Crewe North Junction signal box

Crewe North Junction signal box is signal box with a Westinghouse All Electric Style 'L' lever frame which was commissioned, along with Crewe South Junction signal box (which also had a Westinghouse Style 'L' frame), on 29 March 1940 as part of a resignalling project at Crewe railway station. It saw continued use until 19 July 1985 when it was decommissioned for a redesign of Crewe station and its track layout and signalling.

1. Location

Crewe North Junction signal box is located on the junction to the North of Crewe railway station between the Chester Lines and the West Coast Main Line. The signal box can also see the lines to and from Manchester and Sandbach and all the platforms on the north side of the station. The signal box, still at its original site, is located in Crewe Heritage Centre where there are now demonstrations and simulations of the signalling in the North Junction box by a team of signallers.

1. Design

Crewe North Junction signal box contained a lever frame of the Westinghouse Style 'L' design (Westinghouse is now part of Invensys Rail) which was commissioned with Crewe South Junction signal box, which was of the same design. Crewe North Junction signal box was built to a non-standard ARP design, with 15" thick reinforced concrete walls and an 18" thick concrete roof. This was due to it being commissioned in 1940 during World War II so it was built to survive an air raid.

1. Track layout

The track layout of Crewe North Junction can be seen below. These images are from the Chester side diagram of the box.

1. Operation


1. = Staffing =

The signal box was staffed by four people: two signalmen, a signal box-lad and a regulator. In the later days it was just the signalmen and the box-lad.

1. = Adjacent boxes =

Originally there were eight adjacent signal boxes, until November 1958 when Crewe No.3 box and 2 June 1960 when Crewe Station 'B' box was closed. Control of the lines was handed over to Crewe South Junction.

1. == Crewe South Junction ==

Crewe South Junction was a signal box of the same design as North Junction and was commissioned as part of the same project. Absolute block working was operated between Crewe North and South Junctions, with a block bell for each platform to communicate with South Junction. 'Train on line' would be given to South Junction as the train entered the platform as seen from track circuits or visually from the box. 'Out of Section' would be given when South Junction had seen the train leave the platform complete with tail lamp, thus ensuring no part of the train had become uncoupled and left in the platform. Platforms 4, 5 and 6 were 'Up platforms' which meant trains could only be sent 'Up' into those platforms i.e. towards South Junction. Platform 3 was 'bi-directional' so a train could be sent to or from South Junction, meaning there are two block instruments for this platform in both North and South junctions. Platform 2 was 'Down only' and trains could only be sent from South to North. South Junction closed on 2 June 1985, just over a month before Crewe North Junction closed. Signalling was handed over to Crewe Signalling Centre (a power signal box) which still exists to this day. The lever frame from Crewe South was preserved and is in use at the Great Cockcrow Railway.

1. == Crewe Station 'A' ==

This box controlled platform 1 (a Down platform), Down Through 1 and Horse Landing Siding. Crewe Station 'A' operated absolute block working on platform 1 and Down Through 1, with a bell and direction selector for each in North Junction. As with South Junction, Station 'A' closed on 2 June 1985. Crewe Station 'A' was then preserved and moved to Crewe Heritage Centre where it can now be seen. It will shortly (Winter 2010) be re-connected to Crewe North Junction box so demonstrations can be provided with two boxes simultaneously.

1. == Coal Yard ==

Coal Yard signal box is located 986 yards to the north of North Junction on the West Coast Main Line, with two lines to Coal Yard, Down Fast and Down Slow and two lines from Coal Yard, Up Fast and Up Slow. Operation on this line is track circuit block. This required a train describer in North Junction and Coal Yard into which the headcode of the train to be sent is entered. This is then received on the next box's describer. Coal Yard box remains open to this day.

1. == Sydney Bridge / Sandbach PSB ==

1168 yards away on the Manchester Lines (Up and Down Manchester) was Sydney Bridge signal box. As on the WCML, Track Circuit Block was operated on these lines. The train describer for these lines can be seen to the right. On 5 June 1959, Sydney Bridge was closed and replaced by Sandbach Power Signal Box (PSB) (4 miles 869 yards away). Crewe North Junction was unaffected by this change with the only difference being where the train describers were connected to. Sandbach box closed in March 2006, when the Manchester line was resignalled and control handed over to the new Manchester South SCC.

1. == Steelworks ==

Steelworks is located 1 mile and 421 yards away on the Chester Lines (Up and Down Chester). Absolute block is operated with a block instrument in each box. Steelworks is still operating on the Chester Lines.

1. == Salop Goods ==

Salop Goods box is located 760 yards away at Salop Goods Junction on the Up and Down Chester Independent Lines. Track circuit block was operated on these lines.

1. The signal box now

Crewe North Junction box is still located where it was built in 1939 but it now within the boundary of Crewe Heritage Centre. The box is now used for signalling demonstrations by a signalling team at Crewe Heritage Centre. It is in the same condition as it was when it closed apart from the number of relays have been reduced and the battery backup room removed as these facilities were no longer needed after it was taken from operation.

1. Signalling at Crewe now

The signalling at Crewe is now controlled by a power signal box a short distance to the north west of the Station. This controls all lines at Crewe North Junction and Crewe South Junction and entry into the station. This signalling centre was only intended as a 'temporary measure' from 1985 for around three years. It still controls Crewe today.

1. Notes


1. External links

Crewe North Junction Signal Box - Crewe Heritage Centre Crewe North Junction Westinghouse Style L Lever Frame

Nearby Places View Menu

Crewe Works Railway

The Crewe Works Railway was a minimum-gauge internal tramway system serving Crewe Works, the main locomotive construction works of the London and North Western Railway (LNWR) and later the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS). The system was first introduced by John Ramsbottom the LNWR Locomotive Superintendent from 1857 and it was a pioneering use of locomotive propelled vehicles within a manufacturing plant. The Crewe system was soon adopted elsewhere. There were four sections to this system built at different times and each in turn significantly altered several times before final abandonment. The four sections were: The Original LNWR (Old) Works (authorised 17 October 1861) The LNWR Steel Works (authorised 20 October 1864) The LNWR Deviation Works (built in the late 1860s) The Spider Bridge extension to Crewe railway station (built in 1878). Of the above, the first section dating from 1862 was within the original locomotive works first built in 1843 and expanded many times as the railway system grew. Prior to the introduction of the tramway, most internal transport was by hand-cart and barrow. The original lines totalled 550 yards (500 m) and a further 300 yards (270 m) were added later. The "Old Works" section ceased operation around 1929. The second, the steel works section, and largest of all, was always self-contained. From its authorisation on 20 October 1864, it lasted under locomotive haulage until the closure of steel production in 1932, but also in one short (and occasionally used hand-propelled) section in the iron foundry until about 1960. The third, the deviation works section (latterly devoted entirely to the joinery department), was an extensive system built on at least three levels and was an entirely separate, hand-propelled tramway, which survived in spasmodic use until about 1980. Several relics, including examples of trackwork and three wagons, survive from this installation. The fourth and final extension of the works tramway was of the "Old Works" system through to Crewe station, built in 1878 with the construction of the famous "Spider Bridge". This was essentially a typical railway footbridge providing pedestrian access from the works to the station and built on stilts and suspension cables for several hundred yards across the entire Crewe North junction. The bridge carried the 18-inch, single-line tramway down its centre. The spider bridge terminated at the station in a "T" junction with a footbridge spanning all passenger platforms at the north end of the station. The bridge from the works survived as a footbridge until 1939, but was apparently little used by locomotives after 1920. Goods for transfer between the works and the station had to be transferred between the tramway and the station platform via the footbridge steps. This was an unusual and serious limitation of its usefulness. Following the abandonment of the locomotive-hauled tramway, most internal works transport at Crewe has been provided by rubber-tyred, diesel/petrol-powered tractors and trailers.

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Crewe Arms Hotel

The Crewe Arms Hotel is a leisure facility in Nantwich Road, Crewe, Cheshire, next to Crewe railway station. It was for nearly 70 years the meeting place of Cheshire County Council.

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Crewe Heritage Centre

Crewe Heritage Centre is a railway museum located in Crewe, England. Managed by the Crewe Heritage Trust, the museum is located between the railway station and the town centre; the site was the location of the 'Old Works' which was demolished in the early 1980s.

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Crewe Stadium

Crewe Stadium, also known by several other names including, Earle Street, LMR Sports Ground and BR Sports Ground, was a stadium in Crewe, Cheshire, England. Located north of Crewe railway station, it was used for speedway and stock car racing. The track was redeveloped in 1993 and is now the site of a retail park.

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