TheSignalEngineer

Possibly October 1966 for the USA tank http://www.bropendays.co.uk/bristol1966oct.html

The Brighton Line had some junction signals with multiple heads up to at least the 1960s. Many retained the old layout of second yellow at the bottom. Eric

I've seen a diagram from about 1922 which showed rows of five lights in a discussion on three position signalling vs. colour lights. I believe this may have been trialled overseas but can't find any reference to its use in the UK.

Great find. Shows that the SR were using multiple heads where they couldn't use Theatre indicators at that time although Thorrowgood of their signalling department had wanted to develop a junction indicator for higher speed lines. I understand that he was beaten by Board politics. By the time that Waterloo to Vauxhall was done in 1936 they had started to use Feathers. They were also widely used by the LMS at Rugby by 1939. By that time the colour light signal had evolved into what was the standard until the introduction of LED signals a few years ago.

Colour light signalling was developing very rapidly in the 1920s and 1930s. The IRSE and the MoT were very involved in 1921 when committee reports into three-position semaphore and colour lights considered the way forward. Up to about 1932 the common method for junctions was to use separate heads on colour lights in the same way as semaphore dolls for each route. Then under the guidance of A E Tattersall, Signal Engineer for the Northern section of the LNER, the first Position Light Junction Indicators were installed at Thirsk. The early version had neon tubes which gave an indication of the route set. these were not particularly successful and the modern version with a row of lamps became the norm by the end of the 1930s.

Particularly domino marker lights in place of headcode blinds, invisible by day and not much better in the dark.

Good to see a manufacturer/commissioner reacting positively when something is pointed out. Pity some others don't.

Included in the Bristol Railway Archive site there is mention of an Open Day on 23rd October 1965. From the list of locos published by the Railway Observer it looks like that date and your line-up could be 1420, 6435, 3659, 6141, and 47276. Also present were 6859, 7026 and 7924.

6000 was working at Tyseley Open Day on the following day. The Pullman Cars were parked by the Coal stage. They had steps up and visitors were able to walk through the train.

Note on the Manchester Victoria pictures the semaphore Distant signals in the old painting style, the same as the Home arms, just the fishtails to differentiate between them. The aspects on the Shunt signals were interesting in that they differentiated between through and dead end roads showing Green or Yellow respectively. Call-on aspects showed white for proceed. 4-aspect heads had the second yellow aspect below the red. Regarding the mixture of 'straight' heads and clusters on the same line, I never worked out the logic of why these were provided in the way they were. Coming through on the Down direction towards Ordsall Lane it was possible to get something like Cluster w/o Theatre, Cluster with Theatre, Cluster w/o Theatre, Straight head with Theatre, Splitting Cluster. I wondered if it was due to sighting issues. Incidentally I refurbished one of the clusters when I was in the S&T shops as a trainee in the 1960s.

After the Castle-hauled specials had gone, a lone trainspotter studies D1653 as it waits to depart from Birmingham Snow Hill with the last running of the 'Pines Express' from Manchester to Bournemouth on 4th March 1967. Looking at the posters above, Morecambe and Wise were just finishing a panto season in Sleeping Beauty at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Bernard Thorpe Estate Agents were in St Martin's House, then only five years old but demolished for the Bull Ring redevelopment in 2000.

Thanks Clive. The Manchester website is a very interesting one. Clearly shown there especially on the diagram of Deal Street is the way that some of the colour-light heads on through running lines replicate the function of the semaphore dolls. There are other cases where 'optical projection' theatre route indicators were used, this was before the introduction of 'feathers'. The number of levers is economised by selection of which one clears by points locked and detected, e.g 19a, 19b 19c outside Deal Street box, where three heads on the same line are controlled by one lever, or 74a. 74b, 74c at Victoria west where three signals on different lines but all reading to signal 73 on the Down Slow work in the same way. There are also Pull-push levers for shunt signals, e.g 1 Push and 1 Pull at the two ends Deal Street's Fast Lines crossover No.13. It would be an interesting exercise to signal your double Minories layout to the principles used at Victoria. Eric

I've worked out a candidate for V38 in your photo from the CWN from Robert Carroll's Yahoo Group. It looks like the 7.30am SO Newcastle - Paignton. It appears to be the other way round but note the Pantry Second and Buffet, 4th and 5th from one end. Looking at the big version of the picture my take on it is Mk1x3, Gresleyx2, Thompson, Mk1, Gresley?, Mk1x2 It must have been a regular NER set during the week as it returned from Paignton to Newcastle at 10.0am on Sunday morning, picking up two more NER coaches from Newton Abbot

I think 1V38 was a Newcastle Paignton so would very probably have a mix of Gresley, Thompson and Mk1 stock. There was quite a lot of it running to the West country in those days. That year I travelled home on the Ilfracombe/Minehead - Wolverhampton service which had Gresley stock complete with LNER carpets in the 1st Class in the Minehead portion.

If you are doing power signalling it would be a miniature lever frame so only 2" centres. I've got an article about Fenchurch St resignalling by SGE in 1935 if you are interested. That was a 140 lever box which was elevated over the tracks. I may also have a couple of old Westinghouse articles.

Halifax, NS

There are several. The original Moor Street end was extended during the building of the Inner Ring Road in the 1960s. The walls of the part which originally carried the road can still be seen at the point where it changes from flat concrete planks to a brick arch. This is at the point where my photo in Post #2685 was taken. The Snow Hill end was in a brick cutting from Temple Street to the station until the Great Western Arcade was built c1872-74. This extended the tunnel to Monmouth Street, now Colmore Row, and under the Great Western Hotel which had been built in the mid-1860s. The reconstruction between 1906 and 1913 added the main concourse and ticket office, the back of which was roughly in line with Barwick Street where the office block straddling the track now stands.

There's a list of Pullman Cars on this site. You may get an dodgy message depending on what anti-virus you are using. MacAffee doesn't like it but others usually let it through. http://www.britishrailways.info/pullman_cars.htm. It notes cars allocated to the spare BP sets. As far as I can see the set mentioned by Chris included two 1923 Brakes which went into LNER stock, 27 (numbered 80 until 1928) and 54. Others were 169 on SR from 1924 (was Viking until 1947), 249 on SR from 1925 (was Pearl until 1947) and Cecilia on SR from 1927. Eric

At the time of the Knowle & Dorridge collision the report said the train comprised 9 Pullman cars built in 1923. Unfortunately they are not listed individually.

Taking a step back in time 20 years from my last post, these were taken a few yards away. The unassuming entrance to the old Snow Hill Station. The passageway took you through to the taxi drop off and Booking Office windows.

Looks like quite a lot. Rats were the same, they were like fingerprints, I have identified some on photos of mine from comparing with others on the web.

This is the one I was going to use at Snow Hill. Covers the previous two subject of a tunnel and a footbridge.

Somewhere I have a picture of that bridge in 1987 taken from inside the tunnel.

I'm well into BOGOF mode today. This was taken during the replacement of the footbridge at Marple shown in #2702

Another two for the price of one, I nearly used this yesterday for the old 'Short Tunnel' into the dock at the end of Platform 6.