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Report - - Southern Railway Control Bunker, Woking, Surrey – December 2015 | Underground Sites | 28DaysLater.co.uk

Report - Southern Railway Control Bunker, Woking, Surrey – December 2015

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Bertie Bollockbrains

There is no pain
Regular User
With thanks to BHG’s 2013 report for the history:


That the clouds of war had been gathering over Europe for some considerable time before September 1939 is undisputed, and all of the Big Four railway companies had themselves been very conscious of this fact. The Southern Railway had taken several positive steps long before the start of the war, which principally involved a planned decentralisation of the stores departments and the administrative offices of the company.

Their emergency headquarters away from the London area, which would undoubtedly be subjected to bombardment from the air, was to be in a large and imposing country house at Deepdene near Dorking. Another house at Elmstead Woods in Kent, and some space in the old locomotive works at Brighton were also taken and set aside for offices. In addition to this accommodation, there were to be three divisional headquarters located at Woking, Redhill and Orpington, each one having its own re-enforced underground chamber for the control staff. These “Battle Headquarters” were occupied from the very start of the war.

The Woking headquarters was to control the extensive “London West” area. Woking station itself was the hub of London West Division Area Number 4, controlling the old South Western main line from Byfleet Junction down to Winchester Junction, together with various important connections to other lines and the two branches leaving the main line at Brookwood, one into the Brookwood Cemetery, and the other to Bisley Camp and Pirbright (both long since closed and lifted).

These control arrangements continued during and for many years after the war, and even in its later years the Woking Underground control office boasted some nine controllers, each with telephone facilities, having direct contact with all the signal boxes in the various numbered areas. Apparently most of the controllers were to note the passing times of every train at various points in their respective areas, in order to establish early or late running and monitor traffic movements generally. With their special ability to divert traffic around any incidents, i.e. breakdowns, derailments, engineering works, etc. These arrangements were presumably very much the same in wartime, with added interference to traffic from air attacks. A locomotive control man and a driver’s guards control man were also part of the team, with their own special tasks of co-ordinating provision of motive power and planning crew duty rosters.

Woking Southern Railway Traffic Underground Control Centre remained operational until the 1960s. Documentation that I saw on this explore dated from 1967.

The bunker shows signs of fire damage.


DESCRIPTION:


The main control room is perhaps 10 or 12 feet wide and about 20 feet long with air locks leading off at both ends up to the surface entrances. The air locks consist of steel doors with small glass panels and bearing inscriptions that read “Upon hearing a purple, red or gas warning close all steel doors when entering or leaving the shelter. The first door must be closed before opening the second”.

Parallel to the main office are four smaller rooms, entered through a third door from within the air lock at the east end of the shelter. The last of these four rooms is also connected directly to the main control room at the west end via a small door. These smaller rooms contained a telephone exchange, warm air ventilation plant, electrical control apparatus, and one room was used by the local Electricity Board as a substation, presumably supplying the offices above. There were no toilets provided in the shelter and the walls were apparently just whitewashed.


REPORT:


A short passageway leads to the airlock, with 3 blast doors present:

01_zpsuoktvi14.jpg


The left exit from the airlock leads to a narrow corridor, with four small rooms:

02_zpslrg19xjy.jpg


One of these small rooms was an electrical substation:

03_zpswag1wdc7.jpg


And the largest fuse I have ever seen:

04_zpspnvbln5x.jpg


The final small room was a telephone exchange:

05_zpsakesum2f.jpg


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Returning the air lock, I made my way through a blast door on the right side of the airlock and into the main control room:

09_zpsjbt2ralq.jpg


10_zpsi0w7523p.jpg


Documentation found on one of the benches, dated 1967 and something about temporary travel restrictions:

17_zpscxbktua6.jpg


Old telephones also found on the benches:

15_zpsohwp0mcq.jpg


At the back of the main control room was the emergency exit, now back filled with rubble:

19_zpscx5gktzq.jpg



Thanks for reading.
 

dweeb

28DL Regular User
Regular User
Looks fantastic! Some interesting period bits in there for sure, which is more than can be said for a lot of similar bunkers, fire damaged or not!
 

Bertie Bollockbrains

There is no pain
Regular User
Firstly it's all sealed now.

Secondly, it's best to put up reports from the places that you do know and gaining a bit of a reputation on here before asking for info
 

Mjd2901

28DL Member
28DL Member
Firstly it's all sealed now.

Secondly, it's best to put up reports from the places that you do know and gaining a bit of a reputation on here before asking for info

No problem. didn't mean to come across rudely. New to the site so will try getting a report or two up when I can get out and about.
 

Night hawk

28DL Member
28DL Member
Ahh bugger I didn't see your report till now.. I've just landed here to try explore as I'm away from my own home terth wanted to explore something different!! Boo :( best go find somewhere else... thought I was struggling to find the entrance! Lol
 
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