

Guildford line
Worplesden box, 2m 756yds away, was the adjacent box. Worplesden box was closed on 17/04/1966 when Guildford panel box (5m 1395yds away) became the adjacent box. This lasted until Woking box closed.

Alton line
When Brookwood box closed Woking box took control of the junction with the Alton line. Ash Vale Junction box (7m 1597yds away) was the adjacent box and remained so until Woking box closed.
The Woking power signalling scheme displaced 3 mechanical signalboxes and this was typical of the power installation of the times.