Beginning of the end in the land of OZ

Plans have changed slightly, as there has been a small amount of slippage with the availability of key equipment at Hammersmith SCC.

The dates are now as follows, as things stand:
1) A testing weekend over the Easter weekend
2) Service control management/controller (etc) functions move overnight on 05/05/2018 subject to satisfactory performance during testing.
3) First migration area (Hammersmith to Latimer Road) commissioned on 27/05/2018.

Therefore Hammersmith cabin would cease to be operational on the latter date, if anything like the Northern Line the old signalling is then decommissioned after a further 14 days. All functions transfer to the new Signal Equipment Rooms (the modern equivalent of signal cabins or Interlocking Machine Rooms), which for the first section are located at Hammersmith and Edgware Road, as well as the VCCs which are located within the Hammersmith SCC.

Don’t build your hopes up on them dates they are far from set in stone

So will the new service control centre oversee/control fixed block signaling initially?

I can't say much but I'll be surprised if the 26/05 happens...

HSCC will initially be for controllers, LIS and technical staff only, with no signalling functions in the same way as Baker Street SCC (not Baker Street SCC 😬) currently houses controllers and LIS. Both Met and District Control will move in from this date (if it doesn't slip again).

Signallers will only move in permanently once Hammersmith cabin closes, which as stated is now 26th May at the earliest - many of us expect it to slip further.

After this time Hammersmith station and sidings and the line to Latimer Road will be fully controlled by CBTC with the Cabin remaining staffed for a short period just in case. The line between Latimer Road and Paddington is entirely auto signalling and will operate as currently.

Trial running over the weekend was (genuinely) the most successful test running yet; just shy of 75 trains operated between Hammersmith and Edgware Road, with more doing various depot moves.

If Hammersmith cabin does close on May 26th the last day of operation will in fact be the previous night; there's a weekend shut down and the world to switch out the Cabin will take place following close of traffic on the Friday.

Hammersmith sidings will be fully signalled under CBTC, in the same way that High Barnet sidings are. This is part of why they have been downgraded from a depot.

What happens to the lever frames & interlocking equipment when the cabin is decommissioned? Spares for other cabins, museum exhibits, or scrap?

If I win the lottery we'll go halves

How much does a frame the size of OZ actually weigh?

I'd imagine the multitude of interlocking machinery under it would not be on the light side either.

The lever frame is built from a kit of parts, in can be striped down into smaller units, just look how the Epping signal cabin frame has been rebuilt from parts from Hainault cabin.

It is Hainault's - Loughton is still in situ and with the LTM. I always get the two muddled, sorry!

Just a quick reminder that both frames are wrong. Both Epping and Debden had Westinghouse N2M frames these were scrapped a short while after the boxes closed. The frames from Harrow-on-the-hill North & South subsidiary boxes would make ideal candidates for preservation as they used N2 frames which are similar . I think one should go to LTM while the other should have gone to Debden as compensation for loss of the original it could be adapted to look and function like it. But that would duplicate the fine work being done at Epping box to a large extant so no one will bother with that idea! So what else can we do with it ?