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Rupert Le Bere   30/01/2015 at 13:22

Astonishing that this small area of mechanical signalling on a major trunk route has lasted this long. There have been many attempts to replace the signalling at Banbury in the past - I was involved in drawing up plans for it 35 years ago and even then I was amending earlier proposals! It will be interesting to see if the resulting infrastructure bears any relation to the earlier proposals at a time of route and service rationalisation.

Robin Wickenden   05/02/2015 at 15:41

This has quite often happened where major resignalling schemes in the past have stopped just short of a strategic junction, leaving it controlled by a mechanical box (or two, as at Banbury) fringing onto several large control areas. Other examples are Greenford, Yeovil Pen Mill, and Wokingham, and no doubt there are many more. Unfortunately it has often caused these small areas to get overlooked for long periods, as has happened here. No doubt they'll eventually get swept up in the overall transfer to the big control centres. In the meantime, they do provide a home for those who like working on their own in a signal box, that is often still using mechanical technology.