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Stations, Junctions, etc
Engine Sheds
Other
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Miscellaneous: Operating Equipment & Practices
Signalling Procedure: misc_equip252 and misc_equip252a
To increase flexibility the Train Staff system (described in
'misc_equip251'), it was augmented with an
authorising Ticket and became the Train Staff and Ticket system.
The system was designed to prevent head-on collisions and could be used without
communication between the two ends of the single line section. Different
coloured Train Tickets, pre-printed with the section details were provided to
ensure these were correctly identified. There were two operational options
dependent upon the direction of travel of the following train:
a) Where the next train would pass in the opposite
direction to the first train, the driver would be given both the train staff
while a completed ticket authorising the journey would be locked in a secure
Ticket Box in the Signal box using a key fixed to the end of the train
staff.
b) Where the next train would be in the same direction to the
first train, the procedure would be similar with a completed ticket written to
authorise the journey and locked in the secure Ticket Box, but in this case the
driver would only be shown the sections Train Staff and it would be
retained by the Signalman. This would allow the Signalman to authorise a
further train with another ticket to follow the first train after a
predetermined presumed safe time interval. At this point the Signalman would
either; continue to retain, or give the Driver, the Train Staff, depending on
the direction of the next train timetabled to use the line.
By 1865 the procedure had changed, such that the Driver was
required to carry the authorising ticket and the locked Ticket Box was used to
store all unissued tickets, so that only a Signalman with the train staff and
key could issue another ticket. The scan above shows an extract from the Great
Western Railways Regulations for Train Signalling on Double and
Single Lines, which was issued in 1936 detailing part of the relevant
section on the operation of the Train Staff and Ticket system on
Single Lines. Note that the specimen ticket is neither pre-printed with the
route, nor on coloured paper. None of the Great Western Railways single
lines in Warwickshire have been identified as using this Train Staff and Ticket
system, but the system was enhanced following developments in telegraph
technology to become the Train Staff and Ticket Block system (see
misc_equip253).
Robert Ferris
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