Greenford West signalbox, where I relieved, was the box after Northolt Junction (now in London Midland Region), towards Old Oak Common and Paddington, and was closed at night. However, I remember that when on late turn, from 2 pm, I always had to wait for a certain freight train to call to put down and pick up some vans, before I could close the box which was sometimes quite late. During the next day the vans were drawn by a diesel shunting engine under a bridge to a goods yard. The bridge carried the London Underground Central Line. In those days there was a railway station at Greenford through which a few newspaper trains passed in the night and about a couple of express passenger trains in the day between Paddington and Birmingham via High Wycombe, Banbury and Princes Risborough. I remember only one semi-fast passenger train from the High Wycombe area to Paddington which called at Greenford at around mid-day. There is a bay in the Central Line underground station at Greenford for trains from and to the West Ealing branch. There are still some of the original Great Western type semaphore signals at Greenford.
The next signalbox was Park Royal which I also worked. Behind the box was a goods yard in which a 0-6-0 diesel shunting engine worked for the Guinness Brewery, from underneath a bridge. In front of the box were some long sidings which nearly stretched as far as the next signalbox, North Acton. Freight trains could be formed on the long sidings, ready to start on their journey, or freight trains arriving. I always liked this signalbox, whatever hours of duty, early, late or nights. The one other signalbox on this line in which I worked was North Acton, the line then bearing left and joining the main line at Old Oak Common towards Paddington. There was a junction at North Acton from where a branch connected with a junction at a signalbox called Viaduct Junction on the Kensington line. Milk tanks and light engines were mainly run on and off this branch. I relieved occasionally at a small signalbox which was near the end of a goods line and the line branched from the main line at Southall, to Brentford. It was not a very busy box with the freight trains, and once a week I had to climb up the ladders of the signals to renew the oil lamps as apparently there was no lampman available at that time for that particular place. That was the only time when I had to attend to signal lamps, and fortunately it was very rarely that I was required to relieve there. The signalbox was named Firestone Box.
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