Worst Job in History (Woodhead)

[ole man]

Finding hard to believe but there was a signal box in the woodhead tunnels,was it located in the old victorian ones or the new one which was finished in 1954,

That must of been horrible for the bobby's

 

[table38]

It was in the old up tunnel. Abandoned around 1909 due to "atrocious working conditions" !

 

[Mvann]

There is a piece about it in junes edition of British railways illustrated. It was in the Victorian tunnel.

 

[BestWestern]

Wow, that's a pretty fascinating revelation! Not a pleasant place to be I'd have thought, though doubtless quite interesting! How did the bobby did get to it?

 

[table38]

How did the bobby did get to it?

I think it was via a manhole from above.

 

[Trog]

There was also a signal box in the tunnel under St Pancras. You can still see the cut out in the tunnel wall for it just on the Farringdon side of the new St Pancras MCL station.

 

[BestWestern]

Highly unlikely, but do any photos exist of these anywhere??

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It was in the old up tunnel. Abandoned around 1909 due to "atrocious working conditions" !

Exactly what track sections did this box cover?

 

[table38]

Highly unlikely, but do any photos exist of these anywhere??

There are some pictures of the St Pancras Tunel Box here: http://www.signalbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2316
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Exactly what track sections did this box cover?

I'm not sure, I think it was just to create another section in the tunnels. The signalling was pneumatic, although how the drivers of the locos could see the signals with all the smoke and steam I'm not sure!

I was just reading an account of how the up (north) tunnel was converted for use by the CEGB, and it suggests there was up to 9 inches of soot to remove from the old tunnels (without polluting the water supplies to Manchester)

 

[silvermachine]

Finding hard to believe but there was a signal box in the woodhead tunnels,was it located in the old victorian ones or the new one which was finished in 1954,

That must of been horrible for the bobby's

The signallers were enticed by a shorter working day (6 hour shift - quite an incentive in victorian times) and by a wage supplement of I think 2and 6 a week.

But few stuck it for more than a couple of years.

 

[Tomnick]

Exactly what track sections did this box cover?

As already stated, its sole purpose would have been to break an otherwise long section. There were a fair few boxes with just a distant signal and home signal in each direction - the introduction of (track-circuited) IB sections allowed these to be closed without affecting the capacity of the line.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I would like to thank both table38 and Tomnick for kindly submitting answers to my query.

 

[Tomnick]

No problem. Sharing knowledge is what it's all about .

 

[matchmaker]

From The Signalbox

http://www.signalbox.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=2305&hilit=woodhead

HTH