WELLINGTON RAILWAY STATION

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4320, 1 April 1901, Page 3

WELLINGTON RAILWAY STATION

Nl-W SIGNALLING ARRAYS’ GE- ’ ?>I ENTS. INTE 11 LOCKIN' G A Pi* A HAT US . .’u,’ existing liom" and starting sig“/d’ a I the Wellington station, New /am land Government Railways, will ho dispcrncd with to-day at 0 a.in., and l.lm new signals and interlocking arrangements will bo brought into uso. Instruction.-, to this effect nave been issued. to all officers affected. Icr the purposes of the new system the station yard is divided into two seel 'mis north and soidii. There are two signal boxes. The box at the north end of the. station is worked by fortyfear levers, and the south box is work- • d by thirty-six lovers. . The north box 3s oi an American design, while the s'lntli box follows the design used in I‘nghinil and Australia. The principal d;hercuee in the designs is in the arrangement of the windows, ft will be a»•. 1 1 r■ --f i iba*. tho north box is loftier than that at the south end of tho station. This difference is simply duo to Ihe necessity for enabling a, signalman to sin the portion of the yard with winch he is concerned. As the distant signal on the Kaiwarra side of tho station cannot bo scon from the north box, there is an electric repeater in that, box, which repeats exactly the movements of the distant signal arm. Inside the signal boxes there is little to be seen save a, row of levers and a I

telephone. It is those lovers which, when pulled in accordanca with a prearranged plan, move tho points and signals so as to pub trains and vehicles where they aro required to be, and so as lo acquaint drivers and others with what is being done or about to be done in i bat way. The levers aro painted in 'afferent colours, and they aro also n i.inhered, and have plates on which f'lo'r purpose is stated. These plates give the number of a lever, describe neat tbo lover is—whether it. is a point or a signal lever—and also bear fhe numbers of other levers—releasing numbers—which have to ho palled before. it can be drawn back. Th - south box is under the control of the north hux ; it is not worked independently. It can only bo operated with the permission of the north box. The rea.soii.for this is that tho man in thn north box works all the main lino srptu.G in. either direction. The south Vis is used when any trains have to bo taken on the loop line for crossing purposes, or for any shunting that rcouires to bo done at tho south end of the, yard. No lover in the south box ■e in be moved until it is released by the north box. Tho two boxes aro for Mils puroose connected by a rod. 'Hie north box locks up the south box, so that the former is the only one that it is necessary to keep open day and

<“!-■ ”>• I ndor tho new system, .everything will lie worked from the signal boxes. The signal box on the platform which has been in use in tho past will bo done away with. The lovers control all ttiiins arriving at and starting from the station. Tho distance from a signal hox to the points farthest away from it is about two hundred yards. 'J.'lio principal lines at. the-Wellington station are tho main line, which runs along the platform, and the loop lino, which is next to the main line. The loop line is a crossing lino, being used for crossing two trains. There are also various lines used in tho handling _of goods traflic. The loop line is for signalling purposes treated as a main line, which means that it is considered that there is a. double line through the stal Loii. There are starting signals for the main lino, and also for the loop line. In addition there are shunting signals. The latter, of course, have to do with Hie work of the yard. Signals are provided in tho now arrangement for shunting to and from tho WellingtouMannwatn Railway Company’s yard. The meaning of the interlocking system is that one lever is so interlocked with another that it is not possible to puli conflicting signals—that is, to give two signals in onposito directions at the same time. When a .signalman pulls ever a point lever and then a signal lever, tho apparatus is so- interlocked that he cannot possibly shift the point lever until the signal has been put to “danger.” All r.ho points connected with the main line and the loop line arc worked from one or other of tho signal boxes. Thu points are fitted with patent facing point locks. The facing point lock is so designed that it has to bo pulled before a signal can be pulled. If the switches are not in their correct position the facing point lock cannot be moved, and, as a consequence, no signal can be lowered. The facing point lock makes it certain that the points are in their correct! position before a signal can be lowered. Tho points on the main line and the loop lino are also fitted with a detector bar. Tho object of this bar is to prevent a signalman from moving points when any train or vehicle may be passing over them. Tho bar is long enough to cover tho wheel base of the largest carriage running on the read. As an additional precaution what is called a wire detector lock is used. The purpose of this lock is to detect any accident or failure of the points or the facing point lock connections. In the event of a switch or a facing point lock failing to move, tho wire detector lock prevents tho signal from being worked. The effect of having the wire detector lock is that a signal cannot he worked unless tho points move to their correct position. In ether words, in tho event of any failure of tho connections, it prevents the release of a signal. Supposing the facing point lock connections or the point connections, or both of them should break, and the signalman net be aware of it, the wire detector lock will detect whether tho points are working or not. Should the wires also fail, no harm can bo done, because the signals cannot be worked. It has to bo remembered, too, that in tho event of any connection breaking, the signal arm immediately and automatically goes to danger.. In connection with tho despatch of trains, tho stationmaster will, as now, give tho wdtd to start from the station. Then the' engine-driver will sound his whistle. And then, assuming that everything is clear, the signalman in the hox will lower tho starting signal. The timetable, of course, is the guide that has to bo worked to. . Any alterations to the time-table, or nnv special, instructions, are communicated to cither signal box, as required. Telephone communication obtains between the boxes and the station. and to other stations. When a train is entering tho, station, say from Napier, the signalman in the hox is able to work tho points so as to admit the train to the main lino, to thq loop line, or direct into the goods yard, ami, by means of a three-arm home-sig-nal, to signal the driver accordingly. Hy the employment of _the interlocking system, work is concentrated, and one : man can do what devolved upon several under former methods. In the psst I shunters hare had to run and ndo abOTU "tho varcl, and move the points by levers at different places. This work is now to he done from the signal boxes, which require onlv one man at a time to be in either of them. The adoption of the interlocking system means a saving ot labour. Its chief recommendation, how- (

evar, is that it renders train travelling safer for tho public. It minimises very con-idcrabiy the risk of yard derailments, and lessens tho number of accidents to men employed about a station yard. Tho equipment of Wellington station with interlocking apparatus has been done under tho direction of Mr H. J. Wynne, signal engineer, formerly of the ’Highland Railway. Scotland, who has had a lifelong experience of railway signalling. Tho next station to be equipped with interlocking apparatus will bo Westport. The tablet block system is being introduced on tlm Wellington-Napicr-N'cw Plymouth .seed ion.