“LINE CLEAR”

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 712, 7 March 1922, Page 6

“LINE CLEAR”

GUR ReEW TRAIN SIGNAL SYSTEM. r lhe old-fashioned signalling- sytem wi ‘‘ soon be a thing of the past. Before the Society of Civil Engineers lUt Wilds, assistant signal engineer upon the Government Railways, outlined -the new system of automatic signalling, which now only awaits the ai rival of power motors before it is put into working order on our railroads. Under the system signals will be p’aced every half mile, ..and opeianed electrically by a train as it passes into a section. The signals will normally be pointing straight upwards, and as a train passes into a signal section the signal behind it will fall “to the horizontal danger position, and a red light will show. As the train enters jthe next section a second signal will fall to rhe “danger” position, while the first signal will jump up to an angle of 45 degrees to indicate to any following train that one se ction ahead is clear, but that a train is passing over the next section. At the same time a yellow light will be seen. Alter the tram clears the second section the first signal will resume is normal position, pointing straight, upwards, and a green light will be seen., The signal is kept upright by the pressure of the electric current through a circuit formed by tne tails in the section, and should the rails break and the current fail the signal will fall to the danger position at onec. This system is jn operation in England and in the United States, where one failure has been known in 3,300,000 workings. It will result in a very considerable saving in personnel, though it will involve constant inspection by a staff of skilled engineeers. Besides this it will enaable signals to be placed much closer together than they could be otherwise, because of the saving of expense and time ofworking. At prtesent the enginedriver of a ,’train sees no indication as tio the state of the, line _ ahead from he time he leaves one station until he sights the advance signal of the station ahead. This will speed up train journeys, save any necessity for sudden “braking,” and slowing down and, enable a uniform speed to be maintained. The tablet system, so familiar at stations, will be no more as soon as the new system commences working. I