Wrawby Junction

Wrawby Junction is a busy railway junction located a short distance west of Barnetby, North Lincolnshire and controls the confluence of the Network Rail routes from Lincoln, Retford and Scunthorpe towards Immingham and Cleethorpes. The junction is controlled by a large signal box of part-brick, part-wooden, construction.

History

Although the railway has served the area since 1848, the present construction is of late-Great Central Railway design. Apart from the part-brick construction, Wrawby Junction is of similar design to its companion signal boxes at Barnetby East and Barnetby West. All signal boxes were built about 1916 when the section of route between Wrawby and Brocklesby was quadrupled to cope with the growing amount of freight traffic heading for the docks at Immingham and Grimsby. As well as controlling this busy complex of routes, Wrawby Junction was also responsible for controlling the entrance to the once-busy railway sidings at Barnetby, and the locomotive depot. When built, the lever frame consisted of 137 levers. Wrawby Junction was - and most probably still is - the largest manual signal box in the world to be worked by a lone signaller. Most other large signal boxes require two or more signallers.

Wrawby Junction today

Modern-day Wrawby Junction is still quite a complex location, although changing traffic patterns have resulted in significant rationalisation of the layout. Once noted for its impressive semaphore signal arrays, only 3 such arrays survive today. The western approaches are now controlled by colour-light signals. The locomotive depot no longer exists, although the eagle-eyed observer will still notice the old turntable pit between the Lincoln and Retford routes. The sidings see very little use, although trains may be either recessed or run-round in the Down Reception lines.

Network Rail recently announced proposals to improve the infrastructure and capacity on the South TransPennine route. However, no proposal has been made to resignal Wrawby Junction in the near future.