LONDON’S SUPERMEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 December 1929, Page 10

LONDON’S SUPERMEN

COMPLICATED TRAFFIC. Who are London’s real super-men? Without desiring to prejudice possible claims, a representative of the London “Daily Chronicle,” who went in search of them, came to the conclusion that they were to be found, one at a time, in a signal box at Morningfoil PVPSCPTIt " There in what must be the most wonderful signal box ip London, one man .■calmly operates the electric train traffic through Camden Town underground station and its intricate tunnel system at the rate of, roughly, two a minute. In the course of a normal day of ti'aflic 1500 trains arrive and leave this station under the control of the signal box. They come and go through six tunnels to and from twelve places. The tunnels pass over and under each other and separate into two pairs running to Edgeware and Highgate respectively, and the other pair south to -he heart of London. In the signal box there are forty„hree levers, which control points and signals foy running the trains between Kentish Town and Chalk Farm to the north and Euston in the south. Though the signalman is aided by every possible automatic device, he nevertheless has to carry out nearly 1200 movements an hour. The following procedure has to be followed in respect of each train, and is considerably added to in the event of delay or emergency:—Receive from signal cabin at last station the destinations of the next three trains; check signal with schedule;, note and report delay, if any; set the road for the train; signal the train; operate plunger to inform signalman and passengers at next station the destinations of the next three trains which will pass through that station 1 ; cancel messages from last station.

An illuminated diagram shows the signalman the positions and movements of all the trains in his area. He has also the comforting' knowledge that the last word in safety devices are installed throughout the area to protect trains against any lapse on his part. The slightest hitch in his scheme will cause all the trains to come to a standstill automatically. The stopping of a train at any point but a station platform is considered by the railway authorities as particularly undesirable, if only because, as underground feelers of the public pulse have discovered, passengers are peculiarly apprehensive of stopping in tunnels.

Quite apart from stops, the signal men need to be specially apprehensive of delays. There are tell-tale clocks which record on charts the times the trains reach and leave the station, which register the headway between trains, and provide the higher traffic controllers with other useful information. The signal box is in telephonic touch with the railway’s central control room, which has to be informed of any delay of a minute or over. Any delay in the schedule is reported by the controller for official investigation next day; any delay of three minutes’ length is reported in red ink. The train-running records of the signalmen will probably challenge favourably any others in the world. On most days the trains run from early morning until after midnight to within a minute of the scheduled time. It is rarely that the scheduled timetables are thrown as far as five minutes behind.

All this intricate system is worked, too, with an ease and simplicity which makes the uninitiated marvel. Official tests have shown that it is possible to pass forty-three trains on any one road without stretching the time-table .or the signalman’s presence of mind. A similar test on New York’s underground railways passed only thirtyfour . trains.