Cemetery, Oakleigh Park & New Barnet S & N s/boxes.

[Mickey]

Mention has been made of the G.F. at the entrance/exit to OAKLEIGH PARK up yard released by N.B. Prior to the re-signalling around the NEW BARNET-OAKLEIGH PARK area in 1970 i do recall seeing several trains stabled in those up sidings on several occasions. About 18 months ago while standing on NEW BARNET down platform i noticed that the x3 lever G.F. (i think it was a x3 lever G.F.?) still exist beside the down slow line towards the south end of NEW BARNET station for access to the entrance/exit of a 2 road run/round siding which was heavily rusted and with alot of foliage growing in the 4ft and either sides of the cess which obviously indicated that this facility was very rarely used.

Going back to OAKLEIGH PARK s/box i would presume that if a TC was located 'running through' the down fast line platform it would be physically impossible for the Signalman to 'drop the needle' on the block instrument?. I referred to OAKLEIGH PARK having to work 'double block' on the down fast line during fog & falling snow with CEMETERY but thinking about it again i am not sure that this is the case due to the fact that OAKLEIGH PARK had a 'colour light' distant signal on the down fast line situated on the approach side to BARNET TUNNEL. If OAKLEIGH PARK would have had a 'semaphore distant' signal instead of a colour light then he would have had to work 'double block' with CEMETERY s/box. Also thinking about 'fog & falling snow' his down fast line home/starting signal standing at a distance of (approximately) 250 yds 50 yds over the 200 yds may well have been his 'fog marking point' on the other hand OAKLEIGH PARK's up slow colour light starting signal may have been approximately 200 yds from the s/box?.
Yes Stevie that was a guess of mine that the distance was (approx) 250 yds.
The connection from the down slow line to the down goods line at OAKLEIGH PARK reminds me that i do infact recall seeing an 'oil train' (with the large oil tanks) using this connection and travelling a long the down goods line towards NEW BARNET SOUTH BOX which must have been either in late 1969 or early 1970 just a few months before that down goods line was taken out of use.

Here's a nice picture of Cemetery s/box taken in 1972 looking south towards New Southgate.

www.friern-barnet.com/picture/number571.asp

Photo credit Dave Cockle.

[Josh Hamilton]

Interesting topic, I've selected Cemetery Box for my small layout: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ignal-box/

Josh.

[Mickey]

Interesting topic, I've selected Cemetery Box for my small layout.

The layout as shown on the track diagram for Cemetery lasted until about the first half of 1968 when there was some signalling alterations at Cemetery and in particular on the Up slow, Up Goods & Up Reception lines with a Ground Frame also being abolished for the nearby factory. The 3 full-size stop signal arms featured on the track diagram that applied to the Up slow line (just south of Barnet tunnel) were replaced by one full-size semaphore stop signal arm mounted on a bracket post acting as the Up slow line home signal and a miniature arm (mounted slightly lower and to the left of the Up slow line home signal) that read Up slow to Up Goods line replaced the former full-size stop signal arm (the middle arm shown on the track diagram) along with the Up slow to Up Reception line stop signal (another full-size semaphore stop signal arm being mounted on a rather nice straight white wooden post with a nice top final) was also abolished altogether. Also I noticed from the track diagram that the Up slow line starting signal mounted on the bracket post with New Southgate's Up slow line distant signal below it also shows New Southgate's Up Goods line distant signal as well although from my memory there was also a stop signal mounted above that distant signal that was worked by Cemetery box with this stop signal along with the distant signal below it reading along the Up Goods line also being abolished at the same time as the alterations to the signals on the Up slow line near to Cemetery box in 1968.

Another thing about Cemetery box if you are modelling it is both it's name boards at either end of the box where both different to each other. The north end name board was the original GNR name board (I presume?) because there was a space at the right-hand end of the board for the word 'Up' that from vague memory were still there but had been painted over at some point I presume when Cemetery Down box had been abolished?. The south end name board was a later all wooden board with a all round thicker border with just the word Cemetery written on it which I presume was of LNER origin and from memory was hung just under the rear south facing window ledge of the box.

Mickey

[Josh Hamilton]

Thank you for that infomation Mickey! I will be modelling the box, was there ever a down box? It had gone by 1938 at least. The progress is on RM web if anyone fancies it.

Josh

[Mickey]

Thank you for that infomation Mickey! I will be modelling the box, was there ever a down box? It had gone by 1938 at least. The progress is on RM web if anyone fancies it.

Yes there was a Cemetery Down box at onetime although I am not sure if it stood directly opposite Cemetery Up box I presume it probably did?. As for the closure date of Cemetery Down box I can't remember the exact closure date but I believe it was closed sometime during the mid/late 1920s (or possibly the early 1930s?) I have seen a closure date for it in a book but I can't remember the date off the top of my head 'John the signalman' probably knows the exact date.

Mickey

[Mickey]

Interesting topic, I've selected Cemetery Box for my small layout: http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index. ... ignal-box/.

R.Ps. track diagram of Cemetery box dates from when Oakleigh Park & New Barnet South Box were both closed in the autumn of 1970 and when multi-aspect colour light signalling was commissioned in the Oakleigh Park & New Barnet area north of Cemetery box controlled from a panel inside New Barnet North Box.

Between the autumn of 1970 until February 1973 when both Cemetery & New Southgate boxes were both then closed until that date the Down slow, Down fast, Up fast & Up slow lines were still being worked under Absolute block between both boxes (Cemetery & New Barnet North Box).

Mickey

[Josh Hamilton]

Ah right, thank you for that Mickey. They must have knocked it down quickly as I canne see it in a 1935 aerial photo only the 'Up' box. When the diagram shows the distants being controlled by the next box on was this always the way or did it change towards the end?

Josh

[thesignalman]

Cemetery Down closed in 1922. You can see both boxes on a 1:2500 1896 map at the oldmaps.co.uk web site - I am not sure if this link will take you straight there but try it:
https://www.old-maps.co.uk/#/Map/527823 ... /12/100684

It shows the boxes as almost exactly opposite each other.

I am afraid I don't remember the interim arrangements during the resignalling.

John

[R. pike]

My situation for my information on Cemetery is quite grave i'm afraid. I had to dig quite deep as the file was buried amongst other stuff and have really come up against a dead end apart from the lever pull plates..

[Mickey]

My situation for my information on Cemetery is quite grave i'm afraid. I had to dig quite deep as the file was buried amongst other stuff and have really come up against a dead end apart from the lever pull plates..

I actually managed to visit the box about a week or two after it had closed in February 1973 one dark night the door had been left open and it was very dark inside but from vague memory all the 'lever badges' (plates) were still fixed to there individual levers also the box floor was a mess of old train register books, old news papers, old special train notices and other such rubbish but I didn't stay to long and left the box.

A fella came on this forum about 2-3 years ago saying that he had once been a regular signalman at Cemetery during the 1960s his name was Barry Jones a Yorkshire man (I remembered him) he learnt and worked both Welwyn Garden City & Hatfield No.1 boxes during the early 1970s.

Mickey

[thesignalman]

My situation for my information on Cemetery is quite grave i'm afraid. I had to dig quite deep as the file was buried amongst other stuff and have really come up against a dead end apart from the lever pull plates..

No terminal workings then?

J

[StevieG]

My situation for my information on Cemetery is quite grave i'm afraid. I had to dig quite deep as the file was buried amongst other stuff and have really come up against a dead end apart from the lever pull plates..

IMG_0735.jpg

IMG_0736.JPG

Very good to see these pull-plate photos RP; thanks v.m.
Don't know if you have any sort of date for them (I didn't see one on them), but FYI I can say that they show the exact situation there when I first visited in late '67 / early '68, including the UF Starter having already been abolished.