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  1. Signal Head

    What can be done to improve the safety of user worked crossings?

    I agree with your logic and believe that from an overall safety point of view you acted correctly and in the best interests of the railway, its staff and users. I wouldn't expect you to be criticised for your actions, and if in the same boat I think I'd have been asking for an estimate and a...
  2. Signal Head

    What can be done to improve the safety of user worked crossings?

    D Depending on how far back you are going - the gates were originally locked by mechanical means ("Black's Locks"), however these became worn so would be at risk of Wrong-side failure. No identical replacements were available so they were replaced c1989 with electric locks of a type usually...
  3. Signal Head

    Are the recent derailments indicative of poor performance from Network Rail?

    Derailment damage doesn't tend to produce the type of neat 'wavy' lateral displacement visible in the far distance on some of the images posted here and elsewhere, where the rails remain essentially at gauge and attached to the sleepers. There are two visible areas where rail fastenings have...
  4. Signal Head

    Meaning of terms such as Cancelled At Point of Entry (CAPE) etc

    I used it in an email at work (rail industry) within the last year, then had to explain it to the recipient (older than me) who'd never heard of it.
  5. Signal Head

    Lewes derailment - Thursday 13th August

    Possibly the defect (buckle?) happened under the train you were on, so the front end passed through without incident and the driver was unaware of any issues? Happened at Tattenhall Junction (Chester) in 1971, buckle occured in the middle of a ten coach train at 70mph, causing two fatalities.
  6. Signal Head

    Trains all at a stand in the Manchester area... (Thursday afternoon 06AUG2026)

    I have never known a 'greenfield' box where core functions were not supplied or backed by batteries. We (the region I worked most in) didn't typically backup semaphore electric lighting, and I have come across things like stencils fed from a 110v derived straight off the domestic supply with no...
  7. Signal Head

    Trains all at a stand in the Manchester area... (Thursday afternoon 06AUG2026)

    But in that case it should have individual battery backup for critical items such as track circuits, colour-light signals and motor worked points. Along with battery backed supplies for lever locks (mechanical boxes) and control circuits, including blocks/bells. Another method is to use...
  8. Signal Head

    Trains all at a stand in the Manchester area... (Thursday afternoon 06AUG2026)

    The Stockport area was due to be the first section controlled by the Ansaldo system. Despite beginning some of the PWay remodeling on the ground, and installing the interlocking equipment, various technical and operational issues combined to convince NR that it wasn't viable. The area that is...
  9. Signal Head

    Following the Bedford incident, should TPWS - or something providing an equivalent level of protection - be fitted to all remaining unfitted signals?

    Harrow & Wealdstone being probably the most (in)famous example. I vaguely recall some idea being bandied about which utilised a third inductor (this was well before TPWS). I cannot remember what it would have achieved or how it did it, seeing as you've only got two magnetic poles to play...
  10. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    They wouldn't know until the rear of the 360 cleared the overlap at WH154, since the next track circuit was already occupied by the 810, so wouldn't 'see' the 360 entering it as well.
  11. Signal Head

    Bedford (Elstow) collision reporting by Daily Express: is this accurate or misleading?

    'Reverted' is the the term commonly used when a signal goes back to Red in front of a train, especially if owing to a (right-side) fault.
  12. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    I agree that MAR was, and is still, provided when other forms are not appropriate. Perhaps I should have said that MAR (Main Aspect Approach Released from Red) was the predominant, or even the only, form of junction control for those schemes. In its original form it was an attempt to impose...
  13. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    Flashing yellows are a means of conveying additional information to the driver, ie 'you are receiving cautionary aspects because a diverging route is set at the next junction", rather than because a signal is at red. They also remove the anticipation risk inherent in Approach Release from Red...
  14. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    I cannot recall the document, or date, when it was, I think, effectively banned. I did manage to implement something similar a few years ago for very specific sighting reasons, but it was permitted only on the basis that the aspect would be unrestricted before the train reached the AWS, so the...
  15. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    That suggests a 'two stage' approach release, which I am aware has been done in the past but is generally out of favour now. I wouldn't have expected it to have survived as a principle long enough to have been applied on the West Hampstead scheme, but it's possible I suppose. In the example I'm...
  16. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    It has been the case in the past that the actual point of impact can be determined from specific track damage.
  17. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    To be clear, WH356 was only showing Yellow because WH154 was Red. It isn't restricted to Yellow for the turnout move and when released by the berth track occupied will clear up to the least restrictive aspect depending upon what WH154 is displaying. There is still the potential for a kind of...
  18. Signal Head

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    I saw some right nonsense the other day. Along the lines of "if the TPWS & AWS on the front train was faulty, then that would cause the second train to get a green signal." It beggars belief the misconceptions some people have about how the railway works, even worse that they are happy to jump...

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