Filmed in the summer of 1990 during the time I was a Relief Signalman at Miles Platting. The loud background noise on some of these clips is the sad sound of Wilson's Brewery being demolished. Another Manchester brewery bit the dust.
As a kid most railway stations had a working signal box. As the train was approaching they would open up both ends of the station with the semaphore signals. It used to fascinate me. 6 or 7 people worked there selling tickets , parcels etc, closed up now. Forgot when I was very young a guy would close the railway gates too.
Great Vid mate. I was a Signalman on the Blackpool Nth and Sth Lines; and Wyre Dock Branch 1978-88. I had to retire early after injuries. Most of the time I was based at Poulton No 3 as a G/P Rlf; covering Vacancies, Sickness and holidays.
I worked on that track for many years, 1969 to 2011, Bill Lewis (Crazy Horse) was the ganger then. I was in that gang number 88 from 1971 to 1975. In 1979 I was based at Manchester Piccadilly in the NDT. Worked in all those signal boxes.
I was a box lad at crewe south in 75 for 2 years, when I reached 18 I had to do a man's job, there were only 3 going at crewe at the time, signalman, guard, porter, didn't fancy signalman after 2 years at crewe south made me allergic to bells, buzzers and phones ringing, and definitely didn't fancy the others so I transferred to saltley DD to get on the footplate and do my traction training and eventually became a driver so I went from "bloody fucking drivers don't know where their going" to "bloody fucking signalmen don't know where we're going" 😅
I was the signalman in the clip. Although I remember Brookfold Lane (I even have a photo of the box) I never worked there or anywhere on that area. Sorry.
Fascinating video! I am most curious as to what occurs at 3:20 From what I understand, a standard passenger train has been accepted from the box in rear, the train has entered the section, the train has been offered to the box in advance, yet when asking is line clear, he gets a warbled response. The signalman here seems confused, and calls attention(?) again. I am not aware of that bell being used to essentially “ask to repeat last code”, but that’s what seems to be happening. The box in advance then responds with 5 beats, which I don’t know the meaning of. The signalman here then passes that on to the box in rear. Why?
I wonder if you know the answer now 8 months later? You've got to remember these were professionals, they sent these bell signals day in day out every single day, and they generally knew what they were expecting to hear. You get used to your bell codes and can rattle them out very fast when you're in a hurry. Our signalman in the video indeed sent 3-1 (is line clear for a class 2 train (ordinary passenger train)?). The response that comes back is 3-1. It's fast, but there's no doubt about it, it's 3-1. Line is clear for a class 2 (ordinary passenger train). As you say call attention is then sent: New message. Our signalman acknowledges. 5 is indeed sent. 5 means is line clear for a class 6 train? (today that's freight with a maximum speed of 60 mph and I think it would have been by 1990 as well, but train classifications have changed over time, once upon a time 5 beats on the bell was is line clear for a class 5, D headcode train (express freight, livestock, perishable or ballast train, partly fitted, with the automatic brake operative on not less than one third of the vehicles), but that's going back a lot further than 1990, it's just to give you the idea that some of the meanings have changed over time). There is no way to ask for a bell code to be repeated. The rules simply say that you must not consider a signal to have been understood until it has been correctly acknowledged by repetition. Usual procedure if you're not sure is to wait for the bell code to be sent again, although you can usually work it out because as I say you know what you're expecting. If you acknowledge a code wrongly it will simply be sent again until you acknowledge it correctly. There is 'last train incorrectly described' but that's for when you have sent the wrong description and need to correct it.
1:23 - look at that donkey bounce!! Excellent video; Unfortunately, I'm too young to be part of the mechanical signal box era otherwise I would try for a job at one of the boxes still in operation on the Blackpool line or the Manchester-Wigan line!
@M53494 . "One Bells" were quite commonplace once upon a time. In some places I believe they can still be found although for many reasons, the species is in danger of becoming extinct.
i think those 31s were having a struggle there !. was that heavy crude oil in there by any chance john ?. nice clips mate as always, very much enjoyed. TOM
Good evening, it is not yet entirely clear to me whether those old electric block systems (Absolute block system, if I am not mistaken) with a wooden case were or were not influenced by the passage of trains for the purpose of occupying and freeing the section (block) towards to which and from which the train was respectively headed or from which the train came. Furthermore, it is not clear whether there is an electrical connection between the lever that controls the opening (switching from Danger to Clear) of the starting signal and the apparatus with wooden case. In other words, was it possible to pull the lever that activated the starting signal towards you without first having received electrical consent from the next station? However, it is common ground that where there is a token block it is possible to activate the lever that opens the starting signal even before having handed over the token to the driver, unless there is an error on my part. Thank you very much for your availability and collaboration
I don't remember a cat being at Brewery. Miles Platting had a cat. I don't know who would have had a guitar that worked there, maybe it was after my time. I left the area in 1992.
Did you do your training at Man Vic ? I did mine in 88 there then worked as relief on the S&C ... Cant remember the name of our instructor but we stayed in the station hotel at whalley Bridge
You guys across the pond call these tower operators signalmen. I was a signalman and we worked trackside building crossings , cantilevers signals wayside detectors track circuits, crossing houses. I did briefly work at a box tower like this, but not throwing switches or levers, in the relay room downstairs. 2 different jobs completely. These switch Throwers are called tower operators here in the states
Branch Ordinary passenger train. If the train was going down the Main line, it would be signalled as a normal Ordinary passenger train with bell code 3-1. If the train was going down the Branch line, it would be offered as bell code 1-3 to let the signalman know that it needed the route set for the Branch. It is a routing code.
the signalman , resembles some one who used to be at Brookfold Box,Godley in the seventies, i was on the footplate at the time with the class 76,s, would love to find out where he ended up,any info please.,Brill video too.
The lever handles and release latches are brass typically so it was to keep finger prints off the levers and oil from your hands from causing corrosion
