Colour Light Signalling for Model Railways (Out Now)

[Welly]

10 hours ago, St. Simon said:

Thanks Welly!

 

Out of interest, was it this thread that alerted it to you, or did you hear about from elsewhere?

 

Regards,

 

Simon

This thread.

[The Stationmaster]

So when is the big launch party Simon? 

[St. Simon]

57 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

So when is the big launch party Simon? 

 

Hmm, not sure yet Mike, I'm kind of waiting to know if they are actually available in the shops!

 

Simon

[St. Simon]

Hi All,

 

Lots of people at GETS asked about where to purchase the book, so I thought I’d add some links here:

 

Paper Copies:

 

Crowood: https://crowood.com/details.asp?isbn=9781785006258&t=Colour-Light-Signalling-for-Model-Railways 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Colour-Light-Signalling-Model-Railways/dp/1785006258/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=Simon+Paley&qid=1571942026&sr=8-1

 

WHSmith: https://www.whsmith.co.uk/products/colour-light-signalling-for-model-railways/simon-paley/paperback/9781785006258.html

 

Waterstones: https://www.waterstones.com/book/colour-light-signalling-for-model-railways/simon-paley/9781785006258

eBook versions:

Amazon; https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/B07VP91PQN/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1571942026&sr=8-1

 

iTunes: https://books.apple.com/gb/book/colour-light-signalling-for-model-railways/id1474022656 

 

Amazon seems to be the only place selling at full price, so I would recommend one of the other suppliers!

 

Regards,

 

Simon

Edited October 24, 2019 by St. Simon

[Bucoops]

Just got dispatch notification (WHSmiths)

[Bucoops]

From Amazon:

 

£14.26

+ £2.80 Delivery

Used - Like New

100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, FAST SHI... » Read more

SuperBookDealsUK

4.5 out of 5 stars 93% positive over the past 12 months. (194,048 total ratings)

Arrives between November 15-25.

Dispatched from Germany.

Delivery rates and return policy.

 

How has someone in Germany got a used one lol!

[St. Simon]

4 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

Just got dispatch notification (WHSmiths)

 

Great News, glad to know it is being sent out now!

 

3 minutes ago, Bucoops said:

From Amazon:

 

£14.26

+ £2.80 Delivery

Used - Like New

100% Money Back Guarantee. Brand New, Perfect Condition, FAST SHI... » Read more

SuperBookDealsUK

4.5 out of 5 stars 93% positive over the past 12 months. (194,048 total ratings)

Arrives between November 15-25.

Dispatched from Germany.

Delivery rates and return policy.

 

How has someone in Germany got a used one lol!

 

 I think the phrase is "don't believe everything you read on the internet!" 

 

Simon

[beast66606]

3 hours ago, St. Simon said:

 I think the phrase is "don't believe everything you read on the internet!" 

 

 

Correct - attributed to Abraham Lincoln.

 

Copy ordered from one of the Amazon "also available from" merchants and with whom I've had good service previously.

[Welly]

I received mine yesterday - I will let you know once I have read the book.

[Bucoops]

Ta da

 

Opened to the chapter that interests me the most

 

[ColinK]

Collected the copy I had ordered from the independent Carnforth Bookshop.  From what I’ve read so far it is excellent - clear diagrams, good explainations and well written.  Thanks for producing it Simon, I hope it sells well.

 

PS while there they gave me some info on a new book about Lancaster, Morecambe and Heysham including the old electrics.

[The Stationmaster]

My copy arrived today and the thing which immediately struck me was the very high quality of the book - excellent photographic reproduction, clear diagrams, clear text, and spot on colour.  These features immediately make it a very readable volume but it goes well beyond just looking good as the approach to the subject adds to that initial impression by being well laid out and clear.  So absolutely right for the modeller of the contemporary scene and generally equally good for the period from the late 1990s onwards with only a few minor, and fairly esoteric, technical differences (some earlier differences are also mentioned).

 

So a top notch job Simon and one I commend to anybody with an interest in the contemporary railway (particularly colour light signalling of course) as well as those seeking good quality information for modelling purposes.

[Signalist]

13 hours ago, Bucoops said:

Ta da

 

Opened to the chapter that interests me the most

 

 

Nice to see the Signalist searchlight heads on 'Minories' made it in to the book.

[Bucoops]

8 hours ago, Signalist said:

 

Nice to see the Signalist searchlight heads on 'Minories' made it in to the book.

Ah, you must be Paul? I'm the one who has been bullying you into tweaking your design into the ones with the different hood

Edited November 2, 2019 by Bucoops

[St. Simon]

18 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

My copy arrived today and the thing which immediately struck me was the very high quality of the book - excellent photographic reproduction, clear diagrams, clear text, and spot on colour.  These features immediately make it a very readable volume but it goes well beyond just looking good as the approach to the subject adds to that initial impression by being well laid out and clear.  So absolutely right for the modeller of the contemporary scene and generally equally good for the period from the late 1990s onwards with only a few minor, and fairly esoteric, technical differences (some earlier differences are also mentioned).

 

So a top notch job Simon and one I commend to anybody with an interest in the contemporary railway (particularly colour light signalling of course) as well as those seeking good quality information for modelling purposes.

 

Thank you Mike, your comments mean a lot to me!

 

Yes, whilst it is mainly 1990s onwards, I hope that there is enough information for anyone looking at colour light signalling in any era to be interested.

 

Simon

[Godfrey Glyn]

Waterstones provided me with my copy this morning. Simon you must be delighted and very proud, well you certainly deserve to be! Hope it sells well, I know book writing is not the path to great riches but I do hope you will enjoy the additional income well as the kudos!

 

all the very best

 

Godfrey

[Welly]

I have just read it all and found it very interesting. It was helpful of you to note what years certain signalling installations were first used.

 

I did not know that splitting distance signal heads were re-introduced on the GWML in the West London area!

 

The mounting distances and dimensions of lineside equipment and signs are very helpful, I doubt I'll use most of them as my proposed layout will be set during 1985 - 1990!

 

Well done!

 

 

[The Stationmaster]

1 hour ago, Welly said:

I have just read it all and found it very interesting. It was helpful of you to note what years certain signalling installations were first used.

 

I did not know that splitting distance signal heads were re-introduced on the GWML in the West London area!

 

The mounting distances and dimensions of lineside equipment and signs are very helpful, I doubt I'll use most of them as my proposed layout will be set during 1985 - 1990!

 

Well done!

 

Going slightly OT (from the book to a principle) the splitting distant idea was developed to solve a specific problem at the proposed Airport Junction just west of Hayes.  The problem arose from the headway between HSTs and the Class 332 HEX units where it was calculated that although they had a lower maximum speed than an HST the 332 acceleration would be much better meaning the (Paddington) start-to-pass running time for a 332 to Airport Jcn would be almost identical to the s-t-p time for an HST.  But with the least restrictive junction signalling at that time (known back then as a free yellow; MAY-FA in Simon's book) the Heathrow train would inevitably be checked and have to reduce speed prepared to stop at the next signal in advance of the junction - and this would increase its running time to Airport Jcn thus reducing the headway behind it therefore reducing line capacity.  (As an aside when i was doing some work on a radical train service proposal later in the 1990s I found that during the peak the number of trains on the Down Main between Paddington and Airport Jcn actually just exceeded its theoretical designed capacity by one train per hour.)

 

When the HEX scheme was being developed in the early part of the 1990s the WR's (Signalling) Scheme Development Engineer was something of an original thinker and somebody who very much understood the way in which headway affected line capacity.  The first idea, of using a PRI (Preliminary Route Indicator) didn't really resolve the problem because although it told a HEX Driver well in rear of the junction that the route was set for their train it couldn't overcome the need to brake for a restrictive signal aspect.  So the splitting distant was reborn to resolve the problem and subsequently became part of the standard Signalling Principles.  

 

Oddly it is little known that when the WR was resignalling its main routes with MAS back in the late 1960s/'70s it had been intended to provide a splitting distant for the junction at Wootton Bassett and the signal was actually erected but never commissioned because somebody woke up to the idea that it didn't accord with the then Principles - so that time the WR lost.

 

And the WR (and BR) also lost in another way because when we were working on Reading layout developments and proposals in the early part of the 1990s the same Scheme Development Engineer devised various ways of giving preliminary route information approaching  a key junction (Reading West Junction) where there were differing speeds over the two divergent routes.  Although those of us on the working group with a train operating responsibility were very keen on the idea because we could see its advantages (particularly for Southampton bound container trains in my case) the recently appointed InterCity Signal Engineer vetoed the whole idea and it never got any further although Tilehurst East Jcn went in and was signallerd exactly as we had agreed in the working group - complete with a splitting distant on the Up Main.

 

So there you are - something which really lies outside the scope of Simon's book but it does, hopefully, show how the principles involved in signalling methods change develop and change.

[St. Simon]

2 hours ago, Welly said:

I did not know that splitting distance signal heads were re-introduced on the GWML in the West London area!

 

38 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Going slightly OT (from the book to a principle) the splitting distant idea was developed to solve a specific problem at the proposed Airport Junction just west of Hayes.  The problem arose from the headway between HSTs and the Class 332 HEX units where it was calculated that although they had a lower maximum speed than an HST the 332 acceleration would be much better meaning the (Paddington) start-to-pass running time for a 332 to Airport Jcn would be almost identical to the s-t-p time for an HST.  But with the least restrictive junction signalling at that time (known back then as a free yellow; MAY-FA in Simon's book) the Heathrow train would inevitably be checked and have to reduce speed prepared to stop at the next signal in advance of the junction - and this would increase its running time to Airport Jcn thus reducing the headway behind it therefore reducing line capacity.  (As an aside when i was doing some work on a radical train service proposal later in the 1990s I found that during the peak the number of trains on the Down Main between Paddington and Airport Jcn actually just exceeded its theoretical designed capacity by one train per hour.)

 

When the HEX scheme was being developed in the early part of the 1990s the WR's (Signalling) Scheme Development Engineer was something of an original thinker and somebody who very much understood the way in which headway affected line capacity.  The first idea, of using a PRI (Preliminary Route Indicator) didn't really resolve the problem because although it told a HEX Driver well in rear of the junction that the route was set for their train it couldn't overcome the need to brake for a restrictive signal aspect.  So the splitting distant was reborn to resolve the problem and subsequently became part of the standard Signalling Principles.  

 

Oddly it is little known that when the WR was resignalling its main routes with MAS back in the late 1960s/'70s it had been intended to provide a splitting distant for the junction at Wootton Bassett and the signal was actually erected but never commissioned because somebody woke up to the idea that it didn't accord with the then Principles - so that time the WR lost.

 

And the WR (and BR) also lost in another way because when we were working on Reading layout developments and proposals in the early part of the 1990s the same Scheme Development Engineer devised various ways of giving preliminary route information approaching  a key junction (Reading West Junction) where there were differing speeds over the two divergent routes.  Although those of us on the working group with a train operating responsibility were very keen on the idea because we could see its advantages (particularly for Southampton bound container trains in my case) the recently appointed InterCity Signal Engineer vetoed the whole idea and it never got any further although Tilehurst East Jcn went in and was signallerd exactly as we had agreed in the working group - complete with a splitting distant on the Up Main.

 

So there you are - something which really lies outside the scope of Simon's book but it does, hopefully, show how the principles involved in signalling methods change develop and change.

 

Hi,

 

Thanks Mike for that explanation, that is very enlightening!

 

Splitting distants are becoming more and more popular, there's 5 on the Western between Didcot and Paddington (Hanwell, Southall West, West Drayton, Scours Lane and Tilehurst West), there's a pair on the approach to Bicester Junction on the Chiltern Lines and a quite a few elsewhere.

 

In fact, the Down Main from Southall to West Drayton is probably the only place where a drive can encounter almost all the junction signalling types. As you leave Southall on Down Main and if your next stop is West Drayton on the Down Relief, you encounter a PRI showing position '0', then you get a Combined Splitting Distant showing Double Yellow in the L/H head and Double Flashing Yellow in the R/H head, then you get a Single Flashing Yellow and finally you get the Junction Signal at SN305.

 

Simon

[Welly]

^^^

Ah! The Western Region being different again!

[St. Simon]

On 02/11/2019 at 15:56, Godfrey Glyn said:

Waterstones provided me with my copy this morning. Simon you must be delighted and very proud, well you certainly deserve to be! Hope it sells well, I know book writing is not the path to great riches but I do hope you will enjoy the additional income well as the kudos!

 

all the very best

 

Godfrey

 

Thanks Godfrey!

 

To be entirely honest, whilst I'm very happy with the way the book has come out, it does feel a bit strange to get some many nice and positive comments so quickly, I do have the feeling of a little bit of 'impostor syndrome' going on!

 

Simon

[The Stationmaster]

Simon if It was rubbish I wouldn't hesitate to say so and the same with any major errors in it - look at my comments about the recently published HMRS book on GWR signalling which says some very peculiar and incorrect things in places.

[njee20]

Amazon showing delivery this week, nothing so far.

 

Edit: clearly they were listening, just had my dispatch confirmation!

Edited November 4, 2019 by njee20

[St. Simon]

Hi,

 

You might interested to know that the book is now available for order from the worlds best model shop*, Kernow Model Railway Centre:

 

http://www.kernowmodelrailcentre.com/p/40737/Book---Colour-Light-Signalling-for-Model-Railways-by-Simon-Paley

 

They expect their delivery next week.

 

*I have to say it is the worlds best model shop as I work in their Guildford branch on a Saturday!  (and if you would like me to sign a copy, you more than welcome to come along!)

 

Regards,

 

Simon

Edited November 6, 2019 by St. Simon

[2mm Andy]

On ‎04‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 12:46, The Stationmaster said:

Simon if It was rubbish I wouldn't hesitate to say so and the same with any major errors in it - look at my comments about the recently published HMRS book on GWR signalling which says some very peculiar and incorrect things in places.

 

I wasn't aware that the HMRS had published a book on GWR signalling recently. Do you mean the Great Western Study Group book?

 

http://www.gwsg.org.uk/GWSG_Publications.html#

 

Andy