Building record 4086/0/3 - Railway Emergency Control Centre at Crewe Railway Station

<1> CBA, 2002, Defence of Britain Project, 2278 (Non anti-invasion database) (Digital Archive). SCH4380.

Railway Emergency Control at Crewe Railway Station. One of a series of emergency control centres built between 1939 and 1940 along the strategic railway routes and which housed railway staff with telephone connections to signal boxes, etc. along the lines within their locality.

<2a> Royal Air Force, 1944-1947, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review, ?106G UK 1459 02/04/1946 (Aerial Photograph). SCH8041.

Visible on aerial photograph dating from the late 1940s.

<2b> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

Visible on aerial photograph dating from the late 1940s.

<3> Airfield Research Publishing, 2014, Survey and Report of a Railway Control Room (Client Report). SCH7329.

A Type A1 Divisional Control Room which is believed to have been fully equiped with duplicate equipment such as Creed teleprinters and comprehensive telephone switchboards. It was built at a cost of £10,100, with an addittional £4500 for electrical equipment. An earth bank continues around the side and rear elevation to at least half wall height. This particular building is similar to the District Control Roon at Chester in that it is uncluttered on the outside but has both exit and entrance along the main elevation. Behind the front elevation are the three auxiliary plant rooms and the two main exhaust vents are visible. The fuel inlet still has part of its hose attached. The building measures 61ft 5in by 37ft 5in and has a max height of 18 ft while the Chester building is 64ft long by 36ft with a height of 15ft.

<4> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R, 12/05/2016 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

Following the demolition of the control centre at Chester, this is the last surviving example in Cheshire.