Manuel Junction is a

railway junction A junction, in the context of rail transport, is a place at which two or more rail routes converge or diverge. This implies a physical connection between the tracks of the two routes (assuming they are of the same gauge), provided by ''points'' ( ...

near the village of Whitecross, Falkirk, Scotland. It is the terminus of the

Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway The Bo’ness and Kinneil Railway is a heritage railway in Bo'ness, Scotland. It is operated by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS), and operates a total of over of track (between Bo'ness and Manuel Junction, via Kinneil and Birkh ...

(operated by the Scottish Railway Preservation Society (SRPS)) and forms a connection between it and the

Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Falkirk line is a mainline railway line linking Glasgow and Edinburgh via Falkirk in Scotland. It is the principal route out of the five rail links between Scotland's two biggest cities, hosting the flagship "Shutt ...

. It is not to be confused with Bo'ness Junction which refers rather to the mainline junction adjacent to Manuel Junction on the Edinburgh–Glasgow line. There is no station here but services operated almost entirely by ScotRail pass on the Edinburgh–Glasgow service and Edinburgh–Dunblane service. The area's signals are controlled by Edinburgh Signalling Centre (SC). There is a loop on the westbound side and a disused west facing siding. The siding leading to the

and Manuel Junction is east facing on the eastbound side and is controlled by Bo'ness ground frame, which is released by Edinburgh SC.

History

The junction is constructed on the site of the original

Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway The Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was authorised by Act of Parliament on 4 July 1838. It was opened to passenger traffic on 21 February 1842, between its Glasgow Queen Street railway station (sometimes referred to at first as Dundas Street) and ...

Bo'ness Junction station which was first opened on 21 February 1842. The original station had two platforms on the E&G (upper) line. In 1856 a single platform was opened with the (lower)

Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway The Slamannan and Borrowstounness Railway was a railway built in Scotland in 1848 to extend the Slamannan Railway to the harbour at Borrowstounness (now called Bo'ness) on the Firth of Forth, and to connect with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway. ...

line, part of the Monkland Railways and connected to the Slamannan Railway. Trains going from Bo'ness to the E&GR (westbound) used a steeply graded curve which the modern

trackbed The track bed or trackbed is the groundwork onto which a railway track is laid. Trackbeds of disused railways are sometimes used for recreational paths or new light rail links. According to Network Rail, the trackbed is the layers of ballast a ...

shares which rose from the north-facing Bo'ness Low Junction up to the west-facing Bo'ness High Junction.Jowett (1989), page 23, Map A To the west of the Bo'ness High Junction was the east-facing Coatbridge Line Junction which allowed trains from the Linlithgow direction to head southbound on the Monkland Railways. The low-level station was closed in 1933. The upper station at Manuel survived until 1967 at which time the branch was cut back to Colliery.

Preservation

The line to the junction was relaid in 1990 by British Rail with funding from

Tesco PLC Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

so that SRPS Railtours could relocate their base of operations and coaching stock to from its previous base at

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

which was too crowded. The current junction with

Network Rail Network Rail Limited is the owner (via its subsidiary Network Rail Infrastructure Limited, which was known as Railtrack plc before 2002) and infrastructure manager of most of the railway network in Great Britain. Network Rail is an "arm's leng ...

is east-facing. There is now a platform at Manuel and passengers on the branch service can now be able to alight and disembark whilst the train waits for the locomotive to run-round each and every trip. The newly constructed platform finally opened (officially to the public) on 29 June 2013. The old station building at

Moniaive Moniaive ( 'monny-IVE'; gd, Am Moine Naomh, ''"The Holy Moor"'') is a village in the Parish of Glencairn, in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It stands on the Cairn and Dalwhat Waters, north-west of the town of Dumfries. Moniaive has ...

has been offered to the SRPS as a suitable structure for the site.Armstrong, Charles. Moniaive Station. Sou'West. Summer 2015. No.170. page 11.

Track layout

Manuel's track layout features a long curving loop with a short headshunt at the west end. The link-line leaves the loop approximately 13 BR Mk1 coach lengths from the end of the headshunt. A small

trap point Catch points and trap points are types of turnout which act as railway safety devices. Both work by guiding railway carriages and trucks from a dangerous route onto a separate, safer track. Catch points are used to derail vehicles which are ou ...

is located some way up the link line and further up, a gate, signifying the edge of the SRPS's ground. On the approach to Manuel, a fixed

distant signal The application of railway signals on a rail layout is determined by various factors, principally the location of points of potential conflict, as well as the speed and frequency of trains and the movements they require to make. Non-provisi ...

is encountered shortly before the line curves and climbs steeply up to the junction itself. The points at the north-west end of the loop are controlled by a 3-lever ground frame known as Manuel North. The east-facing link line is controlled by a 5-lever ground frame which includes mechanical control of two signals: a raised yellow disc signal reads up the link line and up onto

and a small arm signal prevents moves onto the B&KR. The points at the west end are hand points. Both ground frames are controlled by the train staff using

Annett's lock In British, Australian, French, and Swiss railway signalling, an Annett's key is a form of trapped-key interlocking that locks levers or other items of signalling apparatus, thereby serving as a portable form of interlocking. The purpose is t ...

s and all signals are tubular upper quadrant in design. The points at the Network Rail end of the link-line are controlled from a ground frame released from Edinburgh SC.

References

Notes

Sources

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External links

* * * {{cite web , url = http://www.npemap.org.uk/tiles/map.html#296,676,1 , title = Manuel Upper railway station on navigable OS map (1947) , accessdate = 21 January 2011
Video footage of Manuel Junction
Rail junctions in Scotland Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1842 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1856 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1933 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1967 Heritage railway stations in Falkirk (council area) Beeching closures in Scotland Former North British Railway stations Railway stations built for UK heritage railways Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2013 1842 establishments in Scotland 1856 establishments in Scotland 2013 establishments in Scotland 1933 disestablishments in Scotland 1967 disestablishments in Scotland