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147:'Up' into those platforms i.e. towards South Junction. Platform 3 was 'bi-directional' so a train could be sent to or from South Junction, meaning there are two block instruments for this platform in both North and South junctions. Platform 2 was 'Down only' and trains could only be sent from South to North. South Junction closed on 2 June 1985, just over a month before Crewe North Junction closed. Signalling was handed over to Crewe Signalling Centre (a power signal box) which still exists to this day.
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or visually from the box. 'Out of
Section' would be given when South Junction had seen the train leave the platform complete with tail lamp, thus ensuring no part of the train had become uncoupled and left in the platform. Platforms 4, 5 and 6 were 'Up platforms' which meant trains could only be sent
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1168 yards away on the
Manchester Lines (Up and Down Manchester) was Sydney Bridge signal box. As on the WCML, Track Circuit Block was operated on these lines. The train describer for these lines can be seen to the right. On 5 June 1959, Sydney Bridge was closed and replaced by Sandbach Power Signal
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Crewe North
Junction signal box contained a lever frame of the Westinghouse Style 'L' design (Westinghouse is now part of Invensys Rail) which was commissioned with Crewe South Junction signal box, which was of the same design. Crewe North Junction signal box was built to a non-standard ARP design,
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Box (PSB) (4 miles 869 yards away). Crewe North
Junction was unaffected by this change with the only difference being where the train describers were connected to. Sandbach box closed in March 2006, when the Manchester line was resignalled and control handed over to the new Manchester South SCC.
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The signalling at Crewe is now controlled by a power signal box a short distance to the north west of the
Station. This controls all lines at Crewe North Junction and Crewe South Junction and entry into the station. This signalling centre was only intended as a 'temporary measure' from 1985 for
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Coal Yard signal box is located 986 yards to the north of North
Junction on the West Coast Main Line, with two lines to Coal Yard, Down Fast and Down Slow and two lines from Coal Yard, Up Fast and Up Slow. Operation on this line is
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with a
Westinghouse All Electric Style 'L' lever frame which was commissioned, along with Crewe South Junction signal box (which also had a Westinghouse Style 'L' frame), on 29 March 1940 as part of a resignalling project at
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working on platform 1 and Down
Through 1, with a bell and direction selector for each in North Junction. As with South Junction, Station 'A' closed on 2 June 1985. Crewe Station 'A' was then preserved and moved to
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Originally there were eight adjacent signal boxes, until
November 1958 when Crewe No.3 box and 2 June 1960 when Crewe Station 'B' box was closed. Control of the lines was handed over to Crewe South Junction.
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in North
Junction and Coal Yard into which the headcode of the train to be sent is entered. This is then received on the next box's describer. Coal Yard box remains open to this day.
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where it can now be seen. It will shortly (Winter 2010) be re-connected to Crewe North Junction box so demonstrations can be provided with two boxes simultaneously.
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The signal box was staffed by four people: two signalmen, a signal box-lad and a regulator. In the later days it was just the signalmen and the box-lad.
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for each platform to communicate with South Junction. 'Train on line' would be given to South Junction as the train entered the platform as seen from
38:. It saw continued use until 19 July 1985 when it was decommissioned for a redesign of Crewe station and its track layout and signalling.
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with 15" thick reinforced concrete walls and an 18" thick concrete roof. This was due to it being commissioned in 1940 during
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Crewe South Junction was a signal box of the same design as North Junction and was commissioned as part of the same project.
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where there are now demonstrations and simulations of the signalling in the North Junction box by a team of signallers.
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This box controlled platform 1 (a Down platform), Down Through 1 and Horse Landing Siding. Crewe Station 'A' operated
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The track layout of Crewe North Junction can be seen below. These images are from the Chester side diagram of the box.
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and all the platforms on the north side of the station. The signal box, still at its original site, is located in
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Salop Goods box is located 760 yards away at Salop Goods Junction on the Up and Down Chester Independent Lines.
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Crewe North Junction box is still located where it was built in 1939 but it now within the boundary of
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is operated with a block instrument in each box. Steelworks is still operating on the Chester Lines.
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Steelworks is located 1 mile and 421 yards away on the Chester Lines (Up and Down Chester).
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Crewe North Junction signal box is located on the junction to the North of
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working was operated between Crewe North and South Junctions, with a
285:"Crewe North Junction Signal Box - Crewe Heritage Centre"
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Crewe North Junction Signal Box - Crewe Heritage Centre
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Operations Manual for Signallers Crewe North Junction
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from Crewe South was preserved and is in use at the
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314:Notice of closure of Sandbach & Wilmslow PSBs
22:Down Main Lines and Chester side of the frame
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83:so it was built to survive an air raid.
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323:www.signalbox.org; Retrieved 2011-10-14
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225:block was operated on these lines.
394:Signal boxes in the United Kingdom
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347:Westinghouse Style L Lever Frame
27:Crewe North Junction signal box
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196:Sydney Bridge / Sandbach PSB
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399:Rail transport in Cheshire
319:27 September 2011 at the
271:"Crewe North signal box"
248:Signalling at Crewe now
188:block. This required a
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156:Great Cockcrow Railway
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235:Crewe Heritage Centre
173:Crewe Heritage Centre
68:Crewe Heritage Centre
48:Crewe railway station
36:Crewe railway station
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342:Crewe North Junction
130:Crewe South Junction
56:West Coast Main Line
404:Museums in Cheshire
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370:53.0926°N 2.4349°W
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152:lever frame
388:Categories
358:53°05′33″N
205:Steelworks
140:block bell
60:Manchester
31:signal box
361:2°26′06″W
179:Coal Yard
106:Operation
317:Archived
113:Staffing
64:Sandbach
42:Location
290:18 June
52:Chester
74:Design
257:Notes
292:2019
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