Railway signalling: Deepfields

Larger version of diagram

Deepfields was one of the Stour Valley signal boxes I worked unofficially in the 1960s. Bloomfield Junction was the next box towards Birmingham (left of diagram), Spring Vale Sidings the next box in the Wolverhampton direction (right of box diagram). It was a standard ex-L.N.W. box with a brick base. At that time, Deepfields box was only open during the day and "switched out" at night.

On the up side of the line at Sprng Vale lay a steelworks usually referred to as 'Stewarts and Lloyds'. This complex extended along the line almost to Deepfields and gave rise to varied railway traffic in and out. The 'third line' on the Spring Vale side of Deepfields was an up and down permissive block goods line. 'Permissive' meant that a second, or subsequent, goods train could be admitted onto the occupied line. The 'fourth line' on the Spring Vale side gave access to a fan of sidings which extended to Spring Vale. There was no block signalling on these sidings and the connection at the Deepfields end was very rarely used.

Most of the running signals were upper quadrant semaphores but the Up Starter (lever 39) was a multiple-aspect colour light. Deepfields cleared it from red to yellow and then Bloomfield Junction cleared the signal from yellow to green as his distant signal. Occupation and clearance of the track circuit in the rear of the signal automatically put the signal back to 'Red', even with the lever still reverse in the frame. Similarly, Bloomfield's Down Starter had been replaced by a colour light so Deepfields' Down Distant lever 1 changed Bloomfield's colour light from yellow to green.

The lever sequence for trains on the Up Main was 40, 39 and 41 and finally 42. The top six inches of lever 39 had been removed, as a reminder to signalmen not to take a swing at it, because the only action of this lever was to work an electrical contact box under the floor. In contrast, the inner distant lever 41 and outer distant lever 42 needed a good pull to get the weight bars "off".

The lever sequence for trains on the down line was 2, 3, 4 and 1. Lever 1 was shortened, being the colour light.

The block shelf mounted two Fletcher's 'DN' absolute block instruments of ex-L.N.W. pattern, plus a third special block instrument for the permissive bi-directional up and down goods line. Although this instrument had two block indicator needles, only one could be used at a time, according to whether the train was 'coming' or 'going'. In addition, the commutator which allowed the block to be set at 'LINE CLEAR', 'TRAIN ON LINE' or, when not in use, 'LINE CLOSED' also included a mechanical reminder device which displayed the total number of trains in the section in a small window.

There were lots of points of interest in both the layout and operation at Deepfields and you can read more at 'Deepfields in Detail'.

Railway signalling: Bloomfield Junction

Larger version of diagram

Bloomfield Junction is another of the boxes I worked regularly under supervision in the 1960s. It was on the Stour Valley, with Deepfields the next box towards Wolverhampton (left of diagram), Tipton the next box in the Birmingham direction (right of box diagram) and Tipton Curve Junction the next box on the branch (top right of the diagram). It was a very tall ex-L.N.W. box with a two-storey brick base. The height was because the Great Western line from Priestfield Junction to Dudley crossed over the Stour Valley line just on the Birmingham side of the box. The extra height meant that the signalman was given a good view of the double-track junction he controlled.

At that time, Deepfields box closed at night and the block section then extended to Spring Vale Sidings box. On the branch, with only a freight service, Tipton Curve Junction was only open as required. When this box was closed, trains could run off and onto the branch at Tipton but every train for Deepfields direction required the Porter-Signalman to walk from Tipton to Tipton Curve to open the box. This arrangement, as the name implies, meant that most of the shift was taken up with porter's duties at Tipton Owen Street station, with brief sorties to Tipton Curve Junction box when necessary. There was often a lady on this duty.

In addition to controlling access to the branch, there were both up and down sidings. The South Staffordshire Wagon company on the up side generated a reasonable traffic in wagon repairs. On the down side, the canal wharves had originally been served from the former Great Western line but, by the time I was there, the extensive sidings were served via a connection from our Number 2 Down Siding. Various freight trip workings were booked to call and shunt Bloomfield as required. I remember T312 and T208 (the Tipton Shunt) particularly.

Most of the running signals were upper quadrant semaphores. However, the down starter (lever 42) was a multiple-aspect colour light. We cleared it from red to yellow and then Deepfields cleared the signal from yellow to green as his distant signal. Occupation and clearance of the track circuit in the rear of the signal automatically put the signal back to 'Red', even with the lever still reverse in the frame. Similarly, Deepfields' Up Starter had been replaced by a colour light. In this case our Up Distant lever 1 changed Deepfields' colour light from yellow to green.

The lever sequence for trains on the Up Main was 2, 3 and finally 1. The top six inches of lever 1 had been removed, as a reminder to signalmen not to take a swing at it, because the only action of this lever was to work an electrical contact box under the floor. The lever sequence for normal down trains was 44, 42, 45 and 46. Lever 42 was shortened, being the colour light. Levers 45 and 46 worked weight bars some distance away and practice was needed to make the electrical repeaters move to the 'OFF' position. Too often, the repeaters would hang in the 'WRONG' position, meaning that the distant signal was imperfectly shown, merely "cocked" rather than pointing up through 45 degrees.

The block shelf running the length of the lever frame at shoulder height carried three absolute block instruments of ex-L.N.W. 'Fletcher's Double Needle' pattern. This old-fashioned design combined the block indicator for the section ahead (controlled from the box in advance), the block indicator for the section in rear on the opposite line, our switch (or commutator) for setting the block indicator and the single-stroke bell with 'tapper'. Many railways used three units - "non-pegging" indicator, "pegging" indicator and bell but the L.N.W., with economy and elegance, had integrated them from an early date. In large boxes with a number of block instruments, the Fletcher 'DN' reduced the 'clutter' on the block shelf. Bloomfield had just three block instruments, communicating with Deepfields, Tipton Curve and Tipton boxes. The gongs of the single-stroke bells were all a different size, so as to produce different tones. A signalman could recognise which box was calling from a single 'Call Attention' beat.

I spent many happy times working this box and watching the trains go by. Even as the engineering work started to electrify the line, I could not imagine how completely a way of life would shortly be swept away.

Railway Signalling: Watery Lane

Larger version of diagram

In the late 1950s, I was a frequent vistor at Watery Lane signal box on the Stour Valley Line from Birmingham to Wolverhampron. Mond Gas Company's Siding was the next box towards Birmingham (left of diagram). However, this box was only open as required, so more usually the block section was Watery Lane to Dudleyport. In the Wolverhampton direction (right of diagram), Tipton was the next box. On the Birmingham side of the box, there were four lines, Up Goods, Up Main, Down Main, Down Goods. At Watery Lane, these four lines converged into two.

On the Tipton side of the box, Watery Lane controlled access to sidings on both the down side and up side. The up sidings remained busy well into the 1960's. A large, electric overhead travelling crane was provided over part of the sidings for loading and unloading and the yard enjoyed the services of a resident shunting locomotive, diagram T206. This was usually a Drewry 206 h.p. diesel mechanical shunter but occasionally a 350 h.p. diesel electric shunter was rostered. This shunter, in addition to making up wagons to be collected by the various steam-hauled pick-up freights which called during the day and positioning arriving wagons for loading or unloading, would also make the occasional foray to Bloomfield Junction or the Tip Siding at Tipton Curve. After a week of this duty, the shunter would go back to the motive power depot for refuelling and servicing, to either return or be replaced by a similar locomotive.

Watery Lane was an L.M.S. built 'A.R.P'. box, brick-built with a massive flat concrete roof, designed to be more resistant to bombing than conventional boxes. It had an L.M.S. standard lever frame on the side away from the track. These frames stood about 18 inches above the floor and all the interlocking was contained in flat trays protruding to the rear of the frame. The design was significantly more compact than the massive L.N.W. frames and was based on the standard Midland Railway frame.

The block shelf mounted two Fletcher's 'DN' absolute block instruments of ex-L.N.W. pattern for the main lines. The left one communicated with Mond Gas Company's Siding box or, when this box was switched out, Dudleyport. The right hand block instrument communicated with Tipton box. A third instrument on the far left controlled the Up and Down Goods Lines. This was a Fletcher's 'DN' permissive block instrument with a mechanical reminder device to show the current number of trains on the Down Goods Line in a small window. By the time I was a visitor, it was unusual for this reminder to even reach a count of '2'!

The next box at Tipton was permanently manned because it controlled the level crossing gates in Owen Street which were normally open for road traffic and had to be 'swung' for each train. Watery Lane also had a level crossing but, in this case, the gates were normally open for rail traffic. It was just as well that the gates rarely had to be opened for road traffic because there were four heavy gates controlled from a 'ships wheel', requiring considerable effort to wind them across. The level crossing also had a two of 'wicket' gates for pedestrians These gates were normally left unlocked and were in frequent use. Each gate was controlled by a brown lever in the frame. As each train approached, pulling the brown lever reverse in the frame would close the wicket (if it had been left open) and lock it shut. Having locked the wickets, it was common to hear shouting from below as an impatient pedestrian argued to be let across to avoid the delay. The problem, if the signalman took pity on the pedestrian, was that other pedestrians would rush to get through the gate as well. Even worse, opening the wicket on the other side of the crossing to let a pedestrian out would allow others to start crossing in the opposite direction. It could be stressful for the signalman!

We're sure to return here!

Working in Holland

When I was establishing my firm, some of my friends had jobs where they always seemed to be jetting off around the world and, I admit, I was occasionally envious. When, infrequently, I flew somewhere, I was always filled with great excitement and I wondered what it would be like to become blase with the process. In the 1980s, I had an opportunity to become a 'frequent flier' when the multinational giant, Philips, invited me to provide technical and training assistance on their initiative to secure railway telecommunications work. This initiative was based on their cable company in Holland.

This company had long-established facilities for making all types of complex copper telecommunications cables but heavy investment in optical fibre research had also make them one of the world leaders in this emerging technology. Nowadays, of course, optical transmission is everywhere, relied upon by computer networks, the internet, cable television and telephony. Back then, you got the sense of being at the 'leading edge'. I tried to help them with understanding the rather curious requirements of railway telecommunications systems and finding ways of adapting their existing products to be able to put together a well-engineered package. My firm had other commitments, of course, so I promised two days a week in Holland.

It worked like this. Every Tuesday, I was up early and my partner drove me to East Midlands Airport where I would check-in for the one hour flight by F27 turbo-prop to Schipol. A walk would take me to the railway station to catch a train to Utrecht. Here I'd change for a second train to Alphen-am-der-Rhein. Here I caught a local train, alighting at my destination, Waddinxveen. A walk of about a mile brought me to the offices where I arrived around 10.30 a.m. I'd work all day, stay late to make up for my late arrival, then walk to the station, catch a train and walk to my hotel. Next morning, I'd be in the office early, work all day then return to Schipol (three trains, again) and catch the evening flight back to East Midlands Airport, where my partner would meet me. I kept this up for 28 weeks and loved every minute of it, but I was a lot younger then! The experience didn't succeed in making me bored with air travel and I still sit glued to the window as if it's my first flight!

I met some wonderful people working in Holland and had some great times. One day, I'll tell you more.