COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Reproduction of any material from this website (text or photographic) is strictly forbidden without the prior permission of the copyright owner.
If you would like to use any of the material on this website, please contact me via the Feedback page, and I will put you in contact with the appropriate copyright owner.
Every effort is made to ensure that photographs on this website are produced with the consent of the copyright owner. If you believe any image on this website to be in breach of copyright, please contact me immediately so that it can be removed.
Blackrod Junction
Blackrod Junction Signal Box was built in 1879 for the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Company by the Gloucester Wagon Co. Some sources quote 1881 for this, but the GWC
had fallen out of favour with the LYR by then, so the earlier date seems the more
likely.
The box was built to the Gloucester Wagon Company Limited’s Standard design but was fitted with the current 37 lever Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway Tappet frame in 1890. By the late 70s, around half of those levers were still in operation, but now just six are used; 3 for the colour light signals either side of the station and 3 for the crossover.
[left] Viewed from the branch, Blackrod Junction Signalbox in the 1990s, shortly
before the line was lifted. The Manchester -
(Harry Gardner)
It may seem odd that such an antique would still have a place in today's railway, but it is thanks to the incompatibilities between Preston and Manchester Piccadilly power boxes, that it survives into the 21st century. The section of track controlled by Blackrod Junction changed over the years as adjacent boxes were closed (see below for details of these). In 1990, Blackrod Junction (it is still named that despite the absence of a junction) became the "Fringe" box linking the computerised systems to the north and south. It still controls the crossover (visible in the photo at the top of this page and on the diagram above), which is used to reverse football specials which run to Horwich Parkway for matches at the Reebok Stadium.
In 1989, a plan to use some of the Horwich Works site for landfill was considered.
This would have involved the reopening of the junction at Blackrod and at least one
track up the Branch to carry waste trains and empties from the site. In some ways,
it seems a shame that the plan never came to fruition -
[right] The illuminated diagram in the Blackrod box as it was on 23rd April 1988 and 14th Sept 1999 (inset) after the closure of the branch.
(David Ingham)
The signal box in 1979 viewed across the main line at the point where the branch
diverges. Rodding on the right of the picture will have been to control the semaphore
signal and crossover on the branch, by this time downgraded to "siding"status.
(Jon Fitness)
Blackrod Junction Photo Gallery (click images to enlarge)
Blackrod Signal Box, 20th Oct 1985. (David Ingham)
20-
2J54 approaches the Blackrod Junction on 11-
Thanks to Haydn Tomlinson for the original information on this page, and to David
Ingham for the detailed signalling history and photographs used here.
Gavin Thrum from Adelaide, South Australia sent this photograph. He used this website
as reference material to scratchbuild a model of the Blackrod signalbox. The model
was built to enter a competition in 2007, and won the lineside structures "STANIER
TROPHY" award for best model. -
[click the image to enlarge]
A class 47-
The box 23rd April 1988
(David Ingham)
14-
14-
A class 47 loco on the 6P82 working as seen from the box from the Bolton direction. The branch sweeps away to the left, with the semaphore signal which controlled the exit onto the main line. 11th Nov 1985.
(David Ingham)
The box in the early 1990s
(Harry Gardner)
(Robert Gregson)
(Robert Gregson)
