Train or portion of a train left on the single line

You are here: Home > Forum > Miscellaneous > The real thing (signalling) > Train or portion of a train left on the single line

Page 1 of 1

Train or portion of a train left on the single line 10/11/2020 at 19:43 #133764
TUT
Avatar
505 posts
One regulation (surely one of the least-used rules in the Rule Book) that has always puzzled me slightly is regulation 7.8 of TS4: Train or portion of a train left on the single line.

The instructions are clear enough (though I, being born in quite the wrong decade think that the modern approach of breaking the Rule Book down into independent sections, all with their own heading and number, makes this particular regulation harder to follow, but never mind). What has me scratching my head is: why?

Quote:
Note: For this part of the regulation, the rear portion of a train will be left in the section between signal box A and signal box B.
Under what circumstances would you do that? (I mean, as I say, this is probably a little-used rule and I'm sure it was never imagined that it would be an everyday occurrence, but I can't easily come up with any plausible scenarios).

The rule very clearly grew out of the old regulation 14 of the regulations for train signalling on single lines by the electric token block system. The October 1960 edition of BR's Regulations for Train Signalling and Signalmen's General Instructions includes the following:

Quote:
14. Section Obstructed by Accident, by Disabled Train, or by Portion of Train

(b) When a train has to be left or divided and the rear portion left on the single line, owing to accident or inability of the engine to take the whole forward, or from any other cause [...]
Am I right to think that those are the sorts of scenarios the Rule Book has in mind today?

Log in to reply
Train or portion of a train left on the single line 10/11/2020 at 20:04 #133765
Late Turn
Avatar
696 posts
One example that I know happened in recent years (albeit on an NST single line rather than ETB) was a pair of DMUs - I don't know exactly why, but they suddenly refused to play together and thus the decision was made to leave one behind for the next train onto the single line to assist. I'd imagine that sort of thing is the most likely scenario nowadays, but a scenario like a freight train slipping to a stand and, with no prospect of an assisting loco any time soon, the train being split and the front portion worked forward and dumped somewhere doesn't seem entirely improbable still.
Log in to reply
The following user said thank you: TUT
Train or portion of a train left on the single line 10/11/2020 at 22:02 #133766
TUT
Avatar
505 posts
Aha, very interesting, thank you
Log in to reply
Train or portion of a train left on the single line 10/11/2020 at 22:13 #133767
bill_gensheet
Avatar
1309 posts
Did the lineside loading timber at Kinbrace get divided to aid the run round at Forsinard ?

So left the rear to be loaded, took the loaded front to Forsinard, then returned for the rear.

Bill

Log in to reply
Train or portion of a train left on the single line 10/11/2020 at 22:20 #133768
jc92
Avatar
3626 posts
Historically a common scenario would be a loco underperforming, an overweight train, or insufficient locos to work a train. This could cause a train to stall in section on a hill and thus the front portion would go forward to the next loop, then return for the rear portion.

The accident at Armagh occurred as a result of this type of working, however the rear portion wasn't secured properly.

"We don't stop camborne wednesdays"
Log in to reply