Last Traditional Signalbox Closes in New Zealand

Word has come down that Wellington A Signalbox has closed. Constructed in 1937 in conjunction with the Hutt Valley 1.5kv DC suburban electrification scheme, Wellington A Box was was not only the last full time staffed signalbox in the Wellington suburban network, but also the last traditional signalbox of any kind in the country (although it's implied that part time signalboxes might still exist). Corner cases aside, this marks the end of a 25 year long transition from a network with numerous staffed signalboxes containing both "power" frames and unit lever CTC panels.

With signaling system essentially in alignment with the American method, New Zealand was a fun house mirror of signaling equipment that was just a little bit different than its North American counterparts. Unfortunately, just like was seen in North America, New Zealand implemented several national railway "investment" schemes that swept away the old cast iron searchlights and signalboxes and replaced them with LED color lights and signaling centres with video display interfaces. I had previously covered two phases of this transition with the closure of PETONE signalbox in 2013 and ADDINGTON signalbox in 2016. Although re-signaling efforts had slowly chipped away at Wellington A signalbox over the years, the terminal interlocking at one of New Zealand's busiest stations was able to hold on in a similar fashion to CNW LAKE ST in Chicago. In another parallel to LAKE ST, Wellington A signalbox contained a fairly large all electric power frame of the Westinghouse Brake and Signal Co "Style L" variety, which is essentially an evolved British pattern US&S Model 14 machine that dispensed with the mechanical locking grid in favor of electric circuit based route locking via the usual US&S pattern locking magnets.

Covered in great detail on the WB&S Co power frame website, Wellington A box was built with three separate Style L frames, a 67-lever console in the center and two 31-lever consoles on either end. Later the left console would be replaced by a unit lever CTC panel. Dave, the webmaster of the now defunct Valley Signals page, provided his own extensive coverage on the final decades of Wellington A Box, now available via Archive.org.

Kiwi Rail was thoughtful enough to post a couple of Youtube videos profiling the signalbox, the Style L frame and the remaining operators that worked it. While the miniature "armstrong" levers look very British, its important to understand that these are essentially US&S style crank levers set vertically and rotated 90 degrees. You can see in the photos and video the familiar spindle type electrical contacts below the levers with the locking magnets out of sight behind. In addition to the official video is another one that seems to have been produced for local media with a bit more detail and external shots.






While I said this was (likely) the last operational traditional signalbox on the NZ rail network, the Keirunga Park miniature railway is signaled from a local signalbox equipped with another WB&S Co Style K power frame donated by New Zealand railways in 1985. To the extent this "counts" is left as an exercise to the reader, but it offers a preservation experience on par to that of HARRIS tower in the United States. Anyway, check out the linked resources before they to go out of service.

A Tale of Two British Railway Signaling Public Information Films

 The UK is well known for a certain style of public information film that were professionally produced up through the 1980's. A couple go into great detail into the ins and outs of Railway Signaling and served as both a way to increase the public standing of the nationalized railways network in a time of both austerity and modernization and as a recruiting tool to bring new workers with new skills into said modernizing rail industry. 

The first film, entitled Electrical Engineering on the Railway and produced in 1962, falls more on the recruiting side of things as relay based "electric" signaling replaced largely mechanical manual block signaling on the busiest unresignaled main lines of British Rail. While this may been a bit odd as North American signaling has largely discarded purely mechanical signaling by the 1920's, Britain might get a bit of a pass given the toll a pair of World Wars took on its railways and economy.  Point of note include:

• A general lack of safety practices including, but not limited to protective clothing and burn pits for demolished signalboxes.
• The appearance of pneumatic point machines and North American supplied GRA Model 5A electric point machines.
• Rather flimsily looking track circuit bonding wires.
• The continued construction of brand new mechanical lever type interlocking frames.
• Some components of interlocking hardware being hand forged in house.
• A general use of North American pattern glass case plug-in and shelf type relays.
  

The second film, entitled Points and Aspects, was made in 1974 and shows the leap in British signaling from what one might call an updated basic CTC plan to something that was making far more use of computer and telecom technology to enable the so called wire area "Power Box" era of British signaling with as much automation as 1970's technology could muster..  This film is definitely trying to sell the public on British Rail not being a basket case and is worthy of their continued support and patience.  As a result an emphasis is given to the higher tech elements.

What is especially fascinating is that these two videos appear to span the moment when  the UK went from a very North American leaning approach to signaling technology, to a more European approach. Despite very different operating practices, North America and the UK had very closely aligned signaling supply companies with both GRS and US&S licensing UK technology and then supplying their own products back through local subsidiaries like Westinghouse. In the 1970's we are seeing the end of the glass case relays and Model 5 and M3 point machine that stared in the 1962 film.

British Power Signaling Channel Heads Down Under

About seven years ago I discovered the Youtube channel of one Ian Ives, who had posted a variety of VHS era videos from inside British power signalboxes (PSB's) in the early 1990's, such as this one of Glasgow Central.  Well as the way things tend to go I lost track of the channel until a recent keyword search brought it back on my radar.  It turns out that Mr. Ives has had quite the exciting career as over the intervening years he posted a number of videos from Australian signalboxes.  These are especially interesting due to the mix of British and American influences. 

For example he has some video of the operation of a local Australian copy of the GRS pistol grip style interlocking machine, only in Australia it is paired with pneumatic point machines!

A British style lever frame at Hurstville.

A British style panel controlling a US style CTC layout at Salisbury.

A British style miniature level power frame at Sydenham.

An interlocked and manually controlled grade crossing with a modern panel interface at Parramatta Road.

And finally a modern signaling center at Wollongong.

Just like in the US, Australia has been seeing its own drive towards the elimination of manned signalboxes and non-video interfaces so most if not all of the videos capture railway infrastructure that has been now lost to time. 

In addition to the tower content, Mr Ives has also posted a number of industry training materials including instructions on manual operation of every model of power point machine in service with the railway including pneumatics. 

Please check out the channel as many of the above example videos came in multiple parts. New videos continue to be posted so it might be worth subscribing to.

German Stellwerke Blog and Its English Mirror

Although they have been prominent in my sidebar for many years, I wanted to give another shoutout to the German equivalent of this blog, Von Stellwerken und anderen Maschinen, because the author has been trying their best to provide English translations of some of the key articles in a paralell blog, Of Interlockings and Other Machines. 

 

While the former has hundreds of posts from over the last 10 years and the latter only about a hundred, the effort to provide some translations is particularly important in this niche subject because niche subjects have a habit of confounding automated translation tools like Google Translate.  While the Germany version of the site is still pretty readable if you stare at it enough, the large sample of English translation pages now on the mirror site allows one to really get a handle on how Central European interlocking machines and signaling systems work.  If you are looking for something to do on a cold winter weekend I highly recommend both of these websites as the author has a seeming endless supply of behind the scenes photos, both of in service equipment and preserved.

UK Lickey Incline Classic Signaling

I found an interesting video on the manual block setup on Lickey Incline, the steepest Main Line gradient on the UK.  This 2.65% grade stretched over two miles on the line to Birmingham and due to the under powered nature of UK locomotives, most trains, passenger included, would need help getting up.  Although the line was fitted with track circuits, manual block was still employed.  To ease operations, an intermediate manual block signal was provided so that two trains could climb the grade at the same time.  This video details how the blocks were worked and how the helpers were dealt with.



Compare with operations on the steepest main line grade in North America, Saluda.

1960's British Branch Line Cab Ride Films

So while this is a rail signaling blog and not a railfan video blog, sometime I like to highlight sets of videos that really show off the signaling.  Recently YouTube suggested a number of grainy 8 or 16mm film film compilations taken out the front of old school British DMU's running on long since defunct branch lines.

The videos were posted by the appropriately British sounding Alen Snowdon and were narrated by his wife.  Due to the limitations of old school home film recording, the clips are all about 3-5 seconds long and show only a fraction of the route.  However this fraction contains a large proportion of the signalboxes and signaling apparatus that the train passes.  It's sort of like one of those low frame rate fast motion videos, only the frames are a few seconds of every passing semaphore signals.



Not all of the videos are cab rides or even rail related, but the ones that are, are a wonderfun time capsule showing the anachronistic state of the British rail network in the 1960's.  Thanks to two World Wars even the main lines were stuck in he Victorian era, with very little power signaling and steam hauled trains galore.  Just before the infamous Beeching Cuts, the branch line infrastructure is absolutely decrepit, sort of like how the Amtrak Harrisburg Line and Conrail in general looked in the 1970's and 80's. 



Also worth noting is the astonishing level of employees needing to keep these old branch lines in operation with both signalmen and station agents working every 1-3 miles along the line.  It is interesting that instead of cuts British Rail didn't simply try massive cost reductions like CTC or even ABS!



There's even a little main line action out of london, although one would never know it due to the state of disrepair. Also note the high quality railfan view despite a full width cab. Anyway, enjoy the videos, they aren't hours long and the archive isn't intimidating.

Liverpool Lime Street Signalbox Closed

One of the last two active Westinghouse Brake and Saxby Signal Company power frames on British Rail was taken out of service on July 13th and it was quite an impressive example, controlling the 13 track stub terminal in Liverpool, England since 1948.  This matters because the WB&S Co Style L power frame installed in Liverpool Lime Street is pretty much a US&S Model 14 just with the levers rotated 90 degrees to moved in the proper British fashion.  Also the all brick structure with a bay window follows the pattern of high quality North American towers as seen on the Pennsylvania Railroad or New York Central.

With 86 active levers and a plant that had pretty much remained untouched since the signalbox was constructed after The War, this is a huge loss for living signaling history, although a number of these frames survive in various preserved forms.



The machine was shut down track by track instead of a simultaneous cutover.  This resulted in the unfontunate side effect of the model board being completely painted over aside from the last two active tracks along the bottom :-( All of this can actually be scene along with general tidbits about the Signalbox's history and future use in this video produced by Network Rail.




Unlike many other British towers Lime St is a listed building and should be preserved along with the rest of the station. Also make sure you check out the The Westinghouse Brake & Signal Company Ltd. Miniature power lever frame website for more information on this cross pond cousin.

Swindon Power Signalbox Restoration

Hopefully most of you are familiar with the excellent job the crew at HARRIS tower has done reactivating its US&S Model 14 interlocking machine with the help of a lot of PLC's and Train Dispatcher 3.  Well over in the UK a project is afoot  to do the same thing to the old NX panel from the Swindon Power Signal Box.  The "PSB's" were a generation of British area signaling control centers that replaced the most hard pressed mechanical tower in the 1960's and 70's.  They used a lot of relay logic to implement push button N-X operation and many eventually came to feature integrated train description.  A tour of Swindon PSB can be seen below.



Swindon, like many other PSB's, are being removed from service because many of the telecon grade relays that drive the user interface and other ancillary logic are becoming nearly impossible to maintain.  Here below is a video showing the "domino" style panel board being re-assembled after it arrived at its preservation site.



Here is a brief demo of the old panel UI hooked up to some modern electronics.  And yes that is indeed the Danny Scroggins who is so well known for his comprehensive documentation of vintage British signaling and signalboxes.



Of course there is an entire Youtube Channel devoted to the project, with videos like this one showing the progress of the custom PLC components.



In fact the panel has its own preservation society and as of now they are projecting an grand opening date of June, 2018, plenty of time to score that cheap transatlantic airfare.

Videos from Across the Pond

I just found a few interesting videos involving UK signalboxes.  The first two involve the Banbury North Signalbox , which was recently decommissioned, but then opened for public tours (a somewhat rare occurrence due to all the health and safety BS their railways are tied up in).  Unfortunately the signalbox, like many others, is slated for eventual demolition so little other purpose than it being there.  Britain's attitude towards its decommissioned signalboxes is downright baffling seeing as every foot of railway infrastructure is publicly owned and almost everything in the UK is covered by some sort of historic preservation law.  Network Rail also seems to be chronically pressed for cash and where they can find the funds for these demolitions is beyond me.

The first video shows the full tour that was given to the public and the second video shows the view from the locking room as the levers are manipulated.  Those of your from North America should keep in mind that mechanical British signalboxes such as this, typically work on the manual block system.  Some track circuits may be provided, but train movement is primarily by manual block using block instruments instead of voice or message communications.





The third video is from Harrow On The Hill signal cabin on the London Underground in 2002 and shows a Westinghouse Style N machine, which is basically a US&S Model 14 with the levers pivoted around 90 degrees so that they throw in the traditional "back and forth" orientation, instead of left and right.  Even the tri-positionality of some of the signal levers is retained.  The most fascinating thing about this video is the use of a pneumatic assist to move levers at the far end of the frame when certain route levers are pulled in the primary operating area.  It's basically a non-vital intra-tower remote control system that doesn't require additional relay logic, a serious expense in pre and post war Briton.  This technology was later extended to create the Style V frame where all the levers were moved primarily by remote control pneumatics.

BTW, if you are wondering why the model board is all lit it, is it because that was considered safety critical information and any bulb out had to mark the track circuit as "occupied".  Of course with the bulbs burning by default I am sure there would be plenty of bulb out opportunities.

Wrong Railing Across the Pond

How many Full Time Employees does it take to run a train against the flow of traffic on a section of double track manual block signaled track? Well the answer depends on which side of the Atlantic Ocean one finds themselves on.  In North America the answer is between three and one.  You can have a dispatcher transmit train orders to block operators on either end of the segment or simply use a radio to transmit the orders directly to the train.  However in the United Kingdom the answer starts at 3 and increases from there. 

In mechanically signaled manual block territory you first need to employ signalmen at either end of the track segment.  Then all wrong direction movements need a pilotman to chaperone all trains through the section of single track operation.  Back in the day when stationmasters were still in existence both of them had to be informed so that is a total of five workers.  Then because most block stations were only equipped with non-locked trailing point crossovers you needed another two men to spike and wedge the points prior to a train movement.  Finally where main line spring worked catch points were employed you needed another person to spike and wedge those as well. The total number comes out to between 5 and 9 depending on the circumstances.  Of course the one thing they don't have is a dispatcher.  All authority is worked out between the signalmen and the pilotman.

If this sounds confusing not to worry...British Rail put together an easy to understand training film on how single line working is to be carried out.  Just about the only sensible thing they do us to use both block instruments for the single track...shame they couldn't dream up a procedure to eliminate the 5 or so extra people involved.



If your eyes are spinning here is a bit of North American practice to take the edge off.  Here is video from Viaduct Junction in Cumberland, MD with Amtrak T30 getting some train orders hooped up followed by the operator copying down some train orders.



Ahhhh, modern efficiency.

Call it the "Ohio CPL" and Petone Update

I believe I have mentioned this before but CSX is taking the "Baltimore" out of B&O CPL in its latest re-signaling project that will remove the last CPL signals from Baltimore City.  These are located in the Bailey's Wye area and comprise CAMDEN, HB TOWER, BAILEY and LEADENTHALL ST interlockings.  BAILEY is notable for its 3-track B&O CPL signal bridge and all of them were upgraded in the early 1990's in conjunction with the Camden Yards Sports Complex project. What a waste both in terms of hardware and cultural heritage.

Yes, that signal on the left is displaying Medium Approach Slow.

The cutover is scheduled for President's Weekend so if you haven't gotten your photos already this is your last chance.

In other news BNSF dumping all the classic Northern Pacific searchlight signaling on the Cascades route between Seattle and Portland.  This includes the popular cantilever masts in the Vancouver, WA area.  Get your photos quickly.  The Coast Starlight is probably the best option.

Finally, a friend of the blog in New Zealand went out and took some photos of the now closed Petone signalbox before it closed its doors for good.  I have thus updated my short post about Petone with her work so thanks so much Sophisa.

Petone (New Zealand) Signalbox to Close

I don't normally do foreign (non-North America) signaling news simply because there is so much of it and it would require all sorts of explanations of how such and such technology compares to what most of the other readers of this blog are familiar with.  The small signalbox at Petone, NZ is special because not only has it been very well documented by the Hutt Valley signaling page, but also because both New Zealand and Australia see a lot of North American style signaling practices, even if it is by way of UK licenses of traditional US&S and GRS technology. Also like North America New Zealand is rapidly running out of manned interlocking towers so the loss of this one is worthy of note.

Petone signalbox showing the 67 signal displaying Clear for a Wellington bound train.

The interlocking tower, or Signalbox in commonwealth terminology, is almost entirely North American in design with a familiar black CTC-style desk console and searchlight signals out in the field.  It is an all relay plant that today control controls two crossovers and one turnout for a branch line.  It is stunning that it has held on in service for as long as it has, even with just a single 12 hour shift.

 As you can see here in this photograph of the console the amount of territory and interlocking appliances under Petone's control has shrunk dramatically since it was built in the 1950's, especially in the Petone Station area.  I should also mention that Petone is CTC in the PRR fashion with remote interlockings on ABS signaled lines instead of lines with actual traffic control.

Click here for a higher resolution image.

Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, Patone box is being re-signaled and is finally closing on Christmas Day, 2013.  More unfortunately is that the new interlocking is going to use "tip over" LED signals and axle counters instead of track circuits because its always better to infer the location of trains than, you know, DETECT THEM.

68 reverse direction dwarf signal and its new replacement.  The line will be moving from ABC to CTC.

 Anyway if you happen to live in New Zealand make sure you get out there and grab some photos before the box closes.  You have no excuse thanks to all the nice sunny weather this time of year.  If you are interested in the re-signalling project check out this very detailed page here:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160321114914/http://valleysignals.org.nz/petone/newpetone.html

UPDATE:  Friend of the blog Sophisa, who lives in the Wellington area, actually went out and took a number of very nice photos for me including the outstanding high res CTC console shots.  Just goes to show what the ladies are capable of in the sausage fest that is railroading.  Thank you so much!!  You can find all her photos here.

What's going on here o.0

DOUBLE UPDATE:  Found a photo of the "new" PETONE CTC console.