Modern Image Signalling Help

[JZjr]

I am guessing that two aspect signals would be the platform release signals and a GPS would release freight out of the freight line.

 

All other signals would be off scene.

 

Please correct any mistakes in that.

 

Ignore the plan of the area, it is just the station plan that needs doing!

 

Thanks!

[flyingsignalman]

All the departure signals, including the goods line, would be 2 aspect or (depending on the off scene signalling) 3 aspect.

 

You may have room for a ground position light signal with route indicator for shunt moves from the up (departure) line back into the station or the goods line. The signal would be situated opposite the toe of the facing point in the down (arrival) line at the very bottom of your diagram.

 

On the goods line you could also put a 2 aspect signal near the platform buffers for moves going off scene.

[Captain Kernow]

Fred - you'll need a trap point coming off the goods only line onto the passenger bit, with a signal protecting it, which could either be 2 or 3 aspect, depending on the rest of the area's signalling scheme.

 

Alternatively, if you want to make it look a bit more visually interesting (but with same track plan and a trap point off the goods line), how about a Stop Board coming off the goods line, with the connection to the passenger line operated by a GF, released from your signalbox (assuming it's really Bristol Panel?)...

[JZjr]

So this is what I have?

 

 

It is correct?

[The Stationmaster]

Now assuming it's in the part of the country the map shows it to be and assuming the power station was there prior to Bristol resignalling (which I am fairly certain it was) then it should be signalled to WR standards.

 

Platform starting signals would be 2 or 3 aspect as already discussed above.

 

Ground position light signal to set back off the Up (outbound) line would not have a route indicator of any sort.

 

Entry to the goods branch would most likely be as described by the Cap'n with ground frame operation but it would most likely have a ground position light instead of the suggested 'STOP' board for the outbound signal. If installed at that time the 'STOP' board would have been standard (G)WR pattern but most of these were replaced by the current type of board from the early 1990s on.

 

The inbound signal indication to the goods line would be a subsidiary position light probably without an indication of route but things were changing around then and it might have an indication of route on a WR pattern stencil indicator. Although the form is not quite correct for that period the incoming signal would have looked rather like the one in the pic below but would be 2 aspect.

 

(Main aspects reading into such lines were very rare on the Western until the early/mid 1990s when I started insisting on them being incorporated in new work- in those cases they would then read to a fixed red on the goods etc line.)

 

Note that if the signalling dates from Bristol panel commissioning time very little would have changed by now - new pattern telephones on signal posts, number plates changed from WR style to current BR standard (both as on the pic below) but very unlikely for there have been any change to the method of signalling onto/off the goods line due to the costs of designing and installing the alterations - unless the CEGB were paying!

 

[JZjr]

Ok, the only thing I really want is a GPS somewhere, I have a kit and it needs to be converted to RedRed/WhiteWhite rather than RedRed/RedWhite.

 

It is not something I have used on a layout and is something I would like to use.

[JZjr]

[The Stationmaster]

Ok, the only thing I really want is a GPS somewhere, I have a kit and it needs to be converted to RedRed/WhiteWhite rather than RedRed/RedWhite.

 

It is not something I have used on a layout and is something I would like to use.

 

Two choices then - either use it to read out of the goods line, perfectly ok as above - it was an option and at least using it like that it will see the most use. OR use it for a shunt back move between the platforms.

 

If it was me I would use it coming out of the goods line and not bother about a signal for the other move as I would in any case regard it as not very likely or likely to be need. The WR was pretty tight on installing stuff on its resignalling schemes and every signal had to be fully justified to get through the money saving processes - I doubt if that one would have survived really close scrutiny to be honest. I went through a major battle to get one installed in a similar position on another scheme and had to write about two pages of 'justification' in order to get it - for one little signal .

[Captain Kernow]

I kind of think, Fred, that current levels of service would see the whole line worked on a 'One Engine in Steam' principle from Highbridge and Burnham, all single line from the triangle junction to Stockland. There would be no signals beyond the triangular junction, and one main running line into the station at Stockland. The second platform would not see regular use, and would be accessed by the same GF as that used to get onto the freight bit to the power station. I agree with Mike (Stationmaster) that GPLs could control that, but if the layout had been updated of late, the whole thing could be controlled by Stop Boards.

 

You wouldn't need one to run into the main platform at Stockland, but trains for the power station would stop short, at the GF, and the shunter would use the One Train Working Train Staff to unlock the GF and let the train onto the freight branch. It might be possible to do this with a remote token system, enabling a passenger train to use the branch once the freight was locked in on the power station section.

 

I would see the second platform used for occasional purposes only, possibly in connection with engineering works or maybe special seasonal traffic (perhaps there's a regular annual pop concert nearby, like 'Glastonbury', in which case the Operations Department of Network Rail would appoint a 'Signaller's Agent' at Stockland to take charge of the GF and the 'block working' - a precedent exists in a similar, though not identical manner, elsewhere in the West Country.

 

Also, the 'One Train Working' on the passenger line, but with the Train Staff enabling access to a freight-only line near the end of the passenger line, is actually very similar to the arrangements that currently apply at Falmouth Docks station.

 

If the freight-only line had existed for some years, it is possible that it could still be worked under the W.R. 'C2' regulations, namely single line under control of the shunter, with a further GF controlling access to the DRS loco depot, or maybe even handpoints, especially if line speed was very low (as would almost certainly be the case today).

 

You would probably get away with no colour light signals at all in these circumstances.

 

Unless, of course, you actually want colour light main aspects, in which case you should ignore what I have said completely!!