Cricklewood: Dudding Hill Junction and signalbox

Image: © Nigel Cox Taken: 18 Apr 2010

This is the Dudding Hill freight-only line that links Cricklewood and Acton. It was built in 1868 as the Midland and South Western Junction Railway, but was rapidly absorbed into the Midland Railway. Passenger services were short-lived, terminating as long ago as 1902. This is the junction where the eastbound tracks diverge, with the line to Hendon and the north going left, and the line to Cricklewood and the south going right. In fact the two separate tracks parallel one another for some distance from this junction only finally parting company in Image where the junction is shown on the Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 scale mapping. According to the current Wikipedia article on the line http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dudding_Hill_Line the signal box and two others like it on the route are fully staffed 24 hours a day, but are threatened with closure with all operations passing to a control room in Upminster. Image is visible to the right of the tracks.

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