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Track Layouts

Track Layout Diagrams

Operationally, there were no two signal boxes that were the same. Even those with identical track layouts had different lever numbering or signals in different locations. There lies the obsessive fascination for me (and a lot of other people, it seems) with track layout diagrams of signal boxes.

This part of the web site contains a wide selection of diagrams. Most are drawings from my own collection, but a few have been contributed by others.

You can view a full list of diagrams (in alphabetical order) or arranged by pre-grouping railway company (irrespective of date).

My own diagrams follow a convention of colour-coding – the layout for the date concerned is basically drawn in black, but:
RED indicates new additions to the layout or signals,
GREEN indicates removed layout or signals (also occasionally shown as dotted black), and
BLUE indicates features not present on the original notes but added from data sourced elsewhere. It might not be consistent date-wise or even 100% accurate!

The drawings mostly follow BS376 diagram standards but I have adopted a few regional variations for clarity. Signals controlled by other signal boxes are coloured black (this was a BR Eastern Region idea) but for clarity I sometimes show signals worked from ground frames or other non-block posts hatched. Listed spare levers with rings around them are actually spaces (i.e numbered gaps in the lever frame).

The medium of layout diagrams is not well-suited to display on web pages, and in order to avoid loss of detail some of the images are quite large. Please allow them time to load. The quality varies – not all are sufficiently detailed to allow all of the details to be read.

Full lists of all available diagrams

Sorted by railway company –  Sorted alphabetically

Latest additions

Of the 1356 layout diagrams available here, the most recent 20 additions are listed below