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As far as I'm aware the signal box at Bamber Bridge controls several level crossings whilst signalling is from Preston. If there is a single overnight service is the box manned for a full shift or is it just covered in the time when the service is passing?
A quick look at the compendium of signal box opening times shows Bamber Bridge as continuously operated.
Generally speaking it’s a lot more efficient to staff a box for the full 24 hours in terms of rostering, especially considering the opening hours of its surrounding boxes. The only time boxes really close early is where the box is scheduled to shut overnight and the last train of the day has passed early.
There are of course jobs that still need doing overnight - engineering works that don’t show on the timetable being a big one. Signallers may also be doing training, reviewing the Rulebook, emails, cleaning the box etc. There’s a lot of admin jobs that can get done.
Signallers in boxes like Bamber Bridge generally aren’t given breaks either, because the idea is that there will be natural breaks in traffic throughout the day. The general lack of trains overnight is a more extreme example, but even throughout the day you may have half an hour or so with no trains.
On quiet night shifts you’ll find people making use of those breaks as they are entitled to do: cooking, drawing, reading, listening to a radio if the box allows, etc.
It almost sounds quite idyllic. Similar perhaps to being a stationmaster at an infrequently serviced station. It's kinda your life but also taken at a slower pace than many jobs out there now. You are responsible for keeping everything clean and tidy and generally looking after the box. I like that.
Worth remembering about the signaller (the individual) in question. I started in boxes straight from school, and before I reached 18 had been appointed to a small box with 24/7 cover, one person per shift. At the time it seemed a natural progression for a box boy at what had been a very busy location, with something to do/watch almost continuously.
However at this small box I soon came to realise something about myself, in so far as I enjoyed/enjoy using the grey cells, always looking for something to stimulate the brain, and there is only so much one can do outside of signalling duties in a small box with a limited train service. I changed my career path within the railway, in to something that kept me busier, and never regretted the change. That said I never regretted my time in signalling either, as it gave me a real grounding in matters that became part of my daily job henceforth.
In later times whilst visiting boxes as part of my then career, one such, was staffed by a chap, perhaps 30 ish, who had previously worked in banking or some such in The City (London), and he'd had to quit, be it just the stress of same or more, I didn't like to probe, but he'd found a route to employment on the railway and found his ideal situation within a box that had in essence a half hourly through service with also a terminator each hour, where between times he spent most of his time reading, and the shelves on the back wall of the box were a testament to his thirst for knowledge in that regard.
He was a very amiable and knowledgeable chap, who's relative youth in the surroundings at his box, surprised me in some ways, I having associated these things in my head with signallers of a greater age, nearer to retirement.
Just goes to show how we all differ in one way or other.
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Signallers may also be doing training, reviewing the Rulebook, emails, cleaning the box etc. There’s a lot of admin jobs that can get done.
Signallers in boxes like Bamber Bridge generally aren’t given breaks either, because the idea is that there will be natural breaks in traffic throughout the day. The general lack of trains overnight is a more extreme example, but even throughout the day you may have half an hour or so with no trains.
Excepting emails (long after my time in the grade), the official paperwork, updating various publications, would often take longer than one would believe. Usually amended pages were issued from head office, that I/we use to cut and paste over the old instruction(s) in the books concerned, which usually meant first and foremost BR 29960 - Regulations for Train Signalling and Signalmen's General Instructions, but also BR 87109 - the general BR Rule Book, and also BR 30022 (in my case the S/Reg) Sectional Appendix.
This was/is a stock interview question for internal NWR employees in boxes at the time when I dealt with signallers.
Your answers are correct and would be a competency pass.
Basically, read the rulebook, clean up, check computer (emails, intranet and the such).
I may start to read more. One location I've recently passed out has a two-hourly passenger service, as well as a few freight, throughout the day. Compare that to a different location that is about five trains an hour and manual worked gates. Sometimes it's how people time manage themselves.
As quaint as it sounds, signallers at such locations need to be aware of task underload, which can lull people into a false sense of security and sometimes a lack of awareness of surroundings, especially if workload then increases suddenly, such as a service approaching their patch and the associated actions. I'm sure most manage this fine and have their strategies that work, but something to consider.
As a Traffic Manager somewhere in the south of England in the mid 1980s I was responsible for doing out-of-hours visits to signal boxes and crossing boxes. Arriving at one crossing box around 4.30 in the morning, I found the door locked, but could see the crossing keeper laid out on the floor with a pillow and blanket, etc. The poor bloke nearly had a heart attack when I rapped firmly on the door glass!
One thing I rapidly learnt was that there was no point in doing more than one out of-hours visit per day as within 10 minutes of my departure, news of my presence would have travelled round the whole area.
I often wonder why the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch has a signal box open most of the time when there is only "one train in steam". You could run the line without any need to change tokens, etc. Then schedule relief for the vey rare specials and other things like engineering trains
I used to do a lot of reading, studied correspondence courses, did all sorts of domestic repairs, washed my clothes, etc. Of course, much more was done on nights, as in the daytime you had fewer long pauses, so days was mostly just reading. Some days, such as Summer Saturdays on the West of England Main Line, you didn’t even get time to eat your lunch as it was block to block on both roads.
I often wonder why the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch has a signal box open most of the time when there is only "one train in steam". You could run the line without any need to change tokens, etc. Then schedule relief for the vey rare specials and other things like engineering trains
Because without the box you have two-and-a-quarter hours from the time trains leave Llandudno Junction before you can do anything. If you are thinking that Llanrwst should switch out, you are going to have a complicated situation in organising the apparatus. Then, if something untoward happens, you are stymied until you can get someone out to staff the box. Or if you want a short notice bit of work, that can be organised when the line above or Llanrwst is clear without having to find somebody. There are lots of possibilities and, although there is going to be an element of ’we’ve always done it like that’, somebody has probably judged that the flexibility outweighs the extra cost.
Back in the '70s I was taking pictures around Liverpool Road in Manchester, and I can say at this distance in time, that I got invited into Ordsall Lane No. 1 box by a very bored signaller. It controlled access to Liverpool Road station and depot - continental freight had finished some months earlier - and there was just the very occasional freight and ECS over the South Jcn. Line from Castlefield Jcn.
The box was absolutely immaculate, however - standards were being maintained - despite standing in a wasteland. The signaller was close to retirement - hence the posting I guess - and I remember remarking that the decline of the railways was very sad. Oh - they'll be back he said - he was right and would be amazed by the sheer volume of traffic over the South Jcn Line today!
As a Traffic Manager somewhere in the south of England in the mid 1980s I was responsible for doing out-of-hours visits to signal boxes and crossing boxes. Arriving at one crossing box around 4.30 in the morning, I found the door locked, but could see the crossing keeper laid out on the floor with a pillow and blanket, etc. The poor bloke nearly had a heart attack when I rapped firmly on the door glass!
One thing I rapidly learnt was that there was no point in doing more than one out of-hours visit per day as within 10 minutes of my departure, news of my presence would have travelled round the whole area.
Many years ago part of my role was doing upgrades to IECC signalling centres and also their manual fringe boxes, usually overnight on a Saturday when either the service was suspended for the upgrade or there were few to no trains scheduled anyway. On one occasion the signaller at the IECC itself was anxious that we shouldn't disturb the sleep of the colleague under the desk. On another a fringe box signaller was irate that the repeated alarms from the terminal as colleagues disconnected and reconnected the main system was preventing him sleeping.
Many years ago part of my role was doing upgrades to IECC signalling centres and also their manual fringe boxes, usually overnight on a Saturday when either the service was suspended for the upgrade or there were few to no trains scheduled anyway. On one occasion the signaller at the IECC itself was anxious that we shouldn't disturb the sleep of the colleague under the desk. On another a fringe box signaller was irate that the repeated alarms from the terminal as colleagues disconnected and reconnected the main system was preventing him sleeping.
I am no good at sleeping on and off so I usually used to sit up all night: at one box Control got to know that if they had a non-urgent message they would ring me and I would pass it on as soon as everybody had to get up for a train. At one box we only had one train in the middle of the night, so I would sit up until it passed and then doss down (‘Oh, the sleeping bag is because of the drafts. Very drafty in a westerly wind.’ [A true statement, but I doubt they were fooled.]) Until then I would read: over a couple of weeks of nights I got through James Joyce’s Ulysses, helped by an annotated map book.
As a Traffic Manager somewhere in the south of England in the mid 1980s I was responsible for doing out-of-hours visits to signal boxes and crossing boxes. Arriving at one crossing box around 4.30 in the morning, I found the door locked, but could see the crossing keeper laid out on the floor with a pillow and blanket, etc. The poor bloke nearly had a heart attack when I rapped firmly on the door glass!
Llanfair PG Crossing Box used to be 24hr manned. Until the LOM caught someone with a camp bed. Now the gates get locked across the road at 23:00 every night.
I often wonder why the Blaenau Ffestiniog branch has a signal box open most of the time when there is only "one train in steam". You could run the line without any need to change tokens, etc. Then schedule relief for the vey rare specials and other things like engineering trains
The points at North Llanrwst are trailable, presumably in anticipation of RETB or NSTR operation at some point that never materialised. However the number of farm crossings on the route would mean too much extra work for the Llandudno Junction signaller to take on.
Ditto. At the box I was in, the floor space was pretty cramped, and although one could lie down, probably be more drafty than sitting in the 'comfy' chair. Had the bonus of a staff train passing through in the small wee hours, and many a driver of same would make sure 'one' was awake by the use of that little hand operated item, centre front of the control desk in a VEP or the like! Never mind local residents trying to kip...
In my box boy days the box I was at had a collection of old cushions, which from memory looked like the deep, very comfy ones that were in HAP first class compo's etc, but could have been from anything from the early 70's, these being laid on the floor behind the frame - Westinghouse L - so they couldn't be seen unless one walked around the back. They were only used if anyone was doubling back off (eg) night's on to late's, when (for some) it wasn't worth going home, and those were times when we tried to keep the noise down.
However at this small box I soon came to realise something about myself, in so far as I enjoyed/enjoy using the grey cells, always looking for something to stimulate the brain, and there is only so much one can do outside of signalling duties in a small box with a limited train service. I changed my career path within the railway, in to something that kept me busier, and never regretted the change.
In later times whilst visiting boxes as part of my then career, one such, was staffed by a chap, perhaps 30 ish, who had previously worked in banking or some such in The City (London), and he'd had to quit, be it just the stress of same or more, I didn't like to probe, but he'd found a route to employment on the railway and found his ideal situation within a box that had in essence a half hourly through service with also a terminator each hour, where between times he spent most of his time reading, and the shelves on the back wall of the box were a testament to his thirst for knowledge in that regard.
He was a very amiable and knowledgeable chap, who's relative youth in the surroundings at his box, surprised me in some ways, I having associated these things in my head with signallers of a greater age, nearer to retirement.
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