Style 'N' mechanically locked lever frame

The Westinghouse Brake & Saxby Signal Co. Ltd produced the Style 'N' mechanically locked lever frame from 1931, and a total of 40 units were shipped for use on London Transport underground railways.

The 'N' style frame was a mechanically locked version of the Style 'L' power lever miniature lever frame, it had the mechanical locking situated at the front under the lever instead of the electrical circuit contacts. As a result the electrical circuit contacts {bands} were always placed at the read of the lever frame. From a user point of view the lever frame looked and felt the same as the Style 'L' lever frame.

The first table in Green, shows all the locations of all frames supplied and installed by Westinghouse Brake and Signal Co. The second table on Yellow lists the preserved Style N lever Frames.

Westinghouse Supplied & Installed Style 'N' Power Lever Frames
Signal Box Name	Railway	type	Capacity	Point Levers	Signal Levers	Special Levers	Spare Levers	open	closed
Acton Town	London Transport	N	119	27	67	0	19	24th January 1932	11th June 1965
Aldgate	London Transport	N	59	14	39	0		19th May 1946	24th Janury1988
Debden	London Transport	N2M	59				24	1949	29/07/1996.
Ealing Broadway	London Transport	N	55					1952	1974
East Finchley	London Transport	N	35					1935
Epping (note 1)	London Transport	N2M	47	15	29	0	3	14th August 1949	29th July 1996
Finchely Central	London Transport	N						1940
Finchley Road	London Transport	N[p/p] push/pull	59	13	24	0	16	25th July 1937	18th January 1987
Grange Hill (note 2)	London Transport	N2	32					1948	3rd November 1997
Hainault	London Transport	N	83	?	?	?	?	12th May 1948	21st April 2001
Hammersmith (note 3)	London Transport	N2M	35	8	14	1	?	24th June 1951	still in use OCT 2005
Harrow North	London Transport	N2M	35					1948
Harrow South	London Transport	N2M	35					1948
Harrow on the Hill	London Transport	N	95					1948	still in use
High Barnet	London Transport	N	35					1948
Leyton	London Transport	N	23					1947
Leystonstone	London Transport	N	59					1947	14th April 1997.
Loughton (note 4)	London Transport	N	59					1948	26th August 1997
Neasdon North	London Transport	N	47					1939
Newbury Park	London Transport	N	59	22	24	8	0	10th December 1947	26th September 1994
North Acton	London Transport	N2M	11	2	8	?	?	24th June 1947	2002
Park Junction	London Transport	N	83					1939	25th March 1984
Rayners Lane	London Transport	N	35					1935	1985
Rickmansworth	London Transport	N	47					6th December 1953	still in use 2003
Ruislip Gardens	London Transport	N	22					1948	18th January 1993
Stanmore	London Transport	N	47					1938
Uxbridge	London Transport	N	59					1938	4th May 1987
West Kensington	London Transport	N2M	35					1948
West Ruislip	London Transport	N	orig 59 inst 44	14 11	30 15	?	14 15	21st November 1948	18th January 1993
Whitechapel	London Transport	N	47					1951
White City	London Transport	N	47		14	2	?	1948
Willesden Green	London Transport	N	47					1951
Woodford	London Transport	N	59					1947	26th August 1997.
Note 1 - Epping at commissioning had 11 point levers and 23 signals, prior to commissioning it had been planned to have had a facing point lock (lever 41) but this was never commissioned. Epping also retained block bells until closure of North Weald and Ongar cabins. Note 2 - Grange Hill frame was (is as it still exists) an N2 even though it was originally (for a few short months) worked prior to Hainult being commissioned. Note 3. - Hammersmith is still open in 2017 Note 4. - Loughton Cabin is still complete and belongs to the LT museum.

Surviving / Preserved Westinghouse Style 'N' Power Lever Frames
Signal Box Name	Railway	Parts From	Capacity	Point Levers	Signal Levers	Special Levers	Spare Levers	Date in use &/or further information
Maryloo Signal Box	Bekenscot Model Village	Ruislip	22
Hampton Court Junction	Malden DSME	Crewe South	12					L Frame
		Gloucester Road Junction	12					L Frame
		North kent East	35	14	17	2	2	L Frame
		White City	35	4	8	-	-	N Frame

Additional information below, and the best source of information on LT signalboxes can be found at www.anorakheaven.com please note that currently I do not intend to duplicate that LT information here.

White City signal cabin
Used an "N" style Westinghouse lever frame. This cabin was one of the fastest on the combine. Oh and incidentally I was a signalman at White City for a spell of time previously having been a Relief Signalman on the Central Line and having been qualified for all the cabins except Bethnal Green and Leyton. Hope this is of some help. Henry Davison. www.anorakheaven.com

Just a few notes regarding the LUL style N frames:
The indications for signals are red only, this goes out when the signal clears. If the signal has more than one route there will be a separate lever for each route and a separate red indication for each lever but all will go out when the signal clears. In most cases a more complete signal indication is presented on the diagram including any junction indicators.

Points show the normal and reverse indications and if the extrusion plate for the point has a red label then the points are fitted with point heaters.

There are no block bells in any LUL box the previous exceptions were Harrow on the Hill and Amersham because they worked absolute block to a BR box (Neasden South in the case of Harrow and Great Missenden, Wendover or Aylesbury in the case of Amersham) but these ceased to have block working with the coming of Marylebone IECC.

The train describer receivers were part of the diagram (rather than mounted on the shelf) usually mounted in wings on each end but some times in the main diagram as in the case of the White City photo on the site.

All the LUL N frames had a slightly different lever (as you probably already know) from the L frame in that in front of the catch handle is a protrusion where a small metal plate is fitted with the lever number on. The N frames also had device called "Ball Catch Break" which will cause the lever to disconnect itself from the lever locks and band shaft if the lever is forced against the locking. I have absolutely no idea what this looks like and would love to see it 'cause it seems like a good idea to me.

All LUL frames were larger than the total number of levers by about 2 or 3 feet to accommodate a desk for booking as most (if not all) LUL boxes record train passing times and all LUL boxes have metal cases to the frames because Mr Dell said so (fire precautions).

All LUL diagrams except those in the control rooms show track circuits clear as lit, the opersite of most mainline boxes although both Neasden South (ex GCR) and Earlswood (ex LBSCR) were the same as LUL when I first saw them (in fact Neasden South was until it closed).

I have to say I visited a number of LUL boxes most of them on the spare of the moment and therefore have no pictures, I especially regret not having any pictures of White City as I visited there one Christmas Eve and had a play. I also visited Hammersmith (Met) but never photographed that. Two which I serverely regret are West Ruislip and Finchley Road because these had large N frames with route setting.

I also visited Baker Street (Bakerloo) hidden in a tunnel just off the public area, this frame was a K with just 9 levers but the poor guy working it had to call the station Supervisor to relieve him if he needed the toilet! But my favourite LUL box is Edgware Road which is both the only K frame still in full time regular use now and also one of the few interesting LUL boxes service wise.

I'm sure you know most of the above but I thought as my head was running I'd write it all down as it came. Somewhere I have a picture of West Kensington East IMR which had an N2 frame and if I find it I shall pass it on to you. With thanks to Graham Floyd