Inside Edgware Road Signal Cabin 1926 - 2019

This video looks at the oldest signal cabin on the London Underground at Edgware Road and how it, colour light signalling and the train stop system associated to it work in it's final week of operation.
Taken with permission.

[@DistrictDriver]

Excellent video! I spent a good hour in that cabin while I was driving on the District. Very busy and gave me a new appreciation of the signallers and more patience while being held outside at a red signal!

[@AlexMetroman]

Thank you! It's always interesting to see how things work from 'the other side'.

[@derrickgreen9020]

My goodness, how skilful....what a responsibility...I could never learn how to master that but just fascinating. Many thanks for posting. Subscribed for more!

[@AlexMetroman]

Thank you! I'm always mesmerized by how fast they are on the frame too.

[@graemehannam3950]

Wow, a signallers time there must have been a rather busy one, excellent capture of a time gone by, it's great news that the box has been preserved

[@Threelinkdave]

Great video. Just one minor point re track circuits. To be fail safe the track circuit is fed from one end and the other end has a relay. When unocupied the relay is energised. The train wheels will short out the feed to the relay andd it will drop out and contacts close to show ocupied. Itt is fail safe in that if the relay or power supply were to fail the track circuit will show ocupied and hold the previous signal at red

[@ConfuzedMind]

I work for NYC transit. It's not that much different in our older towers. Most of them have become Automatic, or have become combined with smaller towers to become Master towers using push button or computerized switch controls. Still a cool video. On a personal note, I am not a fan of CBTC as our system is just as old as the LU. Andy Byford is our Transit president.

[@pumpkinhead4449]

And seems to me that CBTC would handle a crisis scenario worse, computers aren't as flexible or creative as human operators are. I've worked on some old TA cars in museums, never gotten much of a good look at the signalling system.

[@vinesauceobscurities]

It's great that the site was already marked for preservation even before operation ceased. Would be interesting to see what they would be retaining.

[@JerryLaw]

Very interesting, wouldn’t be nice if they put this in a museum and some how rig it up to a computer to simulate all the train traffic so everyday joe can see what it’s like to operate the signals box

[@liketobi178]

Really impressive!

[@mrmister0484]

wow very interesting. I once got invited into a signal box. How did you get in that one?

[@Youberc]

That was a fascinating insight, thank you.

[@piercelidseveraltime]

Thanks for sharing ! really good video !

[@AlexMetroman]

Thank you!

[@christopherbutler7588]

Great video thanks 😊

[@AlexMetroman]

You’re welcome 😊

[@blakemcnamara9105]

It looks like it has received some updates. Here in New York, our interlocking towers still have all of the original equipment.

[@electricitymachine6401]

Very cool! It seems that some of the signals don't change until the track before it is occupied, even if the operator pulls the lever. Same with the signals returning back to Danger, it seems automatic.

[@AlexMetroman]

It's not automatic. The signals are activated by track circuits as a fail safe. When the train passes into the next track circuit, the signal will automatically return to danger (red) and will not clear (go green) again until the lever in the cabin corresponding to that signal has been set back to on and pulled off again. Some signals appear to clear automatically, but these are approach control signals which are used to regulate the train's speed. The signal operator pulls the corresponding lever and the signal shall clear only when the train is approaching and going at or under a certain speed limit. The signal shall not clear if the corresponding lever hasn't been pulled.

[@SpoonyMcSpoonface]

A new use for ferrules as lever collars 😃.

[@breeze1472]

My god,I bet that signalling job is stressful

[@reglementme6321]

Once you get experience, it becomes less stressfully. After 25 years it still is ‘fun’ to me.

[@ChangesOneTim]

Brilliant informative film. Good that the cabin will be preserved; technology exists today to connect frames to simulators which mimic the interlocking and the indications! Did the SOs there work a full 8hr shift?

[@AlexMetroman]

Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it. Yes, the Service Operators do a fully eight hour shift consisting of seven hours and thirty minutes of work and a thirty minute unpaid meal break.

[@ChangesOneTim]

@@AlexMetroman Wow that's quite a repetitive workload every few seconds. I take my hat off to them. At the former BR Euston Power Box I recall the signalmen there swapped between the station and Camden positions every 2 hours to ease fatigue. Prior to the 1990s each arrival except EMUs needed a loco release/attach move, so it really was non-stop button-pushing. I take it a mealbreak relief used to attend for the 30 mins?

[@AlexMetroman]

That's correct. Due to the workload, on paper the cabin was double staffed between 0700 and 2300 with a 7.5 hour meal relief turn on Monday to Friday. On weekends there was no meal relief turn as it was deemed due to less workload (workload as perceived incidents), it was deemed that one person could cover the frame for 30 minutes.

[@TheDaf95xf]

Absolutely fantastic and thanks for sharing this very interesting video of the inside of Edgware signal box 😄 Does the signalman get a rest and a brew as it looks very busy lol 😆 I’ve been in quite a few BR boxes but never an underground one. Thanks again Stevie 😎

[@AlexMetroman]

Thank you Stevie, the Service Operators do get a few minutes rest so long as they set up the next few routes and signals first!

[@paulspeight8398]

I was an LT Railway operating apprentice (box boy) in the early 1960s on the eastern end of the Central line 🤔Does the signalman get a rest question?🤫Well from my experience and memory yes! I used to work the frame more than the regular rostered signalman on duty which was a 3 shift cabin ie: Nights, Early & Afternoon, We only worked early and afternoon shifts. Back then there was no automatic train destination shown on the track diagram and the signalman only manually operated the trains destination to the passengers on the platform and you relied on the signal cabin before yours to 📞if a train destination was out of order? Prior to the introduction of the 1959/62 stock a lot of signal cabins which had sight of the platform starting signal had one window pane painted gloss black so refected the trains destination marker lights, The night signalman never had an offical break period as after passenger traffic ceased it was usually quite unless a engineers or sleet train was working, Back in them days we used to be a weekly? BR coal train out of leyton as near all the original GNER stations still had a private owned coal yard but once shunted off LT tracks they were left to do their own shunting.🤔The 1st passenger / staff train used to be a BR DMU from Leyton and that also carried the daily news papers to each station as back in them days LT had a news paper station vendors. Leyton station used to have mercury tubes above the junction to the BR branch to prevent accidently sending a BR train the quickway to Stratford via the tube tunnel🤭 The early & afternoon shift signal would receive a break by either a qualified station foreman or porter signalman, Then if you had a visit from a divisional inspector (DI) They also wanted to play at being a signalman 🙄assisted by the box boy whos proper job was to just to do the time arrived at and left on time sheet and keep🤐 Happy days back then😄If happed now days we would have all been up in front of a board of enquiry leaving holding a P45☹

[@LKpower1991]

This is cool! I just wonder what the branch-track at the top is to/from?

[@AlexMetroman]

Thank you. The track at the top of the diagram is just a siding, there used to be two before the S7s entered service.

[@sylviaelse5086]

Presumably it's all interlocked so that he cannot endanger a train by making a mistake, but I'd have thought there was still a significant risk of misrouting a train.

[@AlexMetroman]

It's all interlocked and if a release is to be taken then it takes two minutes before you can full release it to make sure you know what you're doing. There is the risk of wrong routing a train, but the train operators know where they are going and should stop to question it if so.

[@jbc5877]

If you want to see something interesting in addition to your tour of Edgware Road Box, take a look at the Malden and District Society of Model Engineers. The society has collected pieces from many of the old signal boxes. So much so, our entire system is run by a 96 lever frame. Take a look at the link I've provided, think you might enjoy seeing how the society has preserved and restored the Westinghouse Lever systems. malden-dsme.co.uk/public/hcj.html hope you enjoy and possibly come out during our running season.

[@AlexMetroman]

This was a very interesting read, thank you for sharing!

[@bobblue_west]

Do you happen to know if the complex "triangle" at Earl's Court is manual or computerized? I mean the Circle & Wimbledon trains upto Edgw. Rd. interspersed with District line trains to Upminster.

[@AlexMetroman]

I think this junction is controlled by Earl's Court Control Room via an Interlocking Machine Room.

[@albertomadeirajr7824]

What is the operator logging on the clipboard?

[@AlexMetroman]

They are logging each train and the real time it left against the timetabled departure.

[@jamesbunch8932]

Would an operator only work at one station, or would they be expected to rotate to other stations as necessary?

[@AlexMetroman]

It depends. This operator worked Hammersmith and Edgware Road. Now both cabins are closed, they work at Harrow.

[@charlespitt30]

when there were more cabins on the H&C the relief Signalman would be qualified to Operate all of them. As I was on the Central line.

[@oleglesnoy9171]

Something seems to me that it looks somehow primitive ... I live in Ukraine, and have seen many different signal cabs, and control panels for traffic lights and switches of large and small stations. And so it seems to me, then we have control in something more advanced, and simpler both to use and to study

[@apeami8953]

why isn't it all done by computer?

[@AlexMetroman]

It is now, the signal cabin has closed and the signalling system is controlled by Communications Based Train Control and Automatic Train Operation.