QUICK LINKS

Clapham Junction ‘A’

PHOTO GALLERY: LONDON & SOUTH WESTERN RAILWAY

Clapham Junction ‘A’

OPENED: 1912      CLOSED: 1990

Click or tap the images for enlarged views

The London & South Western Railway continued with its enthusiasm for Low Pressure Pneumatic signalling, first used in 1901, at key locations. At Clapham Junction ‘A’ a new signal box opened in 1912 (then named Clapham Junction East), mounted on a 120-foot steel gantry across nine tracks.

Clapham Junction ‘A’ SB
N L Cadge, 19/11/77

But it lacked the grandeur of the standard London & South Western Railway signal boxes of the era (see Salisbury East), and comprised a basic central wooden structure with various sheds built onto it.

The renaming to Clapham Junction ‘A’ occurred in 1924 when all signal boxes in the area, including those on the former London, Brighton & South Coast Railway lines, were renamed into one alphabetically identified series by the newly-formed Southern Railway.

The framing around the buildings on the gantry was provided in order to roof over the building during the second world war for air raid protection.

Clapham Junction ‘A’ SB
Dr J W F Scrimgeour collection, 1936

This photograph was taken whilst the original British Pneumatic Signal Company frames totalling 108 slides (right and far left) was being replaced by a Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company type “L” miniature lever frame of 103 levers in 1936.

Clapham Junction ‘A’ SB
N L Cadge, 19/11/77

Here is the miniature lever frame again, in 1977. Behind the levers are indications for the signals and points and above those are (mostly) Southern Railway train describers, with one newer one in the centre. Behind are a matching pair of signal box diagrams for easy viewing by all signalmen on duty.

Clapham Junction ‘A’ SB
N L Cadge, 19/11/77

The complete track layout can be seen more clearly on a third diagram here. Sandwiched between the train describers is a telephone concentrator unit with a row of brass plungers below that operate emergency signalling bells.

Clapham Junction ‘A’ SB
N L Cadge, 19/11/77

Track Circuit Block applied on the main running lines, but two Southern Railway three-wire, three-position block instruments stood on a separate shelf at one end of the box, controlling the Absolute Block sections to Longhedge Junction (left) and Latchmere Junction.

The signal box hit the headlines in May 1965 when the steel gantry supporting it partially collapsed early on a Monday morning, bringing train services to a halt. The cause was corrosion to the steelwork at one end of the gantry.

The gantry was jacked up, and restricted operations were, remarkably, resumed the following morning. Full repairs included the removal of the wartime steel roof. The lever frame was undamaged, and the signal box continued in use until abolition on 27th May 1990.