auntys_eyes wrote:Great pics there Nath, and thanks for the explainations. Often wondered what some of the older signals meant.
Yeah - bloody good photography there Nathan, dunno how you managed to take the photos *and* be in them at the same time though, that's a clever trick
A bit more information on the signals for those who are interested.
The two signals in photo #4 are called "starters" - straight out is at Danger or stop, on a 45degree angle downwards is proceed. So when the train is ready to depart, the signalman will give the signal to proceed on whichever track the train is standing on - platform or the passing loop.
The points and signals are interlocked underneath the lever frame. Essentially it's a mechanical computer - if the points are set for the passing loop for example, a series of bars and rollers underneath the frame won't allow the signalman to pull the starter for the mainline. As with everything on the railway, things are designed to "fail-safe".
Nathan mentioned the three types of lever in the frame - points, point locks, and signals. You can't release the point lock until all the signals are back at Danger, and you can't move the points without them being unlocked, and so on. That way, it prevents the points from being moved against a displayed signal, etc.
So the correct sequence would be, for example: Release signals back to Danger, unlock points, move points, re-lock points, set appropriate signal/s to proceed.
The little "cheese-knob" hand-held points lever that was mentioned isn't linked into the lever frame, someone has to physically walk up to it and "throw" the points. A quick guide for those ones ... "white is right". One side is painted white, the other is black. In the photo, you can see the white face, which means the points are set for the right hand side, i.e. up the hill to where the passing loop joins back onto the main line. If the lever was showing the black side, it would be sending you off to the left, into the yards.
Last of all, the hand signals. Used primarily to make the guard feel important, and gives him something to do. An idle guard can get himself into trouble, so best make him feel like he's wanted and needed
An arm waved from straight out to up, bending at the elbow is the signal for "come to me". Arms over the head, bringing the hands together, then apart, then together again, etc (as in the photo) means "come to me slowly". An arm waved in a circular motion away from the body means "go away from me". Both hands held in front of you, with pointing fingers, making circles in opposite direction means "go away from me slowly". (For that one, think of an Aussie Rules umpire giving the "goal" signal, but moving his pointing fingers in circles.) Last of all is "stop" which is both arms straight up, hands flat.
There's other hand signals as well, but they're the main ones
In picture number 8, as the train is heading into the Village Junction station, it's going through a complicated set of points-work called a "scissors cross-over". There's two levers as Nathan mentioned. Each one controls two sets of points, diagonally opposite from each other. Attached to the lever is an indicator board, either red or green (as Nathan also mentioned). If it's green it means the points are set to the "straight". If it's red then it's set to "cross". In this case, a driver needs to pay attention to both indicators, depending on what he's doing and where he's coming from. It's possible for example to go through one set that are at straight, and then meet the opposing set that are at cross. That wouldn't be good and would ruin everyone's day...
In the case of that journey, both sets of points were set to "cross" as it's the most efficient way. The train comes in from the bushland loop track, as shown in the photo, and crosses over to platform 1. When the locomotive then "runs around the train", it goes up the hill slightly, comes back down and through a set of points to bring it into platform 2, then through the other arm of the scissors cross-over. The guard can then reset both sets of points at the same time to bring the locomotive back onto the end of the train, ready to depart for Mussel Pool.
BTW these systems are basically the same as was used on the WA Government Railways in the days before the modern electric signals, etc. The systems may be old, but they still work!
Nobody can say that WARSUG isn't educational!!!