Epping Cabin
The 1935-40 New Works Programme included the incorporation of the Loughton branch into an expanded Central line giving direct access into the City and West End of London. Most of the surface stations east of Leyton retained the original Great Eastern buildings, however the tracks were electrified and the signalling replaced with equipment conforming to the current London Transport Board’s standards.
This included constructing a number of signal cabins including one at Epping to a common London Transport standard. To the west of Epping station, the cabin is on two floors, the upper level where the lever frame controls were mounted and operated and below a relay room where the commands from the frame were transmitted to the nearby points and signals. Also, on the ground floor a mess room was provided for permanent way staff.
Opened in 1949, Epping Signal Cabin controlled the signalling and train movements at Epping Station and westward toward Loughton using a 47 miniature lever Westinghouse electro-mechanical N2M power frame. This was an age before electronic control and to ensure passenger safety mechanical interlocking was included. It was physically impossible to set a route to allow a train to pass without the signals giving the correct instructions to the driver.
When built, Epping Signal Cabin was configured to signal both electric passenger and steam hauled freight trains. Epping had a large goods yard and a gasworks siding. There was still a locomotive shed and carriage sidings to cater for the Epping-Ongar services until the line to Ongar was finally electrified in November 1957 with diesel hauled freight traffic continuing until 1966.
By September 1994 there were only 21 operational levers on the frame and with the closure of the Ongar section this was reduced to fourteen levers, with just seven required to operate the normal service.
From its opening in 1949, Epping Signal Cabin provided the signalling continuously until replaced by a new system controlled from Wood Lane Signal Control Centre. The last train signalled from Epping left at 01.02 on the 28th July 1996. During the subsequent years, the cabin entered a state of decay until Cravens Heritage Trains leased the site from London Underground in 2001. Over the subsequent years the dilapidated buildings have been returned to a serviceable condition.
Regrettably the original frame was removed after closure however; the 83-lever frame from Hainault cabin was secured as a replacement. It was dismantled and the components were moved to Epping during May 2005 and stored in the Relay Room.
The replacement frame is a similar design, M2N but this version lacks the ability to be remotely controlled from Loughton signal cabin. To assist in the rebuild a full set of locking diagrams was obtained from Westinghouse in Chippenham. Volunteers have painstakingly reassembled the frame, using 6km of wiring to create a working simulator of how the cabin operated whilst in service.
Space in the relay room below is now put to good use housing a large display of relevant railway memorabilia.
To commemorate the reconstruction of the signal frame Epping Signal Cabin was re-opened on 22nd September 2019 by Central Line General Manager Dale Smith supported by the Mayor and Mayoress of Epping
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