A First

Small things please small minds or so the old saying goes.

Today I experienced a little frisson when my train back from Victoria to Gatwick Airport was standing, unusually, in Platform 8. So expecting to run from the Chatham Lines to the Brighton Lines at Battersea Pier Junction there was a little more frisson as we carried on down the Slow Lines to Stewarts Lane Junction.
Thence round on the (single) Battersea Reversible to Longhedge Junction and then up out onto the Brighton mainline at Pouparts Junction although it was actually controlled by Battersea Park Junction from 1952 until Clapham Junction B took over in 1979 which in turn gave way to Victoria ASC in 1980. At some time in the future they will, in turn, give way to the Regional Operating Centre being built at Three Bridges.

So an awful lot of signalling history packed into a short journey over which there are no booked passenger trains. A good 'first'