History

The Albrighton - Copt Oak section of "Backbone" appears (linking "Shrewsbury" with "Coalville") in the original 1956 map. Contract 23509 was awarded to GEC in September 1961 with completion date 1 April 1963 "subject to access to all buildings and tower by 1st Dec 1962". The original price £75,186 4s had risen to £77,528 1s 11d by May 1966. STC was unable to provide the requested L6 GHz link until late 1963 and Marconi was also unable to quote.

Progress with this spur route is unclear, however the tower at Pye Green is shown complete with antennas in 1966 and it is understood the main Backbone scheme was operational by this stage. Curiously the images suggest a single "small" horn was used between Albrighton and Pye Green but two horns of the larger size were fitted for the hop between Pye Green and Copt Oak.

The original purpose of the Shrewsbury - Coalville route is unknown. In its final form the SHF link was extended via the Albrighton - Shrewsbury No 1 coaxial cable. Shrewsbury was a "Tier 2" node in the Emergency Manual Switching System and other information indicates a capacity of 600 circuits was available.

Albrighton - Copt Oak was withdrawn from service in April 1985 - a few years ahead of the general closure of Backbone - this may have been the result of plans to redevelop the station at Albrighton as part of a new link between Birmingham and Manchester.