Murad Qureshi calls for new signal box - 1928 equipment causing
commuter misery at Edgware Road Tube

Published: 4 June 2010 by JAMIE WELHAM IT has been described as the
“arm-pit” of the underground and is a perennial source of rage for
browbeaten Circle line commuters.

http://www.westendextra.com/news/201...y-edgware-road

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 10:19:53 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

Murad Qureshi calls for new signal box - 1928 equipment causing
commuter misery at Edgware Road Tube

Published: 4 June 2010 by JAMIE WELHAM IT has been described as the
"arm-pit" of the underground and is a perennial source of rage for
browbeaten Circle line commuters.

http://www.westendextra.com/news/201...y-edgware-road

So what? Mr Qureshi was told all about this prior to his visit because
Mike Brown (LUL MD) explained what happens at Edgware Road when he sat
in front of the GLA Transport Committee recently.

The more important issue here is not that Mr Qureshi does a "headline
grab" but that the sub surface resignalling proceeds to programme. It is
that which will deliver improvement but it will still take a number of
years to achieve. The 1928 signal box is not going to disappear for a
number of years. Its continuing existence is a classic example of "make
do and mend" investment decisions (and lack of sustained capital monies)
that have prevented large scale signalling works on the sub surface
network for decades. This is what you get when people decide that it is
OK to slash expenditure on public transport.
--
Paul C

1928 it's hardly old for the railway is it?

On 5 June, 19:24, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 10:19:53 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

Murad Qureshi calls for new signal box - 1928 equipment causing
commuter misery at Edgware Road Tube

Published: *4 June 2010 by JAMIE WELHAM IT has been described as the
arm-pit of the underground and is a perennial source of rage for
browbeaten Circle line commuters.

http://www.westendextra.com/news/201...-calls-new-sig...

So what? * Mr Qureshi was told all about this prior to his visit because
Mike Brown (LUL MD) *explained what happens at Edgware Road when he sat
in front of the GLA Transport Committee recently.

The more important issue here is not that Mr Qureshi does a "headline
grab" but that the sub surface resignalling proceeds to programme. It is
that which will deliver improvement but it will still take a number of
years to achieve. The 1928 signal box is not going to disappear for a
number of years. Its continuing existence is a classic example of "make
do and mend" investment decisions (and lack of sustained capital monies)
that have prevented large scale signalling works on the sub surface
network for decades. *This is what you get when people decide that it is
OK to slash expenditure on public transport.
--
Paul C

Or, to be more exact, cut capital expenditure in the downside of an
economic cyle to reduce costs. In fact the crux of the argument in the
recent general election, with Labour and LDs [the majority] arguing
against and Tories [the minority] arguing for.

And that which the coalition is now putting through with LD support

[Apologies to the non-English contributors for the UK-centric
interpretation]

Patrick

On Jun 5, 6:19*pm, CJB wrote:
Murad Qureshi calls for new signal box - 1928 equipment causing
commuter misery at Edgware Road Tube

Published: *4 June 2010 by JAMIE WELHAM IT has been described as the
“arm-pit” of the underground and is a perennial source of rage for
browbeaten Circle line commuters.

http://www.westendextra.com/news/201...-calls-new-sig...

The older equipment often works better than the newer kit though! The
east end of the Piccadilly is a prime example! (as for the new
signalling on the Jubilee)

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message

On Sat, 5 Jun 2010 10:19:53 -0700 (PDT), CJB
wrote:

Murad Qureshi calls for new signal box - 1928 equipment causing
commuter misery at Edgware Road Tube

Published: 4 June 2010 by JAMIE WELHAM IT has been described as the
"arm-pit" of the underground and is a perennial source of rage for
browbeaten Circle line commuters.

http://www.westendextra.com/news/201...y-edgware-road

So what? Mr Qureshi was told all about this prior to his visit
because Mike Brown (LUL MD) explained what happens at Edgware Road
when he sat in front of the GLA Transport Committee recently.

The more important issue here is not that Mr Qureshi does a "headline
grab" but that the sub surface resignalling proceeds to programme. It
is that which will deliver improvement but it will still take a
number of years to achieve. The 1928 signal box is not going to
disappear for a number of years. Its continuing existence is a
classic example of "make do and mend" investment decisions (and lack
of sustained capital monies) that have prevented large scale
signalling works on the sub surface network for decades. This is
what you get when people decide that it is OK to slash expenditure on
public transport.

Had Metronet not imploded, when was the SSL resignalling supposed to be
installed? I had thought it wasn't all that far in the future.

On 05/06/2010 18:19, CJB wrote:
Murad Qureshi calls for new signal box - 1928 equipment causing
commuter misery at Edgware Road Tube

Published: 4 June 2010 by JAMIE WELHAM IT has been described as the
“arm-pit” of the underground and is a perennial source of rage for
browbeaten Circle line commuters.

http://www.westendextra.com/news/201...y-edgware-road

"When there was only one line for the whole of London" What can that
refer to? Neither telephones nor rail lines makes much sense in this
context.

--
John Wright

Use your imagination Marvin!

Life's bad enough as it is - why invent any more of it.

On Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:58:44 +0100 someone who may be john wright
wrote this:-

"When there was only one line for the whole of London" What can that
refer to? Neither telephones nor rail lines makes much sense in this
context.

Indeed.

The whole sentence is "At its nerve centre is a signal box first
fitted in 1928 – a relic from the first days of the network when
there was only one line for the whole of London."

I suspect that it is just bad journalism, mixing up things the
journalist was told. As background the journalist may have been told
that at one time Edgware Road was on the only underground railway
line [1] not just in London but in the world. However, that was a
long time before 1928.

The photograph shows a miniature lever frame box typical of the era,
particularly in London and SE England. If it has been well
maintained the lever frame should work well, though if the
components on the track are of the same era some may be giving
rather more trouble, though fish tank relays tend to be pretty
indestructible.


[1] in the sense of a railway running under city streets for an
extended distance with intermediate stations. There were earlier
underground railways, including the Liverpool and Manchester Railway
tunnels in Liverpool
http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/l/liverpool_edge_hill_cutting/index.shtml



--
David Hansen, Edinburgh
I will *always* explain revoked encryption keys, unless RIP prevents me
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2000...#pt3-pb3-l1g54

On Jun 6, 7:11*pm, David Hansen
wrote:

The whole sentence is "At its nerve centre is a signal box first
fitted in 1928

The photograph shows a miniature lever frame box typical of the era,


Here it is :

http://www.wbsframe.mste.co.uk/publi...ware_Road.html

--
Nick

On Sun, 6 Jun 2010, David Hansen wrote:

On Sun, 06 Jun 2010 15:58:44 +0100 someone who may be john wright
wrote this:-

"When there was only one line for the whole of London" What can that
refer to? Neither telephones nor rail lines makes much sense in this
context.

Indeed.

The whole sentence is "At its nerve centre is a signal box first
fitted in 1928 ? a relic from the first days of the network when
there was only one line for the whole of London."

I suspect that it is just bad journalism, mixing up things the
journalist was told. As background the journalist may have been told
that at one time Edgware Road was on the only underground railway
line [1] not just in London but in the world. However, that was a
long time before 1928.

The photograph shows a miniature lever frame box typical of the era,
particularly in London and SE England.

Hang on, so that levery pipe-organ thing the guy in the photo is playing
is from 1928? I assumed the story meant the signal box was built in 1928,
not necessarily that all the equipment in it was still original. But i
know nothing of these things.

Hold on, i've just looked at the link Nick posted. It's not from 1928 -
it's from 1926! Yikes!

tom

--
I see large and small words on this page, arranged in long rows separated
by little dotty characters. Suspect written by little dotty characters,
too. -- RonJeffries

On Jun 6, 10:45*pm, Tom Anderson wrote:

is from 1928? I assumed the story meant the signal box was built in 1928,
not necessarily that all the equipment in it was still original. But i
know nothing of these things.

Hold on, i've just looked at the link Nick posted. It's not from 1928 -
it's from 1926! Yikes!

Ther are others the saem

Hammersmith 1931

http://www.wbsframe.mste.co.uk/public/Hammersmith.html

and other cabins like Rayners Lane, Harrow on Hill still manned power
frames.

*Almost* the entire underground except Central line and east end of
Jubilee (JLE) is on V-style remote control frames.

--
Nick