[00:00] I'm going to learn why and how trains generally don't clash into each other. The trouble with videos about trains is that there are two potential audiences. People who don't care about trains, who need to be convinced that the video is worth watching,
[00:14] and people who really care about trains, who will want to skip all the basics and would like enormous amounts of nerdy detail. This video is for the first group because despite appearances, I am not that much of a train nerd.
[00:26] But in my defence, if you are a trained nerd, you almost certainly already know more than I learned in my time at signaling school. So, exactly what you would not expect, in the middle of a meeting room in an office building
[00:43] in Manchester. Network Rail. Are the folks in charge of the rail infrastructure across the region? And that's one of the places they train their signals. I say one of the places, because as you can see the equipment there is a little old fashioned, for the older parts of the network.
[00:56] My tutor was Nick, and he started out with some very reassuring advice. One of the excellent things about this, the Victorians got dead right, is it's designed to fail safe.
[01:08] You can't get it wrong and cause a crash unless you manually override stuff and start talking to drivers. Oh, okay. So we don't like talking to drivers. That's why we've got lights and boards and stuff out in the world so they can just follow our instructions.
[01:21] If we're doing it that way, you cannot cause a crash. the system stops you. Nick turned on the system, which kicked all sorts of relays and switches into action. Aye!
[01:33] Ah, that's wrongly. And then we were into signaling 101. As a heads up, this video has been checked through by Network Rail for Security because they did let me inside critical national infrastructure. They did ask me to blur a couple of things,
[01:45] but all my words and opinions are my own. They have no editorial control. Obviously, the main event is all the leaders. Yep. Each leader corresponds to a single function. you cannot pull the lead in the wrong order. Okay.
[01:57] Let's prove that to you. If you try and pull a number eight now, so just squeeze the catch and pull it towards you, oh, it won't let you do it. It won't let me do it. Again, this being a simulator, it's not quite how it is on the ground. On the ground,
[02:09] this is the mechanical interlock. Right. Physically, something you've been doing. Yeah. So the reason that table boxes tend to be quite tall is what happens underneath. It's a big mechanical computer. Yeah. Designed really well in the 1880s, 1890s. We haven't touched a lot of those since,
[02:21] apart from some maintenance and stuff like that. because it works. Because it works. I just nodded along then, and it wasn't until reviewing the footage afterwards that I realised quite what a big deal that is, and it's not obvious. When a
[02:34] signaler pulls a lever like that, and I know some parts of the world say lever, I'm British, I say lever, but anyway, when a signaler pulls a lever like that, up in an old-style signal box by the side of the track, they are physically moving the rails, the switches, the points that direct the
[02:49] trains. A lot of the time these days, that lever might actually trigger a motor to do some of the hard work. But for a lot of points, certainly older ones, there is a direct physical connection. Each lever is pulling on gears and pulling cables and directly moving either the actual rails or the
[03:05] semaphore signals that tell drivers whether it's safe to continue. And so when Nick said mechanical computer, he's right. Dangerous positions are either impossible or they're possible only if a
[03:18] driver ignores a signal. You physically cannot pull the lever to stay at safety continue if the points aren't set properly. It's interlocked mechanically, which is also the reason there's
[03:30] a specific way you pull the levers. Nick got me started on a simple one. So, if you just pull number nine. Pull number nine. Yeah, pull number nine. Okay, I'll check. Best to
[03:44] have two hands on, one to hold the catch and one to actually do the pulling of the lever. I'll say it's really easy to slide up the catch and it'll go flying back. Oh, okay, yeah. Yes, because these are not actually hooked into a giant thing that wants to pull it back.
[03:57] Because they're physical and fail-safe, if your hand slips off, all that mechanical weight is going to slam that lever back, and that could break something. So, there's a specific technique. Unlock the catch handle with one hand,
[04:09] then wrap your other hand around and pull the lever. With that technique, learned a big red light on my board illuminated in block 302, just before signal three, which meant a train was approaching.
[04:21] Or at least a simulated train was possibly approaching. I thought it was stopped at signal three. We don't know that. No. So it's somewhere. We don't know its state. Right. We just know it's there. Because there's a circuit in that bit of track,
[04:35] and it's completing the circuit between the rails. So we know there's something in block 302. It may be moving at speed. It may be moving. It may not be a train. Everything's designed to fail safe. Right. So that could be something conducted across the rails.
[04:47] Right. that's detecting, that could be a grace in the rail. If the circuit's not made, then that will show up. So the engineers will tell you a track circuit proves
[04:59] that there is not a train present. Right, okay. If the lights are off, that section of track is safe. That's why there's two bulbs in each light. It's a redundant system, along with a lot of other bell safes
[05:11] I'm not covering here. It might seem like the light means train, but no, unless you can see the train, you can't be certain. That might actually means there is danger, do not send
[05:23] another train into this section. And if we clear the signal in front of it, and if it was real, we'd look out the window over there somewhere, and we'd see a train, hopefully, and then we'd be able to tell if that moving is that stopped. If we clear a signal, and
[05:36] it's the train, hopefully it'll go. Okay, so if we can just call number three, so number three is the one right in front of it. Again, ideally... Oh, yeah, two hands up. Two hands. Yep. Yep. That's why.
[05:48] That's why. You'll see, your repeater down here will go to red green. And well, it's already started. So it's now covering 302 and 303, and now 302 is gone. Yes. Oh, in fact, I can see it moving along. 304 is lit up.
[06:01] There are no signals. 305 is lit up. It will presumably stop, hopefully, at number four just here. Exactly. Having moved along the board. Yes. And having moved along our track. Yes. Okay. So hopefully it's over there somewhere now.
[06:14] Yep. And it now makes sense, we've only got 306 lit up, so we know all the other sections are now saved. No we don You can let a train into 303 405 No Because there no signals between them Exactly Just because a small section is clear doesn mean I could send a train into it
[06:33] There were no signals between each of those sections, no way to stop any second train following along, so I couldn't put a train into that block. That is called absolute block signaling. No more than one train per signal block at any time.
[06:46] Easy enough if my board was the whole railway, but it's not. these are the most important piece of equipment actually as much as this is the pretty bit and that's the impressive stuff these are the most important things
[06:58] these are how we talk to the other signalers so as far as we're concerned there are three other signal boxes involved two in that direction one in that direction these are block indicators
[07:10] we've got two that way one that way exactly we cannot send the train to another signal box without their permission and it's them that tell us whether it's clear So I would need to say line clear No, train on line
[07:22] You would ask for You would send a bell code which equates to Is the line clear We'll explain bell codes in a minute The important thing is that I have to ask the other signal box Is the line clear
[07:34] The signal at the other end will look out the window Yep Check their book Yep Check their diagram and go There's no trains and the last train passed clear Yes, the line is clear, one can approach me Right In the same way
[07:47] they can also ask you is your line clear and you go yep I've checked my book yep the last train's hit the path's clear there's nothing outside look out the window there's no trains there yes and that point okay
[07:59] now it's a line clear that will show at the top on theirs and it will release their signal that enters the block right okay so my signal box can lock out levers in the next signal box that signal will get in touch
[08:12] ask if the line's clear and until I confirm that it's clear with my commutator that's the switch They cannot move their levers. It works the other way too. But how do we communicate over that distance? Well, remember that train that was lighting up on my board?
[08:25] The next job was to ask the next signal box if I could send it on to them. Well, first of all, I input signals. Yeah, let's have number four, then. The next lever to pull would be number five, or signal five at the end of my section.
[08:38] It's a red and yellow lever because it handles a red stop signal and a yellow slow down the next one's red signal, those two operate together. There's also a white band in the middle, that's not just for aesthetics, I'm sure.
[08:50] You'll notice there's one on one, one on one, one on five as well. That tells us that these levers are locked by the next signal box. Oh, right, okay. So, it's our last, it's our last line. I literally can't unlock that.
[09:02] No, try and pull it. Two hands. Literally cannot unlock it until... ...weatherall... Yeah, Lexus. So I'm going to ask for permission.
[09:14] Exactly. It took a seat and acted as the distant signal box. We're now at the point where we were, we're basically at the limit of Victorian engineering to control from where you are mechanically.
[09:26] Right, because it's only so far you can pull a wire. Exactly. So, there is now some distance that has no infrastructure on it. Right. Okay, so there's no signals, there's no track circuits. One train at a time. Exactly, yeah. So, we now need to ask the next signal box.
[09:40] Are there any signals, is there anything stopping you from letting the train approach you? Yeah. So the first thing you need to do is summon their attention. OK. So, on... It's gonna be a bell. It's gonna be a bell. It's gonna be a bell. Right.
[09:52] Just press the tapper once. And you'll hear a beep at this end. Yep. What's quite weird in real life, you hear nothing. You hear the flick. OK. There is a bell going off at the other end. Right. OK. So, when Wetherall are up, they've put the newspaper down, whatever else, they're ready
[10:07] to speak for you. OK. One back. One out, one back. Exactly. All of these exchanges are repeated. Yep. And you'll find if we see any voice coming and stuff like that, it's exactly the same.
[10:20] Everything is out and back. Okay. Not understood until it's repeated. Okay. So, the next thing we need to do is ask, is the line clear for a stopping passenger train? Okay. So, you're going to ring three. Yep. Short pause and then a one.
[10:32] Three, one. So there's about I want to say 12 variations of this line clear Okay If we went to Scottport
[10:44] would you add another 10 or 12? Wow Alright I'm getting a really simple version of this Okay 3 and 1 Is the line clear? 3 and 1 Exactly Okay So we've asked We've asked Wetherall Is the line clear?
[10:56] 3 and 1 Yep Okay What they're doing now is looking out the window checking the book making sure the line is clear Yes Okay When they're happy they move to line clear so I can see that up here that little arrow
[11:09] line clear they also respond echoed out echoed back exactly and your signal is now unlocked so I can now unlock number 5
[11:21] let the train go to weather all two hands okay we see the signal's on green and we can expect that the train is going to start moving And then as soon as 309 up there says it's clear, I'll put the signal back.
[11:39] We also need to tell the next signal box, the red of all signal box, that the train is actually coming. So we now send two. Train coming. I understand the train is coming.
[11:52] Yep. Train entering section, they reply, and train's train on line. This thing has gone to red. There is a train on the line, they know there's a train on the line. Exactly. It's not even worth me asking, because I can see there's a train on board. Exactly that.
[12:04] Got it. And I'll say, it's physically now locked our signal to stop us from sending another one in. Okay. Okay. Yes. This is an old-fashioned system, more than a century old. But it is still in use on some of the slower, smaller train lines, so why not update it?
[12:20] Why are there still lines that run this way when there's surely a better modern solution? You wouldn't get any more trains through. They'd still get to a bottleneck at the other end. Right. So it's not worth spending hundreds of millions of pounds. And it was worth hundreds of millions.
[12:32] Oh, yeah, absolutely. And all the disruption that comes with it, you've got to close the line while you do it, all that sort of stuff. So we might as well just carry on using this safe system that works. Yeah. And people enjoy doing it. Yeah.
[12:44] And in a lot of cases, there's a benefit to having people out. You know, that's by the line side, watching the trains go past. They can see if there issues with the trains and all that kind of stuff You may or may not have noticed I haven that all trains have red lights on the back Oh yeah Yeah Headlights on the front red lights on the back Lights on the front reds on the back
[13:01] Yeah. Those red lights serve a purpose to us. That is proof that that's all of the train. Oh. Yeah? So in the old days, when trains were all loose couples,
[13:13] and you didn't have continuous brakes. You had a lot of trains on the way. Yeah. A carriage on the way. When trains were... When trains didn't have continuous brakes and they weren't very well, they were loose-shuffled, yeah, that would happen. Bits would fall off. So if you stick a lamp on the back one,
[13:27] and the one with the lamp doesn't turn up, there's still some... There's still a carriage there. On modern trains, that wouldn't happen. The brakes would come on automatically and the driver wouldn't have to go investigate. But still, that's why trains have red lights at the back. They're approaching signal four, which is green, exactly. So,
[13:42] conventionally we won't touch a lever unless we're going to do something with it. It's surprisingly easy to catch the handle, the lever flies back in, and just as the driver's approaching it, the signal goes back. And they get very upset with that.
[13:54] They do. You have to be incredibly magnanimous when you explain that you didn't mean to and you're terribly sorry when you weren't doing it again. A signal pass at danger, a SPAD, is a really serious thing on the rail network.
[14:06] They are very rare, and most of the time they're minor, but they're always investigated. And if it's a train driver's fault, it can be career-ending, or certainly career-limiting. They're getting a green light that says,
[14:18] go, go, go, all good. You can go up 100, 125 miles an hour. Yeah. And a train takes miles to stop. Yeah. If you now go, stop. Yeah. They go, emergency lesson.
[14:30] Wait. They're risky. And everyone behind on the train is suddenly having their coffee cups tall over. Exactly. Yeah. They come to a stand and you just go, sorry, solve, solve. Exactly. There were a few more basics to learn,
[14:42] different bell codes for different sorts of trains, some signals that change to danger automatically, pacing point locks, and the physical lockouts called reminder appliances. They get put over levers to remind signallers that something's out of use or needs special
[14:55] attention before it's moved. But it turns out you can learn the basics of signalling in half a day. After a couple of hours of training, I can run a train through the simulation both ways without much prompting. Dealing with a simple railway that's running well is actually not all that
[15:10] difficult. The rest of the months of training is about how to deal with things when they don't work as expected on a system where the consequences of getting it run can be deadly. Basically, your next nine and a half weeks covers virtually every light, every button.
[15:26] What if any one of those doesn't be what it's designed to do? What if this light flashes? What if this buzzer goes off? I did also get a look at the modern equivalent. The high-speed lines on the British Rail Network all run using much more recent systems. This is intimidating.
[15:40] Yes, so this is very different to what you've seen this morning. Yes, but very, very similar. OK, well, as far as you can see, the root diagram here is laid out the same as the big board.
[15:52] Yes, OK. The key differences are there's more of it. Yes. That's really it. The modern system uses a lot of screens and lets you set longer routes instead of individual signals,
[16:06] but it's basically the same process, just covering a much, much wider area and without as much physical effort. And of course, it's modern electronic signals and lights, not semaphore arms. That computer's running the same software as the ones in the real signaling room next door
[16:19] that we were very much not allowed to go in. It's just that the workstation I was using wasn't hooked up to the real real network, just another computer running the SIM. All the areas that the signals cover are graded in terms of difficulty.
[16:33] The simulation I tried with the levers is somewhere about a grade one or two. This one, Lavertree, is a Grade 6. OK. We go up to the Grade 8 in the Oxford. Right.
[16:45] And that's places like Manchester Victoria, Lovey Hill, Lime Street, kind of your busy term and I. Yeah. We do have Grade 9 signals over at Manchester Piccadilly, which is the Piccadilly station, 14 platforms. They have a movement about every 30 seconds.
[16:57] OK. And they work in two-hour shifts at the time, because they don't stop for those two hours. And if you're wondering why they haven't upgraded from trackballs to touch screens, it's because, just like the old Victorian engineering, it
[17:11] was built for last and built to be reliable, and with experienced signalers having decades of training on it, there's really no advantage to changing it. So with that, we headed out to see signalling for real, just over the Cheshire and Derbyshire
[17:24] borders at a little station with a signal box in a village called Dintin, which has a strange triangular arrangement of tracks. We got off our train on one side of the triangle. After that, it heads on to Glossop,
[17:37] which, despite looking like the end of the line, isn't. After Glossop, it would go back around the next bit of the triangle, passing by Dinting, and stop at Hadfield. And then it would do the same route in reverse. Round the triangle at Dinting, back to Glossop, stop there.
[17:52] Back to Dinting, stop there. Back to Manchester. All of which was under the control of Signaler Craig. So this actually sort of feels familiar now, having seen...
[18:04] So yeah, the fit to the equipment is very very similar. There's some detail changes, the cat handles are slightly different but it's just exactly the same concept. The content on the diagram will be the same. The bell codes that Craig will be doing will be exactly
[18:18] the same. Right. By the time we set up the cameras, the train already made it all the way to the end of the line at Hadfield and everything was set up for their run back to Glossop. So lights are on up at Hadfield station.
[18:30] Yes. So the train up there, up there on the Weaver off. Second point of triangle. Yes. So you'll recognise again the blocking instrument. You can see from what we discussed, what we did earlier, there's one coming. Yes. It's coming.
[18:42] Showing the train it's somewhere on the approach to this signal. I'm immediately backing off. Have I done something? Just the beep to tell us that the train's left half-field. Okay. I just want to go away. Turns out there are all sorts of beeps when trains pass various signals.
[18:56] Because once again, I'd only covered the very basics. Craig showed me the rule books. And things go wrong. Oh. Okay. Right. That's what we've got on. Yep. Signals need most of those rule books
[19:13] in their head, and learning it takes a long time. How long does it take to get qualified? About a year Have to do 10 years of signaling school where you learn your regulations and rules I think you just said 10 years
[19:28] Sorry, 10. That's about right, 10. Yeah, that was probably the hardest thing I've ever done. Yeah? Probably didn't have to agree.
[19:40] A signaller has to be trained not just as a generic signaller, but on each specific line or box that they'll be dealing with. So even though you might get a box which is just to scrape up and down the line, there'll be something in there that can trick you up.
[19:53] I love the job though, of course. It's the only job I've ever had where when I started going down boxes and speaking to signals and stuff saying, do you like it? Everything along the line, that's great. I do all of it. I wish I could have been 20 years old.
[20:07] By this point, the train we've been on have made it back to Glotta. We've been able to see it just out of one of the signal box windows as it packs through the triangle. And so it was time to set up its route back to us.
[20:20] So here's route's been set now. Yep, so we've now got confirmation at the points. We're in the right place. And we've got a green signal on number 19, which is just there. So Glossop train is going to start heading back to you.
[20:34] Yes. And then on the UCCS we can also see that the route's set as well. Oh yeah, a line that's thicker and it showed that I've cleared the signal. Craig referred to the CCF there, which is the wonderfully named Control Centre of the Future.
[20:48] Good news, we're in the future, and that Control Centre, that display, is working. It's just another copy of everything that's going on, but it's rigged into the Victorian engineering. 9 into 8, heading towards us.
[21:00] And because all these signals are now open... I don't want to... Clear that signal, 1-9. Clear. So that's clear the route all the way through here. Yep. And up to 3-2. Next job, offer that train to the next signal box down the line using the bell code.
[21:14] Okay, well thank you. I'll give him the train close, train glass. One, two, two, three, one.
[21:27] Oh, it seems to go line clear. Line clear. So now I can clear my 30-10. I'll set it out, get the correct indication.
[21:40] I'll lock on the train then to the station. And he'll go down on my train online. And that's the train we were on there.
[21:52] That's pretty well. No, I don't know why my camera decided that it should point downwards there, but yeah, that's the train we've been on. At that point, another track section lit up on the board.
[22:05] Oh yeah, someone's coming in. This one's coming in now. So, and now, because it's Claire's section where I've got my points, Yep. I can now set his room to it. I have to ask, well, it's a cheeky question, feel free to say no.
[22:21] Can I pull a lever? It's out here. Thank you. Alright, so, what I'm going to do is, it's going to go back, it's going to cancel off the last route. OK, so I'll handle the push-up.
[22:33] Slightly different lever, OK. OK. The signal back to danger. Now what you're going to do is cancel the points and put them back into the neutral position.
[22:45] The lever for points was a little different. I had to push it back most of the way, then wait for consummation from the light. You see that N turning on? Only then would it let me lock it back a little and lock it into place. That's because on that box, I'm not physically moving the points.
[22:59] and sending signals to a motor. In theory, that could be a button these days, but why change what works and what people have trained on? So this one out? Yeah.
[23:11] This one in? Yeah. Yeah. Resistance, wait for the light. Light, all the way back. And then this one...
[23:23] I'm going to leave that. I'm going to leave that. So... So, a reminder that not only is there a professional signaler watching me, there is the guy who teaches the signalers how to do their job, and also someone else in Network Rail that you can't see.
[23:37] It's going to be Pauline 16, 17, and 26. 16, 17, 26. Yes. I cannot believe you're letting me hear this. Thank you, Pauline.
[23:49] 16. Wait for it. Wait for the light. There you go, 17. So that's the points are now in the right position.
[24:07] And that weight that I had was waiting for the electric confirmation that the points are in the right place. So points are in the right place, we can now give him a green light. Invitation.
[24:20] Invitation's on. With lots of time to spare. Yeah. I nailed that. Passengers loading at Blossop and whenever he's stepping off. Then you'll hear that beep again when he's set off. Right.
[24:32] You just need to do that. Thank you so much, Craig. You just need to do that last band at the end of the day. Right. We've got a train to get off, yeah. Thank you so much, Craig.
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