Woking Electrical Control Room (2016) is a 1936 structure that controls power across the Southern Rail network, and it is currently open for one or two days a year as part of the Open London heritage weekend. The room, built by a Swedish firm called Asean, is a flat-roof building designed by architect James Robb Scott. It houses one of the finest control rooms I have ever seen, and it was taken out of service in 1997.
The Building
Externally, the control room looks like a fairly nondescript concrete block with some windows. Inside, the contrast is total. The room is a large oval space with a white domed ceiling. At its center sits a small central switchboard desk surrounded by four decorative cast iron poles, each holding up a large copper dish. These dishes light the room with huge bulbs that resemble small rugby balls.
Other than those five items — the desk, the four poles and their dishes, and the bulbs — the room is almost empty. The walls are covered with black control panels, each panel tied to a specific location on the rail line. The panels control substations at those locations, and I believe mercury arc rectifiers were spread out evenly along the line.
How It Worked
If faults were reported, operators could perform rapid reconfiguration of the electricity flow using the panels. That meant no actual downtime on the railways. The system was simple and effective: two on-site engineers controlled this section of the railway and organized repair work when faults occurred.
Ironically, with all that electricity at hand, they still had to wind up the switchboard to use the telephone. The room stayed in use until 1997, when a new substation further down the line took over most of the tasks.
What Remains
Only one other of the five control rooms survives. Woking’s room, by contrast, is still in constant use as offices, and the building is grade ii listed.
The Open London heritage weekend is how I got the pleasure to visit this awesome delight. The photos speak for themselves: a room full of glowing copper dishes, black control panels lining the walls, and the sheer scale of the oval chamber.
The Design
James Robb Scott designed the building to house a working control room, and the result is a space that treats its function as a kind of decoration. The white dome and the central arrangement of the switchboard and poles create a ceremonial feel, even though the room’s purpose was purely functional.
The copper dishes are the stars. Each one holds a bulb that resembles a small rugby ball, and together they light the room. The black control panels fill the walls, each panel representing a separate location on the rail line.
The Legacy
This room is a physical record of a moment in rail history. It shows how electricity was managed across a network, and it does so in a way that is both practical and beautiful. Woking’s room, by contrast, is still in use as offices.
The room’s design is a product of its era. The flat roof, the concrete exterior, and the white dome are all features of the building. The interior, with its central arrangement and glowing copper dishes, is a distinct contrast.
“A small central switchboard desk and four decorative cast iron poles each holding up a large copper dish.”
That line describes the room’s centerpiece, and it captures the whole experience. A small desk, four poles, and four glowing dishes — that is all it takes to make a room unforgettable.
Source material: “Woking Electrical Control Room (2016),” darbiansphotography.com.
Get the Notebook.
The day's best stories and every fresh verdict, in plain English, in your inbox by seven. One email a day, no more.