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FARSAP logo Canterbury Area

Canterbury East signal box is now closed but remains as a listed building. OS Map.

Wye Area Control Centre is located close to Canterbury West signal box and controls the line between Ashford and Canterbury West. OS Map.

Wye Station level crossing is operated by a gate keeper. OS Map.

Canterbury West signal box spans the tracks on a substantial girder bridge. OS Map.

The geographic location of the stations and signal boxes can be seen on a current OS Map by following the links above. The map will place the selected location at the centre of the map panel, roll the mouse over the icon(s) to reveal what they represent. Increase the scale using the scale selector on the left to separate closely positioned icons.

This video is intended for viewing at a maximum screen resolution of 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high. Please be aware that viewing at a larger size may result in a loss of clarity and a 'grainy' appearance.

Copyright © of the FARSAP videos belongs to the Friends of the National Railway Museum.
The material may be freely used except for sale or advertising purposes.


Video Credits

Filmed by: Richard Pulleyn and Neil Mackay
Filmed in: October 2017
Narrator: Neil Mackay
Signallers: Kelly Hamilton (Wye Area Control Centre), Adam James (Canterbury West),
Paul Sutton (Wye Area Control Centre)
Deputy Local Operations Manager: Nick Wellington
Video Editor: Derek Young

Key Chronology

1830 Canterbury & Whitstable Railway opened.
1846 South Eastern Railway opens line from Ashford to Ramsgate including stations at Wye and Canterbury and a chord connection to the Canterbury & Whitstable Railway.
1853 Canterbury & Whitstable Railway absorbed by South Eastern Railway.
1860 London, Chatham & Dover Railway opens extension from Faversham to Canterbury.
1861 London, Chatham & Dover Railway opens extension onward from Canterbury to Dover. Absolute block working in force.
by 1863 Block working in use by SER.
1874 Canterbury No.1 and No.2 signal boxes opened by SER.
by 1887 Canterbury signal box opened by LCDR.
1889 South Eastern Railway extends Elham Valley branch from Bishopsbourne to Harbledown Junction including a station at Canterbury South.
1899 LCDR & SER form a joint committee to work the two companies as a single entity but both companies remain legally separate. LCDR station renamed Canterbury East. SER station renamed Canterbury West.
c1911 Canterbury East signal box replaced.
1918 Connecting loop between LCDR and SER lines opened.
1920 Connecting loop between LCDR and SER lines closed.
1928 Canterbury West Signal Box opened replacing Canterbury West No.1 and No.2 signal boxes.
1940 Elham Valley branch closed other than Cheriton to Lyminge section.
1941 Connecting loop between LCDR and SER lines reopened.
1953 Connecting loop between LCDR and SER lines closed.
1959 Canterbury East line electrified.
1961 Canterbury West line electrified.
2003 Ashford to Canterbury West changed to track circuit block working. Wye Area Control Centre opened. Chartham and Wye signal boxes closed, replaced by ground frames released by the control centre to control the level crossings.
2004 Canterbury West to Sturry changed to track circuit block working.
2011 Canterbury East signal box closed.

 


An explanation of signal box classifications will be found in "The Signal Box" and in the Society's Signal Box Register series of books.


Can you help?

The project would love to hear from you, especially if you worked or still work in a signal box, and you are willing to provide reminiscences and / or pictures. Please contact the webmaster in the first instance.


 





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