Popular Post Shedmaster Posted February 22, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted February 22, 2015 Hi, I'd just like to make some photo scans available, from my time in Orpington Signal Box in 1991, for the RMWeb community.... My time in the box was as a BR Trainee and this was a most unusual posting - I was effectively an assistant to the resident 'box boy' ! The original pics were taken on a 110 camera, the silver rectangle things where you pulled the end out to open the flash and lens ? The quality is pretty poor as they were my first on the job photo's and I used to just point and click without any real thought, I've not seen any similar pics anywhere else....yet. I can't think of the make of the camera now, so onto those pics.......: Firstly, Orpington signalling panel... Orpington Station : Up 60's This is the name used by the Signaller and Shunters/Drivers to describe what were actually the DOWN sidings right outside the office building where I started my career all those years ago. Does anybody know why they were called this ? I have never been able to find out..... Carriage Shed Carriage Washing Machine and finally.......... Freight One of the most 'interesting' freights that I saw come by the box, was this international thing conveying tank wagons that I thought contained Dangerous Goods, I didn't know any different. Well, one of em' had something hanging down that it shouldn't and it had a row with the conductor rail right outside the open Signalbox window ! Lets just say I've never seen an explosion or noise like that since, or at such close range ! Yes, yes, I've never forgotten it ! Anyways, hope you like the pics.........of course, any decent ones that you'd like to add would be more than welcome ! Kindest Regards, Shed. 30 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyddrail Posted February 22, 2015 Share Posted February 22, 2015 Shed, Thanks for sharing, very interesting. Cheers. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Shedmaster Posted February 22, 2015 Author Popular Post Share Posted February 22, 2015 (edited) Hi Lyddrail, I'm glad you like these and thought when I posted them that they may appeal to you ! I've scanned some more, just for detail sake and also the fact that they aren't too terrible.......: Firstly......The Main Man and his panel : On top of the right hand screen are a pair of binoculars........a MOST useful piece of kit indeed ! Then, 'Box Boy'.......this guy had his own desk and phones too : ...and see that Train Register ? I have several mint, unused copies of these in secure storage, now, how hard would it be to dig them out I wonder.....? Finally, 'The Switchboard'.....every point, signal, platform and yard phone all came into here...: Right, that's definitely it for now, Kindest Regards, Shed. Edited February 22, 2015 by Shedmaster 21 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce Depot Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 and not a single TD screen anywhere! Who controls that section now? Even though my sister lives nearby, sometime since I was last at the station. cheers Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2015 Who controls that section now? cheers Keith Now on Ashford ASC (changed as part of the route upgrading for Eurostar a bit over 20 years back) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shedmaster Posted February 23, 2015 Author Share Posted February 23, 2015 (edited) and not a single TD screen anywhere! Who controls that section now? Even though my sister lives nearby, sometime since I was last at the station. cheers Keith Hi Keith, Thanks for your interest.....However...I think the two screens either side of the panel were train describers as I remember typing numbers into berths and then pressing an 'interpose' button ? Is that what you mean by train describer ? Also, the black radio sitting on the bottom left of the panel was the direct comms with the shunters in those days. A neat trick I did learn whilst there was that dragging my heels around on the floor as I walked, would result in my ability to ZAP! The next unfortunate soul to annoy me with a most excellent and very visible static charge... That's all for now, Kindest Regards, Shed. Edited February 23, 2015 by Shedmaster 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Oldddudders Posted February 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2015 Shedmaster, on 23 Feb 2015 - 12:54, said: I think the two screens either side of the panel were train describers as I remember typing numbers into berths and then pressing an 'interpose' button ? Is that what you mean by train describer ? This was ASMIS - Automatic Set-up, Manual Interpose System. In some cases I think you had a menu of train numbers off the WTT database, but otherwise you had a "scratchpad" to create your own. This was as a fringe box to Victoria (actually at Clapham Junction, of course) under that scheme in 1981. Prior to the VARS scheme, there were magazine describers to Chislehurst Junction and Sevenoaks. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 23, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 23, 2015 Hi and thanks for sharing your photo's of Orpington station, It was good to see picture no 6, as it shows the footbridge across the mainline which passes through the carriage shed roof. which was something of a novelty, It was good to be reminded of it, as it was somewhere that my mum used to take me for a walk when I was four years old. I believe the carriage shed sustained quite a bit of damage during the war. all the best Adrian. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Posted February 23, 2015 Share Posted February 23, 2015 A couple of years earlier, you would have found me in the S&T lobby under the box on an early shift, as it was my first 'posting' as a trainee technician. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torn-on-the-platform Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 When were the most recent alterations made? I'm surprised to see the carriage shed still standing in 1991! Strange to see platforms 7 and 8 missing. I was born in 1991, and my earliest memories of Orpington station are probably from about 1996. Obviously the memories of a 5 year old won't be too reliable but as far as I remember, little has changed since then, aside from the branding and the new footbridge. Thanks for sharing. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Lurker Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Try the Kentrail site, see link below.http://www.kentrail.org.uk/Orpington.htm This gives a nice run down of the history of the station including the changes to the carriage shed and footbridge etc 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbyhorse Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 (edited) Lots of memories seeing these photos of the shed and the station. One day one of our drivers got the tip from the shunter to go into 4 road, unfortunately the shunter had forgot that the derailer was up. You can imagine what happened next, we at Grove Park didn't know the detailers had been installed over the weekend. Simon Edited February 24, 2015 by hobbyhorse Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
shanks522 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Up 60's This is the name used by the Signaller and Shunters/Drivers to describe what were actually the DOWN sidings right outside the office building where I started my career all those years ago. Does anybody know why they were called this ? I have never been able to find out..... 007.jpg 006.jpg Hello Shedmaster, Spoke to my dad this evening as he was a guard at Orpington in 91 and i asked about the Up 60's. He said the name comes from the first world war, The battle of hill 60, Injured Canadian troops where brought to Orpington hospital and the sidings where laid then to hold the trains transporting soldiers. Cheers Graham. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shedmaster Posted February 25, 2015 Author Share Posted February 25, 2015 (edited) Hi Graham, Many Thanks to you for taking the time to go away and find this out on my behalf......this particular snippet has eluded me for all these years and yet I never would have thought it related to something so important, Thank you both again. It was only a few weeks ago that a friend was asking me about a certain 'rail-over-road' bridge just on the country side of Orpington Station, whereby injured 'troops' were transferred from trains, down the embankment on stretchers and into waiting ambulances ! ? EDITED AS JUST FOUND OUT : VICTORY BRIDGE OVER THE SEVENOAKS ROAD I'm sorry to say I know nothing of the significance of this railway line in wartime but I suspect there is a massive and historically important story here ? One thing I do know is that at Orpington ( and Hither Green for that matter ), there are actually staff subways that are still in situ under the platforms, and in the case of Orpington, these were used by the Carriage cleaning staff to cross the mainline, although my memory is hazy on whether they were actually still in use when I was there... Kindest Regards, Shed. Edited February 25, 2015 by Shedmaster 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted February 25, 2015 Share Posted February 25, 2015 My memories come from the next station up the line, Petts Wood, again as a child in the early '60s. My grandparents house backed onto the line at Petts Wood station, but one could see bits of Orpington and the carriage sheds from there. I went to school for a short time in Crofton Lane but at that stage I didn't see anything of Orpington station.I also used Orpington station in the '80s and '90s occasionally when visiting an aunt and uncle in Orpington (actually right on the 'borders' of Orpington, Green Street Green and Farnborough!), so there are some nice memories stirred by those photos. Thanks for posting them. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold westerhamstation Posted February 26, 2015 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 26, 2015 Hi Graham, Many Thanks to you for taking the time to go away and find this out on my behalf......this particular snippet has eluded me for all these years and yet I never would have thought it related to something so important, Thank you both again. It was only a few weeks ago that a friend was asking me about a certain 'rail-over-road' bridge just on the country side of Orpington Station, whereby injured 'troops' were transferred from trains, down the embankment on stretchers and into waiting ambulances ! ? EDITED AS JUST FOUND OUT : VICTORY BRIDGE OVER THE SEVENOAKS ROAD I'm sorry to say I know nothing of the significance of this railway line in wartime but I suspect there is a massive and historically important story here ? One thing I do know is that at Orpington ( and Hither Green for that matter ), there are actually staff subways that are still in situ under the platforms, and in the case of Orpington, these were used by the Carriage cleaning staff to cross the mainline, although my memory is hazy on whether they were actually still in use when I was there... Kindest Regards, Shed. Hi, I belive this must be the bridge you are refering to that crosses the Sevenoaks Road by Orpington Hospital, I wouldn't fancy being transferred down this embankment. The line at this point runs right by the hospital, and from the train you used to be able see all the wooden huts that were the wards. The Vic Mitchell and Keith Smith book Orpington to Tonbridge published by Middleton Press, has some great pictures and track plan of Orpington Station. I remember the subway you speak of, as I used to use it as a short cut on my bike. some pictures of the bridge and some of the station from the internet. All the best adrian 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
retbsignalman Posted July 18, 2015 Share Posted July 18, 2015 Hi! Great pics, thank you for sharing. I visited the box a few times and like you I got some internal shots, but I don't seem to have any of the 'box itself! A trawl of t'internet doesn't come up with much, so does anyone have some please? Ta in advance G Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmsforever Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 In the fifties my mum used to take me with her when she visited her friend in Orpington auld and during the morning I would go down to the station and watch the Kent coast expresses all steam hauled rush through the station.The highlight was the Golden Arrow with a clean Brit on the front boy that looked good ,shame we went home in a four sub ! 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bbishop Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 My memories come from the next station up the line, Petts Wood, again as a child in the early '60s. My grandparents house backed onto the line at Petts Wood station, but one could see bits of Orpington and the carriage sheds from there. I went to school for a short time in Crofton Lane but at that stage I didn't see anything of Orpington station. We lived in Petts Wood from 1960 and my sister (born July 1954) went to the Crofton schools. I commuted to Catford from the age of seven. Bill Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRman Posted July 19, 2015 Share Posted July 19, 2015 Hi Bill.My stint at the school would have been in 1960/61. I may well have met your sister but not known it!! My grandparents' house was in Queensway. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shedmaster Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 (edited) Hello everyone, Good Evening, Thank you for your interest in my topic here and your supporting photo's......I'm really pleased that you can relate to this area and that the pictures are jogging memories etc. I see that the outside of Orpington box is a little short on photo's, what a shame. I suspect it was probably a 'standard' BR Southern Region design off the shelf so to speak and would possibly have a lot in common with places like Rainham and Sittingbourne boxes ? Maybe the experts would be better placed to advise on this supposition ? Anyways, what I came in for : I have finally managed to dig out and scan some original British Railways paperwork, mentioned a few posts back. Firstly, the most relevant to this topic is my scanned copy of the Orpington Signal Box Train Register : I also found these in secure storage, along with all of my school reports, but you won't be seeing THOSE !..... ...the Guards Ticket...: Again, I hope these can be of use or interest to you ? Thanks, Kindest Regards, Shed. Edited July 20, 2015 by Shedmaster 6 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shedmaster Posted July 20, 2015 Author Share Posted July 20, 2015 Hi again, just a quick addition...... I wanted to include these two scans in the last post, but, let's just say that Me and the Scanner are not 'talking' at the mo ! The British Railways S.R Drivers Ticket FRONT : and REAR : Thanks, Kindest Regards, Shed. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lyddrail Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I don't have any pics of the Signal box, but it was the same type as Sevenoaks, Tonbridge, Ashford etc, not the type on the Faversham line. See pic of Sevenoaks, similar but longer and double sided. cheers. 9 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hobbyhorse Posted July 21, 2015 Share Posted July 21, 2015 The old drivers tickets were lovely, easy to add a bit to the day and always written in pencil. Simon Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shedmaster Posted July 21, 2015 Author Share Posted July 21, 2015 The old drivers tickets were lovely, easy to add a bit to the day and always written in pencil. Simon I had a good look at these during scanning them in......and I'm curious just how you managed to get any driving done in between filling them out ? Kindest Regards, Shed. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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