Token Exchange Equipment For Single Track Lines

[Brian Kirby]

Hi Everyone,

     Can anyone say how many different systems of token exchange were used on Britain's railways? Starting with the Great Western, it used the well known aluminium tablets with the optional add-on hoops for remote use, were they used elsewhere? I seem to recall riding a DMU on the Llandudno Jct. to Blaenau Festiniog branch in the late 1970s, and i'm pretty sure they were still using the LNWR wooden staff system. Notable lines like the Highland, S&D and M&GN all used automatic mechanical token exchange, the former until the late 1970s between Inverness and Keith, were all three systems different, or was there a degree of similarity? Later on came electronic tokenless block, and later still radio token control. Can members report any other types? What did they use on Midland or LNER and SR constituent lines?

 

                                                                                    Cheers, Brian.

[PaulRhB]

You've still got a train staff key in use on the Ludgershall branch and key tokens between Marchwood to Fawley and Yeovil Pen Mill to Maiden Newton.

Not sure what the current method is Worgret to Norden since the Dorset Coast resignalling as I don't have the sectional appdx to hand.

[big jim]

Aylesbury to claydon is key token with machines in the box at claydon and in a cabinet just north of aylesbury, i seem to remember seeing a hoop type token in claydon box when i was up there last too, the new 'young' signaller in there didnt know what it was for so i can only assume it was (is) for the line towards bletchley as i've never collected one when heading to bicester!

 

The heart of wales line is a similar key system (with 3 different shaped 'tops' for whichever section your in, square, round and triangular)

 

The one 'odd ball' i have worked in recent years is kingsbury to birch coppice (park hall jn to be precise) for that one you collect a wooden 'bat' token from kingsbury shunt frame box for authority to proceed onto the single line!

[Brian Kirby]

Thanks Paul and Big Jim, for the replies so far. Of course Yeovil PM to Maiden Newton is ex-GWR, were they using the same type tokens on the Southampton to Fawley branch? When WR took over the whole of the Central Wales line, the southern section was previously joint GW/LMS, i suspect the northern section was "Westernized"? I haven't heard of the "wooden bat" type, i'm sure there must be a multitude of different staff keys to access sidings and one-engine-only branches?   BK

[The Stationmaster]

I think you're asking two questions rolled into one.  The first one is about systems for working single lines and the second is about the way in which any physical elements of that system are transferred between Signalman and Driver.

 

As far as thee systems are concerned over the years there have been quite a number, in roughly the following order of increasing sophistication -

1.  Working the line by a Pilotman accompanying each train - probably very rapidly supplanted by

2. A Train Staff to accompany every train, which in many cases was supplanted by

3. Train Staff & Ticket Working (TS&T) where a succession of trains in the same direction could be sent with a 'Ticket' (could be paper or metal) with the final one in that direction carrying the Train Staff which then enabled trains to run in the opposite direction.

4. The Electric Train Staff system (ETS) in which a number of trains staffs were held in a machine and one would be released electrically by the Signalman at teh opposite end of teh section to allow a train to approach him (invented by Webb & Thompson).

5. The (electric) Tablet system similar in principle to the Electric Train Staff but using round metal 'tablets' instead of staffs  (Patented by Tyers and sold by them in numerous versions which were developed and increased in sophistication over the years).

6. The Electric Train Token System (ETT) which was devised on the GWR to deal with problems being encountered with the ETS system (it had been found that when well worn staffs could be got out of a machine without an electric release).

7. Special 'lock & block systems. which interlocked block working with signals (not very common although one GWR example still survives).

8. Full track circuiting with Direction Levers - initially used on fairly short sections because of the cost of track circuiting, provides full interlocking between the two signalboxes involved and train detection throughout the single line section.

N.B. Single Line Worked by Track Circuit Block is basically similar but over the years different Regulations have been used for the two methods and the names have changed to & fro.

9. Tokenless Block - two slightly different systems developed by the Western and Scottish Regions respectively.

10. Radio Electronic Token Block (RETB) developed mainly to allow replacement of Tokenless Block in Scotland as it permits centralised control meaning fewer staff needed to work it - used in conjunction with self-activating points at crossing loops, subsequently also used elsewhere, e.g. the Cambrian Lines.

11. No Signalman Token (Remote) (NSTR) Developed by the Western Region to provide something similar to RETB but at lower cost and with no need for special equipment on traction units - uses token machines remotely supervised from a single location and the sel-activating points at crossing loops as found in the RETB system (I wrote the first draft outline of the spec for this one - very drafty as it happened!).

12. ERTMS - basically updating ERETB to use a version of the European Train Management System - UK trial site on the Cambrian Lines where it replace RETB.

 

I think that is about it but there are some sub-variants and other systems have come and gone on freight only lines.  The principal one of these is NSKT (No Signalman Key Token) which involves remote, traincrew operated token machines at one end of the single line and (in almost every case) a Signalman at the other.  There have also been other systems such as the WR's 'Table C2 Working' which basically go right back to almost square one and have a person in charge of the line who verbally authorises a train to enter it past a STOP board - this sort of thing is only used on freight only lines.

 

Going way back into the 19th century the 'timetable order' system was used on some lines but it became illegal as a consequence of the 1889 Regulation of Railways Act.

 

Right that's what you have - and clearly there needs to be some way of delivering things like staffs, tablets, and tokens to the Driver - hence various things such as hoops and automatic catching systems such as those used on the S&DJtR, the M&GNR and in Scotland (plus others)

 

Hope that helps a bit.

[PaulRhB]

Yes the Maiden Newton NSTR and Marchwood NSKT tokens are the same type both lines also have the token transfer attachment to allow for the uneven service and the S&T move them as required.

The Swanage branch staff is currently out of use and held at Bournemouth so they require special arrangements and seven days notice, it has to be carried on the train from Wareham.

[Eggesford box]

Hi Jim,

 

the 'hoop type thing' at Claydon was/is just a leather hoop attached to a pouch which the token for the section to Aylesbury was placed in. I would imagine the pouch fell out of use now that tokens are not exchanged on the move manually.The Stationmaster has detailed everything more thoroughly and clearly than I ever could. I know we used to put the token in a holder for locomotive hauled trains but not bother for DMUs on the Barnstaple branch which might lead the uninitiated to believe there where two different systems in use on the same line. Bit off post but it was noticeable that where drivers only had to pick up or set down a token or staff instead of exchanging them (such as where the next section was double track) that their speed was markedly higher when setting them down than when picking them up!   

[PaulRhB]

Marchwood has No Sig Key Token with two remote machines. One at Fawley and one at the Fawley end of the Marchwood loop as the oil trains are so long it was deemed prudent to save making the driver walk all the way back to the box, at the Totton end, to swap tokens when crossing an Up train. This arrangement allows the Signalman to run in the down train in the loop, exchange the token with the Up driver at the box then call the driver at the aux token machine to allow him to withdraw a token, clear the signal, so the Down train can proceed.

Token pouches were always used as the exchange was done on the move and it's much easier not to drop Unfortunately they now have to stop to exchange due to 'the risk' of hitting themselves with the token as it swings up which slows things down. OTMR downloads enforce that.

[18B]

Great Rocks to Buxton still uses tokens and pouches with a metal hoop.

[Dave Scott]

Leather pouches with hoops have been mentioned of which there were two basic types - oblong for a Tyers key token amd round for a tablet. both allowed the token to be read. There was another type of hoop for Tyers token. This is of all metal construction into which the token clips.

 

|The long lost but still loved Somerset and Dorset used automatic tablet exchangers but this was only a variant of the hoop delivery system. There is an excelent shot in Peter Smiths "Footplate Over the Mendips" between pages 26 and 27. Basically a tablet in a holder is held in an arm which swings out towards the loco. There is a catcher on the tender, a sort of  jaws which catches the tablet.

 

You ask if there was standardisation. Well most tablet and token instruments I have seen have been have been Tyers. There must have been other makes but Tyers was probably the most common.

 

Until they redoubled it the most amusing sight was at Moreton-in-Marsh. The section to Evesham was Tyers token. I comuted from there for 4 years and the train I regularly caught was an HST. It was almost sureal to see the driver of a 125mph train hold a Tyers token, a good piece of steam age kit, out of the door for the signalman to collect

[18B]

 

Until they redoubled it the most amusing sight was at Moreton-in-Marsh. The section to Evesham was Tyers token. I comuted from there for 4 years and the train I regularly caught was an HST. It was almost sureal to see the driver of a 125mph train hold a Tyers token, a good piece of steam age kit, out of the door for the signalman to collect

 

Seeing a Class 67 on 3 wagons for Dowlow, slowing to colect the token wasn;t far behind the above,

[PaulRhB]

. It was almost sureal to see the driver of a 125mph train hold a Tyers token, a good piece of steam age kit, out of the door for the signalman to collect

It was also common Yeovil Jcn to Pen Mill until the resignalling a couple of years back. HST diversions, 159's, MPV's and even the NMT

[Brian Kirby]

Thanks again for the replies, particularly to The Stationmaster for his extensive listing. No.5 on your list is the Tyer's token, which you suggest is/was fairly widespread, using the familiar cast aluminium tablets. So am i right in saying that the GWR used their own version of this (your no.6), but very similar to other tablets across the country? Would the mechanized exchangers still use the Tyer's tablet/token in a pouch? I shall have to try and compare pics of S&D, M&GN and Highland apparatus to see if there is any commonality? Did they all work at the same standard height from the track? Would they have been interchangeable, say in the unlikely event of a loco being transferred between systems?   BK

[The Stationmaster]

Thanks again for the replies, particularly to The Stationmaster for his extensive listing. No.5 on your list is the Tyer's token, which you suggest is/was fairly widespread, using the familiar cast aluminium tablets. So am i right in saying that the GWR used their own version of this (your no.6), but very similar to other tablets across the country? Would the mechanized exchangers still use the Tyer's tablet/token in a pouch? I shall have to try and compare pics of S&D, M&GN and Highland apparatus to see if there is any commonality? Did they all work at the same standard height from the track? Would they have been interchangeable, say in the unlikely event of a loco being transferred between systems?   BK

My number 5 is the Tyer's Tablet - it is similar in operational effect to a key token but looks completely different (see pictures on this page -

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=tyers+tablet&client=safari&rls=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Zrb_U83jNsXF0QWVsICgCw&ved=0CAkQ_AUoAg&biw=1348&bih=970

 

The 'familiar cast aluminium tablets' sound to me like a reference to key tokens (see pictures on this page - the GWR pattern key tokens are at the top and there os also a picture of a Webb & Thompson Eectric Tran Staff instrument on the page -

http://www.google.co.uk/search?q=railway+electric+key+tokens&client=safari&rls=en&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=87b_U-6yKo2o0AWmwIHwAQ&ved=0CDYQsAQ&biw=1348&bih=970

 

The electric token was invented and developed by the GWR but as railway companies were not allowed to sell equipment of their manufacture to other Railways the GWR gave Tyers a manufacturing licence and received a royalty on machines sold to other companies plus Tyers also made them for the GWR.

 

Most of the mechanical exchangers were originally developed for use on Railways which used Tyers tablets of various marks and types but a carrier could probably have been developed to use them with key tokens  - I don't know if one ever was?

[Dave Scott]

I googled the designers name for the S&D auto exchangere andgot this page

 

http://www.sdrt.org.uk/resources/whitaker/

 

Excelent pic of how it works

[The Stationmaster]

What about on the Minehead line Mike? That was key token and had mechanical exchangers. The standard carrier was modified slightly to make exchanges more reliable. I think the top of the hoop was flattened in shape.

I sort of skirted round that one Paul with my bit about 'other railways using them' etc.  I've an idea it might have been covered in one of the more erudite magazines at some time but am not certain on that.

 

There were quite a lot of 'other then ETT' worked sections of single line on the GWR between the wars and some lasted until closure.  Part of the reason for this was what they had acquired at the Grouping although even before then they had not completely converted to ETT on all of their own single line sections although I presume (without any sort of checking) that the new work on crossing loops on the Minehead branch would have used tokens instead of the older alternatives.

[corneliuslundie]

Another reason for not being so keen on holders for tokens etc in recent years is the possibility of error. It is too easy for a driver to assume it is the token for the section the train is entering without actually looking through the opening in the pouch. Hence the Abermule disaster.

 

At the simplest level a suitably labelled piece of wood still suffices, eg where there is only the possibility of one train at a time such as the Sheringham branch from Cromer (where I seem to remember a staff in use), that is until the link to the NNR was reinstated, and many other short dead-end branches. Where there are/were successive sections using this system they are/were shaped differently and coloured differently. Many WTTs give the details, eg round coloured red, triangular coloured green, square coloured black. If the train has to stop at a station which has a signal box before entering the section, this system is still the cheapest and simplest. For goods lines the staff will have keys attached to unlock the ground frames. The only real disadvantage is that the train disappears off the system when it moves from a centrally signalled area to the branch. It is presumably possible even with a wooden staff for it to be released electronically from a remote box but I don't know if it is ever done. What I also don't know is if there was ever any kind of standardisation in the design of staffs.

[18B]

Another reason for not being so keen on holders for tokens etc in recent years is the possibility of error. It is too easy for a driver to assume it is the token for the section the train is entering without actually looking through the opening in the pouch. Hence the Abermule disaster.

 

At the simplest level a suitably labelled piece of wood still suffices, eg where there is only the possibility of one train at a time such as the Sheringham branch from Cromer (where I seem to remember a staff in use), that is until the link to the NNR was reinstated, and many other short dead-end branches. Where there are/were successive sections using this system they are/were shaped differently and coloured differently. Many WTTs give the details, eg round coloured red, triangular coloured green, square coloured black. If the train has to stop at a station which has a signal box before entering the section, this system is still the cheapest and simplest. For goods lines the staff will have keys attached to unlock the ground frames. The only real disadvantage is that the train disappears off the system when it moves from a centrally signalled area to the branch. It is presumably possible even with a wooden staff for it to be released electronically from a remote box but I don't know if it is ever done. What I also don't know is if there was ever any kind of standardisation in the design of staffs.

 

The lines into Tinsley only very recently reverted to One Train Working and very Heath Robinson Wooden Staff was created,I;ve not seen the one for the Stanton Gate Branch as latterly issued from Stappleford and Sandiacre box (before it closed) but I understand that that was an old Chair leg! with a brass plate on it, THe nearest I believe there was to a standard was the use of a Brake stick, the round handle and the Flat side made a very good staff, naturally they were shortened, but they did the job.

 

RE: Hoops, they are still used between Great Rocks and Buxton but are a constant source of problems as they have to be mended regulalrly and there aren;t that many of them, leading to them ending up at one end quite often, giving a driver three pouches often causes some amusment!

[big jim]

where there are/were successive sections using this system they are/were shaped differently and coloured differently.

 

For goods lines the staff will have keys attached to unlock the ground frames. The only real disadvantage is that the train disappears off the system when it moves from a centrally signalled area to the branch.

the heart of wales line still has the different shape and colour token reminder

 

when the cambrian was RETB the ground frame release key was chained to the actual machine in the loco/unit cab and if you needed to go and release the ground frame for a location you had to ring the box and get a 'shunt token' which allowed you to move within station limits, the only way you could get the shunt token to show on the screen was by moving the key to the correct position to allow the box to send it to you, you then got a (S) on the screen with your location, this then also electronically released the frame levers, it was all part of the signal interlocking system as until you gave the frame back (ie in the correct mainline position) and returned the key to normal in the machine to return the shunt token the siganller couldn't give you the next token or allow another train into the section in rear

[Dave Scott]

Another reason for not being so keen on holders for tokens etc in recent years is the possibility of error. It is too easy for a driver to assume it is the token for the section the train is entering without actually looking through the opening in the pouch. Hence the Abermule disaster.

 

At the simplest level a suitably labelled piece of wood still suffices, eg where there is only the possibility of one train at a time such as the Sheringham branch from Cromer (where I seem to remember a staff in use), that is until the link to the NNR was reinstated, and many other short dead-end branches. Where there are/were successive sections using this system they are/were shaped differently and coloured differently. Many WTTs give the details, eg round coloured red, triangular coloured green, square coloured black. If the train has to stop at a station which has a signal box before entering the section, this system is still the cheapest and simplest. For goods lines the staff will have keys attached to unlock the ground frames. The only real disadvantage is that the train disappears off the system when it moves from a centrally signalled area to the branch. It is presumably possible even with a wooden staff for it to be released electronically from a remote box but I don't know if it is ever done. What I also don't know is if there was ever any kind of standardisation in the design of staffs.

Just for clarity re ground frames. Both Electric Train Staff and Tokens can be used to unlock ground frames. Tokens can be used directly as the key ends are unique and staffs can have a key fixed into the end.

 

Re mistakes with tokens when I was at KESR 20 years ago, Tenterden - Rolvenden was tablet. Rolvenden - Witersham Token and Wittersham Northiam a simple single staff..So not only were the single line authorities diferent colours they were different shapes.

[The Stationmaster]

Remote release of train staffs - normally using an Annetts Key instrument - has been around for many years (and hence the staff concerned will have an Annetts Key fitted into one end).

 

It has for very many years been a requirement for the Driver of a train entering a single line section to ensure that he has the correct token, tablet, staff or whatever - in fact even in the 1960 Instructions failure to do so was still regarded as an offence leading to summary dismissal.  But notwithstanding that such incidents have occurred over the years the worst consequences of course being the Abermule collision but I know of a similar incident (fortunately without a collision) where a train had the wrong token and that occurred in 1969.  In steam days such errors were relatively easily covered up by the Driver - if no one else - and I have heard several stories of tokens going into the firebox - not so simple on a diesel of course.

 

And NSKT mixed with modern signals can also lead to mistakes such as the occasion c.1971 when a 'Warship' diesel arrived at Paddington with the Driver still in possession of the token for a single line almost 100 miles away - he'd had a nice green aspect to run off the single line and had completely forgotten he had to give up the token at the next station (where his train was not booked to stop - a relatively simple mistake and a right side failure fortunately).

 

Jim's mention of 'shunt tokens' on RETB leads to another thing which has, I'm sure. now totally disappeared from Britain's railways and that was the Banker Token (or tablet) which was separately given to the Driver of a banking (and therefore at rear) engine so that he would have the protection of the system when he dropped off teh train he was assisting short of the far end of the section and returned whence he had started.

 

Another variant - in one of the Tyers Tablet systems - was that tablets could be issued for permissive working allowing more than one train in a block section to each have its own tablet, again something which has long vanished.

[LNERGE]

Here's a key token in it's pouch about to be collected at quite a pace by the look of it. The pouch is held in a spring loaded box on the post.. It's worth a look through the whole gallery for other pictures.

 

http://www.eastanglianrailwayarchive.co.uk/Railways/Ely-Soham-Chippenham-Junction/i-kvk8tJW/A

 

detail here..

 

 

 

 

[Edwin_m]

I think the Gunnislake branch is a staff released remotely from the PSB. It is obtained from a cabinet at St. Budeaux Victoria station. I guess the first few hundred metres from the junction with the main line must be track circuited to provide protection up until the staff is obtained when stopping at the station.

I think the signal leading onto the branch must be interlocked so that it will only clear when the token is in the cabinet, and with track circuits as you say to protect against the situation where the token has been given up but the train hasn't yet cleared the single line.  Very much the same thing must happen at Ambergate on the Matlock branch, although here there is the possibility of a train being locked in on Peak Rail at the Matlock end. 

 

On the Looe branch I believe there is a token for Liskeard to Coombe and some sort of one-train staff for Coombe to Looe.  The signalman at Liskeard obtains a token for the passenger train to proceed to Coombe, where the Looe token is obtained and both are used to reverse the ground frame point leading to Looe.  After the train has passed over it, this point is then restored normal and the Liskeard token replaced in the adjacent hut, so that another (freight) train can use the Liskeard section while the passenger train is on its way to Looe and back.  At least this is how it was when I witnessed it in around 2000, incidentally the only place I know where a passenger-carrying train can be moved (over the point) without the guard on board (standing at the ground frame) without the paraphanalia of DOO(P) radios etc. 

 

The Gunnislake branch is different in that the whole of it is a single token section.  The point at Bere Alston is left reverse while the train travels to Gunnislake and back, so it only has to stop once in each direction.  This will change somewhat with the proposed reopening to Tavistock, where I understand the Gunnislake section will have its own token and that train will be locked in for the day after travelling out coupled to the first Tavistock train of the morning and return to Plymouth coupled to the last one. 

 

I believe after Abermule the starting signals were generally interlocked with the token machines, so they were released only if a token had been obtained for a the relevant direction.  Of course NSKT systems don't have that protection as they have no signals, although they now have TPWS loops which are released for a timed period after the token is obtained and should therefore guard against the hazard of a train driver failing to obtain the correct token. 

 

I have no information on the details of the equipment used in any of these cases, and am using "token" as a generic description for a physical object that gives evidence of permission to occupy a single line. 

[big jim]

Mistakes still happen!!

 

http://www.raib.gov.uk/cms_resources.cfm?file=/080611_R132008_Aylesbury.pdf

 

The above mentioned method of work has now changed as the ground frames have now gone

[The Stationmaster]

I think the signal leading onto the branch must be interlocked so that it will only clear when the token is in the cabinet, and with track circuits as you say to protect against the situation where the token has been given up but the train hasn't yet cleared the single line.  Very much the same thing must happen at Ambergate on the Matlock branch, although here there is the possibility of a train being locked in on Peak Rail at the Matlock end. 

 

On the Looe branch I believe there is a token for Liskeard to Coombe and some sort of one-train staff for Coombe to Looe.  The signalman at Liskeard obtains a token for the passenger train to proceed to Coombe, where the Looe token is obtained and both are used to reverse the ground frame point leading to Looe.  After the train has passed over it, this point is then restored normal and the Liskeard token replaced in the adjacent hut, so that another (freight) train can use the Liskeard section while the passenger train is on its way to Looe and back.  At least this is how it was when I witnessed it in around 2000, incidentally the only place I know where a passenger-carrying train can be moved (over the point) without the guard on board (standing at the ground frame) without the paraphanalia of DOO(P) radios etc. 

 

The Gunnislake branch is different in that the whole of it is a single token section.  The point at Bere Alston is left reverse while the train travels to Gunnislake and back, so it only has to stop once in each direction.  This will change somewhat with the proposed reopening to Tavistock, where I understand the Gunnislake section will have its own token and that train will be locked in for the day after travelling out coupled to the first Tavistock train of the morning and return to Plymouth coupled to the last one. 

 

I believe after Abermule the starting signals were generally interlocked with the token machines, so they were released only if a token had been obtained for a the relevant direction.  Of course NSKT systems don't have that protection as they have no signals, although they now have TPWS loops which are released for a timed period after the token is obtained and should therefore guard against the hazard of a train driver failing to obtain the correct token. 

 

I have no information on the details of the equipment used in any of these cases, and am using "token" as a generic description for a physical object that gives evidence of permission to occupy a single line. 

You're more or less on the money Edwin - as I previously said St Budeaux - Gunnislake is a train staff (released from an Annetts key instrument) and I believe a similar arrangement might have applied at Heath Jcn although it's possible the staff wasn't kept in an instrument there as there was a Signalman to hand it to the Driver.

 

As you say Liskeard to Coombe Jcn is NSKT while the bit thence to Looe is train staff (I have a picture of them sitting in a driving cab at Liskeard).

 

There was a recommendation in the Report into the Abermule collision that section signal on single lines should be released by the token/tablet or whatever plus another recommendation that token etc machines should be relocated from station offices to signalboxes where they weren't already so sited.  I don't know about final progress with the although I would think it happened when the Cambrian was converted to ETT but I do wonder if there remained any instances of instruments sited other than in signalboxes well into BR days?  As far as token etc release on Section Signals are concerned the simple answer is that on some lines it never happened before they were closed - including (according to Signalmen who worked there) on the S&D JtR where 'free' Section signals were quite common.

 

Incidentally where an NSKT line starts from a signalbox the normal practice is to provide a token release on the Section Signal - we had this at all 3 'boxes with NSKT working on my mid 1970s patch on the WR notwithstanding that two of the lines involved were freight only (mind you both were very busy).  In fact on that patch of all the single line systems then available the only one we didn't have was Train Staff & Ticket we had One Train Working (in both cases with  train staff), NSKT, ETT, Acceptance Lever working, and Tokenless block and they were in addition to having all three types of double line block working.  Quite a lot to remember!