Light Railway operations / signalling ? help required

[RailWest]

Without wishing to sound overly pedantic (who, me? Mais non!), it depends upon what one means by 'normal'.....:-)

 

When a signalman (or GF operator) stands facing the lever-frame, then the Normal (N) position of a lever is at its furthest point of stroke away from him. He then pulls the lever all the way towards him to its Reverse [R] position. In which position the levers 'normally' stand is a different matter....

 

[ One complication - fortunately not encountered here - is the matter of push-pull levers, which normally stood mid-way in their stroke. This was their 'normal' position, but they still had N and R positions just like other levers! 'Pulling' a lever to R worked one signals, 'Pushing' a lever to 'N' worked a different signal. ]

 

Signals levers would normally stand in their N position with the signal arms 'on', and be pulled to the R position to pull the arms 'off'.

 

[There were exceptions with some GFs which were normally kept locked with the signals 'off', so their levers would then be in the R position. Then, when the GF was unlocked, the signals levers would be put back to N so as to allow the points to be worked. But in a few such cases it was the practice of the relevant railway company to have the arms 'off' when the lever was at N, so the lever was pulled to put the signal back to 'on'! Just to confuse the unwary.....]

 

Points levers would be in the 'N' position for their 'normal' lie and pulled to the R position for their 'reverse' lie. Whether FPL levers were at N or R when 'normal' could vary, as mentioned already above. Level-crossing gate bolt levers were usually in the N position when the gates were bolted across the road, on the basis that having the crossing open to rail traffic was the railway's 'normal' situation, though the reverse arrangement sometimes applied.

 

For this layout, I would suggest that in the GF without signals then all the levers would normally be at N, with the FPL plungers 'in'. When the GF was unlocked, the first thing to do would be to pull the FPL lever(s) to unlock the points, after which the point levers could be pulled as required. At the other GF you could apply the same logic for consistency, in which case you could pull one signal lever or the other as required, with the FPL and point levers both at N, or put back the signal levers and pull the FPL lever to un-bolt the point, after which the point lever could be pulled. Alternatively, the FPL plunger would normally be 'out', so you would need to pull the FPL lever to R first to lock the point lever at N before you could pull the Starting signal lever, in which case the operator might normally leave the FPL lever at R and only put it back to N when he wanted to work the point. A bit of 'take you pick' here....

 

Whether that is any clearer now, hmm......

 

[PS: Unfortunately I do not have a locking-table for Callington after the economic FPLs were converted to independent ones. However I note that the late George Pryer lists the FPL as standing normally 'in', and the FPL and points were locked by the tablet as well (not sure why, given that it was a block-post), so I would suggest that the first option would seem the one for you to choose - ie all levers normally at N and pull the FPL to unlock the point.]

Edited November 20, 2015 by RailWest

[Simond]

Sounds like an explanation of cricket. One side's in until everyone's out, and then the other side's in until they're all out. But the side that's in, waits in the pavilion, until the batsman who's in gets out, while the side that's out are in the field stay out until the other side's out. I think.

[AndiMax]

Thank You all

 

Well I'm not shure whether I should watch a cricket game next time in GB, but I think I've got an idea how to position my (cosmetic) levers now :-)

 

Andreas

[bécasse]

One complication - fortunately not encountered here - is the matter of push-pull levers, which normally stood mid-way in their stroke. This was their 'normal' position, but they still had N and R positions just like other levers! 'Pulling' a lever to R worked one signals, 'Pushing' a lever to 'N' worked a different signal.

 

Except Chris, that if you look at the photo of the model ground frame in post 96, the right-hand-most red lever stands in mid-position so it must be a push-pull lever. In fact, the use of such a lever to control the arriving home and departing starter is not only legitimate on a light railway, it simplifies the locking (since the points need to be set exactly the same way for both arrivals and departures and, since they are both on the same lever, you don't need to lock the home and starter against each other), and was actually recommended to the NBR by the Inspecting Officer at Lauder.

 

The blue fpl lever standing a little out is a bit odd but could perhaps be explained by the lever having a dual frame lock and facing point lock function, which was a common enough feature of ground frames although not at terminal stations.

[RailWest]

Are you perhaps not putting too much significance in what you can see in that photo? I had assumed that the picture was simply 'posed' and showed the levers just as they happened to be at the time.
 
>>>In fact, the use of such a {push-pull} lever to control the arriving home and departing starter is not only legitimate on a light railway....

 

And not just a light railway, the S&DJR did it like that at Burnham originally, although it was altered at a later date.

[Pacific231G]

Meanwhile in the rest of Europe light railways used almost no signals (unless for a junction with a main line) and points were generally held over by weighted levers- usually local ones. They did though have very strict rule books and were no more prone to accidents than light railways here. It does seem that, though the Light Railway Acts were designed to encourage the development of vey economical railways particularly to open up poorer regions,  the authorities just couldn't let go of their heavy rail thinking. Light railways weren't that much cheaper to build and equip and in the end there were relatively few public light railways in the British Isles.

[DLT]

Fascinating topic, and I look forward to seeing this layout develop!

All the best, Dave.

[DLT]

PS  Is there a separate topic on the layout itself?