European Railroad Discussion > Old semaphores

On April 24th 1993 I paid a visit to East Kent, southeast of London, to shoot some of the remaining semaphores. The trains themselves, BR designed third rail EMUs were pretty mundane, but the signals were anything but.

1:Selling; a 4VEP EMU approaching the stop at Selling, the first station on the line to Dover south-east of Faversham. Despite the upper quadrant arm, the lattice post home signal with its distinctive finial dates back to the days of the London, Chatham & Dover Railway (LCD), pre 1899.

2: Canterbury East; the very distinctive signal box at Canterbury East dates from 1911, when the station was resignalled by the South Eastern & Chatham Railway (SE&C). The SE&C was a working union between the South Eastern Railway and the LCD, consummated in 1899.

3:Shepherdswell; this small station with its LCD design signal box was the last but one stop on the line to Dover Priory. In the past it had been a junction with the impecunious East Kent Light Railway, although latterly that had simply been a long siding to Tilmanstone colliery, which
closed in 1988. The exchange sidings are on the right. Today what remained of the EKLR is now a heritage line - the East Kent Railway Trust.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 12/18/23 06:00 by 86235.

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Interesting shots...thanks for posting...I had an affinity for semaphores too.

Cool shots, Nick! 

dwatry Wrote:
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> Cool shots, Nick! 


Thanks Duncan, been going through my Southern Electric shots and scans.

Great series !
Gary

86235 Wrote:
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> On April 24th 1993 I paid a visit to East Kent,
> southeast of London, to shoot some of the
> remaining semaphores. The trains themselves, BR
> designed third rail EMUs were pretty mundane, but
> the signals were anything but.

Not so mundane when viewed through the prism of three decades later, especially the 4-CEP units in the second shot.

railsmith Wrote:
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> 86235 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > On April 24th 1993 I paid a visit to East Kent,
> > southeast of London, to shoot some of the
> > remaining semaphores. The trains themselves, BR
> > designed third rail EMUs were pretty mundane,
> but
> > the signals were anything but.
>
> Not so mundane when viewed through the prism of
> three decades later, especially the 4-CEP units in
> the second shot.


I guess that's true. They were so familiar to be almost invisible.

I really like the feel of #1. Great pic!

Late to the thread, but marvelous shots nonetheless. Thanks, Nick.

MC

'Love the Shepherds Well scene, Nick.  A different world.

Greg Stadter
Phoenix, AZ