1. Levenshulme South Station
05_manchester/R44_track_station.jpgR44 Trevor Mosely has advised of the location. Levenshulme South on the
Crewe to Manchester via Stockport. Probably between 1955 and 1958.
2. Levenshulme South Station
05_manchester/R46_track_from_right.jpgR46 Slade Lane Junction in the distance where the Styal line
from Wilmslow that bypasses Stockport joins the the main line
3. Loco Approaching
05_manchester/R47_track_with_loco.jpgR47 A steam loco approaching in the same area.
4. London Road Signal Box
05_manchester/R49_manchester_london_road_sb.jpgR49 The hanging diagram states that this is London Road signalbox, a box controlling one of the Manchester stations,
later renamed Piccadilly. Notice the miniature levers which denote that this was a power signal box.
5. Control Desk
05_manchester/R51_desk.jpgR51 One of the control desks.
6. Manchester Control
05_manchester/R52_manchester_control.jpgR52 A general view of the control room. These pictures are dated 1954.
7. Control panel
05_manchester/R54_manchester_control_panel.jpgR54 A closer view of one of the panels. Cheadle Hume is to the right hand side.
Holmes Chapel is in the centre where the line runs off to the adjacent control area.
8. Control Panel
05_manchester/R55_manchester_control_panel.jpgR55 The same panel further to the right. Bramhall Loop is on the left and London Road Station to the right.
9. Control Panel
05_manchester/R56_manchester_control_panel.jpgR56 Contrinuing to the right, the stations beyond London Road are Exchange and Victoria.
10. Distribution Frame & Equipment
05_manchester/R57_frame_equipment.jpgR57 A distribution frame with equipment racks in the background.
11 Switchboard
05_manchester/R58_switchboard.jpgR58 A three-position switchboard looking pretty busy with plenty of cords in use.
Paul Darlington has written to say that his wife's aunt, Ethel Spencer (married name Edwards) was a switchboard operator at Manchester Victoria in the 1940s. She is the girl on the left of the 3 position switchboard. She has confirmed that this photo and B153a-1 are definitely Manchester Victoria, and that she is in both photos. Ethel has told Paul that the picture was taken before 1946, when she married.
12. Station Staff on the phone
05_manchester/R59_man_on_phone.jpgR59 A railwayman on the phone. No indication of where it might be apart from the poster with Manchester visible.
What are those curious indicators above the man's head?
13 Wall Telephone
05_manchester/R67_wall_tele.jpgR67 An example of the control telephone. Rather similar to the Post Office Telephone No 21, but with the 'Call' switch and a DC bell.
14. Switch Box
05_manchester/R81a_switch_box.jpgR81a The terminal board where the incoming and outgoing lines from Control and on to the next station are terminated.
15. Switch Box Open
05_manchester/R81b_switch_box_lids_off.jpgR81b With the lids removed you can see that the top boxes are spark gap surge arrestors, the smaller boxes are fuses and the bottom box contains a sectionalised resistor. Notice that the two tumbler switches marked By-Pass are ganged together by a rod.
16. Back of the Racks
05_manchester/R82a_protectors.jpgR82a Line protectors and connecting links.
17. Back of the Racks
05_manchester/R82b_single_protector.jpgR82b The same panel but only equipped with one protector.
18. Selector Box
05_manchester/R83a_selector_box.jpgR83a A selector box with the lid on.
19. Selector Box Open
05_manchester/R83b_selector_box_lid_open.jpgR83b A selector box with the lid open.
20. Switchboard Open
05_manchester/R84b_switchboard_open.jpgR82a Line protectors and connecting links.
