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LMS Route: Nuneaton to Leamington

Kenilworth Junction: lnwrkj180a

Kenilworth Junction Signal Cabin which was located in the 'V' between the Berkswell branch and the single branch line to Coventry

Kenilworth Junction Signal Cabin which was located in the 'V' between the Berkswell branch and the single branch line to Coventry. The signal box was erected in 1884 and housed the Webb-Thompson full-size electric train staff equipment which controlled the single line to Coventry. On the LNWR signal boxes were more usually called 'signal cabins' and were responsible for a length of track called a block section. With block signalling only one train would be allowed into the block section at a time. When the line was of single track construction it was essential that only one train travelled on the line and to provide this degree of safety a a train staff system was adopted.

To operate the electric train staff the signalman at the exit end of the single track was required to release the train staff which was locked in the signal box at the entry to the section. This was achieved by an electrical switch in the exit signal box being thrown which unlocked the train staff in the entry signal box. The signalman at the entry signal box then passed the train staff to the driver who carried it to the exit signal box and handed it over to that signal box's signalman. The train staff would then be locked in the exit signal box. The procedure was reversed for trains running in the opposite direction. Should the timetable dictate several trains passing through consecutively in the same direction then the equipment would be configured to have multiple train staffs.

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