Please help with my signalling of Stonebow Road Sidings

[andypops]

Hi,

 

I have a question RE signalling for my layout. I would like to get somewhere close to prototypical without looking clumsy / cluttered.

 

The layout is based loosely on a disused fuelling point at Hereford, immediately south of the station. The station area is to the left of the layout in this orientation. It is a modern era layout - although I know that the marches line between Abergavenny and Shrewsbury is predominantly still semaphore signalled, I would like to use electrical colour signals for the mainline, and possibly incorporate disk ground signals if necessary.

 

My layout is pictured below:

 

 

 

The lines are, from top:

Down Main (running left to right)

Up Main (right to left)

Turnaround siding

Disused / lightly used siding

Disused / lightly used siding

Fuelling road / Depot headshunt

 

I think that the signalling required at various points is:

Point A - distant (yellow / green) as the line should already be protected by a starter signal at the station which is off-scene to the left.

B - possible site for a ground signal for access to the up main line, and perhaps a ground frame for the sidings. A stop board perhaps? Facing into the sidings or from them?

C - red / green signal controlling access to the station and protecting access to the sidings and the crossover

D - I intend to have a "Stop" board here, advising drivers to contact the signaller for permission to join the mainline. Is this sufficient, or should there be a signal (ground or light) here?

E - I also intend to have a "Stop" board here mounted on the fuel point. Again, is this sufficient?

F & G - Is anything required here? These are disused / underused sidings, and will simply be for stabling + storing of locos / wagons.

 

Have I missed anything; do I need to have a big rethink?!

 

I would appreciate any (and all) comments

 

All the best,

 

 

Andy

[andypops]

I guess since nobody has replied that my suggestions for signalling were correct?

 

Any comments would be very welcome.

 

 

Andy

[RJS1977]

I'd say that the signal at A is superfluous* and that D E F and G should all have either stop boards or position lights (stop boards are easier to model!). C might be more likely to be a three aspect signal G/Y/R than two-aspect.

 

*As regards A, two-aspect signalling is pretty rare and two-aspect distant signals even more so. It would be more common to have a three aspect signal to the left of the crossover where the yellow light shows if the next signal is red, however this could be arranged to be 'off -scene'.

 

Richard

 

"Oh dear. How sad, never mind."

[andypops]

Thanks very much for your comments Richard, that sounds very helpul.

 

All the best,

 

 

Andy

[beast66606]

*As regards A, two-aspect signalling is pretty rare and two-aspect distant signals even more so. It would be more common to have a three aspect signal to the left of the crossover where the yellow light shows if the next signal is red, however this could be arranged to be 'off -scene'.

 

You sure about that ?

[RJS1977]

Put it this way, I travel quite extensively by train (don't have a car) and over the years have covered most of South Wales and South Central England (Plymouth - Brighton) with forays as far north as Edinburgh, Carlisle, Grange over Sands and York and don't ever remember seeing any though of course I stand to be corrected.

 

In most cases though one of the incentives for replacing the semaphore signalling would have been to increase line capacity, so three or four aspect signals would be used in preference.

[mark axlecounter]

We had it at horrocksford to dasiyfield (absolute block) in the north west untill they put i b signals in. all the signals were 2 aspect pegs hope this helps

[andypops]

I dont want to put a spanner in the works, but (after a lot of research, including filming part of the route) I know that there are a number of 2-aspect red/greens along the route (at Pontrilas-Abbergavenny?), and that the marches line has a notoriously low capacity, with the signalling often being blamed.

 

Andy

[The Stationmaster]

Put it this way, I travel quite extensively by train (don't have a car) and over the years have covered most of South Wales and South Central England (Plymouth - Brighton) with forays as far north as Edinburgh, Carlisle, Grange over Sands and York and don't ever remember seeing any though of course I stand to be corrected.

 

In most cases though one of the incentives for replacing the semaphore signalling would have been to increase line capacity, so three or four aspect signals would be used in preference.

Back in the early 1990s I needed to get some pics f a WR pattern LQ Distant Signal - not a lower arm signal but a plain isolated Distant. I cheerfully accepted the fact that with the possible exception of preserved lines I would not be likely to find one with a wooden posts and I doubt if there had been any on a lattice posts for much nearer to 30 years than 10 by that date. I then face two problems first to find the signal and then to phot it and while I finally succeeded the plain fact was that there were by then fewer than a handful left - the rest had all been converted to 2 aspect colour lights. In fact from probably the mid 1970s onwards the overwhelming majority of worked isolated Distant signals on the WR were colour lights and obviously they were 2 aspect signals as they were straight replacements, albeit often with increased Braking Distance, for semaphore distants.

 

Even by the 1960s isolated Distants on the Western were fast being replaced by colour lights (2 aspect of course) where early resignalling was not planned and the Western had begun installing them in the 1950s although at that time mainly as IB Distants.

 

As far as the North & West Line is concerned I don't think it has seen an isolated semaphore Distant south of Salop in many years. And of course 2 aspect Distants (repeaters) exist on a number of WR lines where full multiple aspect signalling is not present although they have been resignalled with colour lights, including stretches of line you have listed above.