This substantial collection of Layout Drawings was assembled by John Swift in the course of a railway career spanning some 50 years. After early years as a relief signalman and in the Control Office at Rotherham, John was appointed a member of the Midland Division Shunting Analysis Committee based at Derby whose work involved the study of operating problems over the whole of the Division. Later he served in other offices at Euston and Crewe. He retired in 1982 as the Head of Section - Operating and Signalling, in the Chief Operating Manager’s Office at Crewe where he was responsible for preparing local and general operating instructions and the approval of new works and alterations.

The diagrams were originally prepared as an aide-memoire for use in discussions of local operating problems conducted away from the location. They are based on personal observations and on the official drawings prepared for operating purposes rather than those produced for lever frame construction and interlocking which are more often collected by signalling enthusiasts. As a result it will be found that there are sometimes locations for which lever number information is absent or only partially complete.

None of the information is based on conjecture. In view of the number and varying dates of the original sources small discrepancies will occasionally be found between adjacent diagrams. The locations are presented in line order with a consistent direction from one page to another. Some drawings are inverted compared with the conventional style in consequence.

In general, the drawings show the situation in the period about 1955-60 immediately prior to the many changes and track recoveries of the Beeching era. The layouts depicted are not necessarily those at the date of closure.

A combined index of all the locations in the series can be downloaded from our main web site entirely free of charge.