A Peek Inside The Long-gone Shalford Junction Signal Box

Published on: 6 Aug, 2013
Updated on: 6 Aug, 2013

By David Rose

With the news that 26 of the ‘rarest’ railway signal boxes in England have now been granted Grade II listed status by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, it’s perhaps timely to take a peek inside one such box that once stood at Shalford Junction, south of Guildford.

Stanley Francis Soan in the signal box at Shalford Junction.

This box stood just to the south of the ‘sand’ tunnel at St Catherine’s. The photos belong to Eddie Soan of Park Barn, whose father, Stanley Francis, was the signalman there from 1931 to 1956.

The box was at the junction of the London Waterloo to Portsmouth and Reading to Redhill lines.

Shalford Junction: the box is on the left. The photo looks to have been taken not long after the London Waterloo to Portsmouth was electrified in 1937. The train may well be a pick-up goods. Can anyone name the class of locomotive?

Shalford Junction: the box is on the left. The photo looks to have been taken not long after the London Waterloo to Portsmouth line was electrified in 1937. The train may well be a ‘pick-up’ goods. Can anyone name the class of locomotive?

Stanley Soan and his family lived in a cottage opposite the signal box, right next to the main line. Eddie was born in the cottage in 1939. The box has long gone, along with the signalman’s cottage and further cottages on the same side as the box.

The cottage opposite the box where the Soan family lived.

Does anyone know the approximate date when the box closed and was pulled down? Perhaps a railway enthusiast can identify some of the equipment seen in the box? Please leave a comment in the box below.

Eddie says that he spent many happy hours in the box with his dad and learned how all the leavers, bells and equipment worked. He still remembers all that to this day!

Stanley Francis Soan with his shotgun (probably out looking for rabbits). The views looks out towards St Catherine's Lock. It can just be seen in front of the tree line.

Stanley Francis Soan with his shotgun (probably out looking for rabbits). The views looks over towards St Catherine’s Lock. It can just be seen in front of the tree line.

My thanks go to Eddie for showing me the photos and allowing me to copy them a few months ago when we first met all the way down at Long Sutton near Odiham, where I was giving one of my history talks to the Long Sutton Wine Circle.

Last week I showed them at the latest meeting of the new ‘men’s group’ that now meets once a month at the hall at St Clare’s Church in Park Barn. Eddie was there and supplied all the details about the photos.

This get together has come about following suggestions that such a group be formed in the area. Its forming has come about via my work as the co-ordinator of the Joining In! project, that supports community involvement in Park Barn and Westborough.

The first two meets have seen about a dozen guys coming along – and we’ve had a great time. To get things going, I have been showing nostalgic pictures of Guildford from my collection and we have all been chatting and commenting on them.

We’ve looked at schooldays and events over the past 60 years. Last Thursday we saw and commented on old photos of steam trains in and around Guildford (many images from Geoff Burch’s book Ramblings of a Railwayman), plus images of buses and coaches, and so on.

The next get together is on Thursday, September 5, from 2pm to 5pm. We’ll be looking at photos taken by motorcycle enthusiast Mike Smith, with him telling us all about his travels with his wife on his Honda Goldwing and sidecar, plus some more old pictures of people and places in Guildford.

You don’t have to live in Westborough or Park Barn to come along. Free teas and refreshments (courtesy of funding by the local community safety wardens and Tesco).

We’d like to see you! You may have some pictures to show and stories to tell.

Responses to A Peek Inside The Long-gone Shalford Junction Signal Box

John Britton Reply

August 7, 2013 at 11:54 am

The signal box at Shalford Junction had an interesting history. Prior to the grouping of the railways in 1923 there had been two boxes.

Shalford Junction (in Artington) was at the junction between the main London & South Western Railway and the South Eastern & Chatham line to Redhill.

Peasmarsh Junction box (partly in Shalford) was at the L&SW junction with the London Brighton & South Coast line to Cranleigh.

Some time after the Southern Railway was formed it was decided to close the latter box and combine its functions with Shalford Junction. In doing this the lever frame was split in two and placed either side of the Shalford Junction frame. The first photo shows the long levers of the L&SW Westinghouse frame with to the left, the shorter LB&SC Stevens(?) frame levers. The instruments are also a mixture.

My informant told me that one of the signalmen used to do shoe repairs and had his last mounted on one of the Westinghouse levers.
Peter Holt in Eastbourne Reply

August 12, 2013 at 12:46 pm

Shalford Junction was indeed an interesting box. Signalman Francis can be seen opperating an instrument called The Walkers Block Instrument. They were introduced in 1864.

To the right of this instrument is Preece’s Block Instrument. They were widely used on The London and South Western Railway. The dials that can be seen on the board are indicators to show the signalman if the signals are at danger or clear for a train to proceed.

The signal box closed in March 1966 when the new Guildford Power Box took over control of Shalford Junction. The box was pulled down shortly after.
The picture of the steam engine may be a “Class C” also known as the “Horsham Goods” because most of them were based at Horsham shed.