GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Rowington Junction & Troughs: gwrrj264

View of Rowington Junction looking towards Leamington Spa with the signal box controlling the branch to Henley in Arden 'old' station on the right. Because this was a route designed to carry fast traffic the junction has been laid in a configuration described as 'using a trailing crossings'. If the points 'faced' the direction of travel of trains then there was always a danger that the wheels of the engine could split the points where the two rails met.

In this instance the trailing points required the train to reverse to move from one set of lines to another. Up trains from Lapworth that needed to travel down the branch would have to first pass the points on the up line. The signalman would then set the points to allow the train to reverse from the up to the down line and when on the down line the train would then draw forward on to the branch after the signalman has set the points etc.

Robert Ferris

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