North Pole Junction, West London, England. 1982.
North Pole Junction box stood at the top of the gradient from Kensington at Wormwood Scrubs on the West London Line, a former LNWR & GWR Joint line. It controlled the junction where a curve left the West London line to join the Great Western mainline out of Paddington at Old Oak East Junction. Signal boxes along the line were all of London North Western origin save for Viaduct Junction which was a GWR box but that closed in 1975.
The West London Line (West London Junction, Willesden to Kensington Addison Road) opened in 1844 but this box was built in 1922 as an LNWR type 5 box with a 30 lever frame. It closed on the 04.10.1992 when the route was being modernised for use as the main cross London artery instead of a freight backwater. The curve onto the Western mainline however closed on 29.10.1990 as it was in the way of the new Eurostar Depot which took the name of the former junction. A single track did remain on the former alignment that being the departure line from the depot for ECS Eurostar workings to London Waterloo before the entire Eurostar depot operation was moved to Temple Mills in East London.
North Pole Junction, West London, England. 1982.
North Pole Junction box stood at the top of the gradient from Kensington at Wormwood Scrubs on the West London Line, a former LNWR & GWR Joint line. It controlled the junction where a curve left the West London line to join the Great Western mainline out of Paddington at Old Oak East Junction. Signal boxes along the line were all of London North Western origin save for Viaduct Junction which was a GWR box but that closed in 1975.
The West London Line (West London Junction, Willesden to Kensington Addison Road) opened in 1844 but this box was built in 1922 as an LNWR type 5 box with a 30 lever frame. It closed on the 04.10.1992 when the route was being modernised for use as the main cross London artery instead of a freight backwater. The curve onto the Western mainline however closed on 29.10.1990 as it was in the way of the new Eurostar Depot which took the name of the former junction. A single track did remain on the former alignment that being the departure line from the depot for ECS Eurostar workings to London Waterloo before the entire Eurostar depot operation was moved to Temple Mills in East London.