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Bopeep Junction

PHOTO GALLERY: SOUTH EASTERN & CHATHAM JOINT COMMITTEE

Bopeep Junction

OPENED: c1912      CLOSED: —-

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Bopeep Junction replaced an earlier box here around 1912.

Bopeep Junction SB
Phil Deans, 10/6/06

The South Eastern & Chatham Joint Committee continued to build some boxes to the South Eastern Railway’s 1867 design, but this one has been provided with a brick base and gabled ends which give it a quite different look. The quaint sash window feature was retained.

Bopeep Junction SB
N L Cadge, 4/7/76

The sash windows can be seen well in this earlier view – most of them are fully open, so it must have been an exceptionally warm day!

Bopeep Junction is an important location where the main line from London to Hastings joins the South Coast line from Brighton just outside Hastings. A BR 2-HAP electric multiple unit has  just passed the box heading for Hastings along the South Coast route.

The curious name of the box comes from a nearby inn on an ancient sheep-trading route, although some sources suggest the name was a derogatory reference to Customs & Excise men. The junction pre-dated the 1887 station of West St Leonards (on which both photographers were standing) but it is surprising the signal box name wasn’t altered to match the station name.

Bopeep Junction SB
N L Cadge, 7/4/84

When opened, the signal box was provided with a 22-lever frame, but this was replaced in 1973 with the 23-lever Westinghouse Brake & Signal Co frame seen here. A small switch panel was added in 1997 when St Leonards West Marina box closed.

At the time of writing (2020), Bopeep Junction signal box remains operational.