Grove junction - 1975

The signalman steps out onto his boarded walkway to collect the single line token for the section from Tunbridge Wells West B box.

By the time of this photograph, technology had long been available to sweep away this archaic ritual and operate the route as a modern railway. However, it appeared to many that despite the ministerial decision against closure in 1968, shortsighted BR management was simply biding its time for another attempt to kill the line.

What better than a thoroughly obsolete signalling system to give things a push in that direction?

Photo: John Wenham