RMweb Gold Right Away Posted August 3, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 3, 2019 Looking at photographs of lineside equipment I came upon this one at Dainton, Devon and pondered over the large mirror affixed to a post opposite Dainton Signal Box. As the 'box is comparatively unelevated and the signalman's viewpoint correspondingly low, I came to the conclusion it was for sighting tail lamps on the rear of Up trains whist a passing Down train obscured the view. Being at the summit, the speed of trains in both directions in earlier days would have been quite slow and a Down train could conceal the last vehicle of a train on the opposite line. Can any member clarify this? If so, there must have been other locations where such mirrors were installed. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
LMS2968 Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Strangeways Junction on the GCR line from Glazebury Jct to Wigan Central line had such a mirror, but cantilevered out from the box itself. The box controlled a three-way junction and an overbridge intervened to spoil the view. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 (edited) The box seems very low. If it was higher then the signalman would have had a view over a Down train without having to resort to a mirror. Any reason why it wasn't? I was thinking it might be to view Down tail lights as they went under that bridge, but because of the left hand curve it wouldn't give much extra viewing time. Edited August 3, 2019 by Edwin_m 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium MPR Posted August 4, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 4, 2019 Torre had a similar mirror, which can be seen in some of Peter Grays’s photographs of the 1958 collision. His b&w photo-archive is now at The Transport Treasury. https://www.transporttreasury.com/f449715166 The relevant images are 1309 to 1316 - their pricing is very reasonable, delivery is quick and the prints are very high quality. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 10 hours ago, Edwin_m said: The box seems very low. If it was higher then the signalman would have had a view over a Down train without having to resort to a mirror. Any reason why it wasn't? Because if it was, the signalman couldn't see under the roadbridge? Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 1 hour ago, RLWP said: Because if it was, the signalman couldn't see under the roadbridge? Richard I wondered about that as well, hence the bit of my post you didn't quote. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 48 minutes ago, Edwin_m said: I wondered about that as well, hence the bit of my post you didn't quote. Not knowing which way is Up or Down, I took that to refer to the mirror The cabin can see the signal the other side of the bridge as it is, so the signalman can see the arm and the backlight. It would have to have been significantly taller to see over the bridge Richard Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwin_m Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 1 hour ago, RLWP said: Not knowing which way is Up or Down, I took that to refer to the mirror The cabin can see the signal the other side of the bridge as it is, so the signalman can see the arm and the backlight. It would have to have been significantly taller to see over the bridge Richard Going by the sign in the foreground, Down is away from the camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Mallard60022 Posted August 4, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 4, 2019 That photo is looking west (down) and the train is on the up. IIRC the mirror was for seeing 'into the tunnel' as well as the idea you suggest. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RLWP Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 3 hours ago, Edwin_m said: Going by the sign in the foreground, Down is away from the camera. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted August 5, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 5, 2019 21 hours ago, Mallard60022 said: That photo is looking west (down) and the train is on the up. IIRC the mirror was for seeing 'into the tunnel' as well as the idea you suggest. I have been told over the years that the mirror was for tail lamp purposes on Up train but it would definitely have offered a better view of anything standing at the toe of the crossover points on the Down Main. (Due to the line curvature the Up Main end of the crossover should have been visible from the 'box.) And yes - the photo is definitely looking west and the passenger train is on the Up Main, and the signal box was on the Down side. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold melmoth Posted August 5, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 5, 2019 I might be wrong, but in addition to the various points made above, I thought that the mirror was in part provided because of the combination of the volume of traffic and the low height of the signal box, i.e. if up and down trains were passing each other at that point, the signalman would have been unable to observe the tail light on the up train. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wickham Green Posted August 5, 2019 Share Posted August 5, 2019 5 hours ago, The Stationmaster said: ........ And yes - the photo is definitely looking west ......... If it wasn't the sun would be - rather unusually - shining due north west ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium kevinlms Posted August 5, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 5, 2019 7 hours ago, Wickham Green said: If it wasn't the sun would be - rather unusually - shining due north west ! Who knows with Climate Change! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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