BLOCK SIGNALS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 169, 19 July 1935, Page 15

BLOCK SIGNALS.

SYSTEM CONSIDERED. OKAHUKURA-STRATFORD. The general manager of railways, Mr. G. H. Mackley, has informed the Auck- \ land Chamber of Commerce that the : Department is at present considering the provision of some system such as the block signalling suggested by the chamber. | Hβ added that traffic over the line between Okahukura and Stratford was comparatively light, and all trains were at present worked under the train control system. The only occasion on which Main Trunk traffic had been diverted over the new route was on the evening of July 1 and morning of July 2, when the Main Trunk expresses were diverted owing to a slip near Mangaweka. No goods trains were diverted. The letter was received. The block signal system is also known as the lock and block method. It was formerly used between Auckland and Penrose, and was abolished a consideriable time ago. The object of the system was to prevent more than one train being in a section between two block signal-boxes on the one line at the same time. Although the system is not spoken of as "automatic," the underlying principle of "lock and block" is that signals are tripped off by the passing engine. There are four sys terns in operation in New Zealand —the automatic, coloured lights, lock and block and tablet.