Patent GB-764525-A (GB)
Title: Railway route-setting equipment
IPC: B61L19/06
Filed: 1952-06-06
Abstract: 764,525. Railway route-setting apparatus. STANDARD TELEPHONES & CABLES, Ltd. June 6, 1952 [June 9, 1951], No. 14315/52. Class 105. Route-setting equipment for a railway junction through which several routes are formed in part by the same setting of a group of independently operated track switches includes group control apparatus such as a relay to control the setting of each said group. Each group relay or direction relay acting as a group relay is operated in response to the operation of the relevant one of route identifying relays assigned to respective routes, said direction relays being operable to indicate the direction of movement over a route. A contact of a group or direction relay is included in the operating circuits of route-identifying relays of conflicting routes so that a second such route identifying relay cannot be operated after the group or direction relay has operated. Fig. 2a shows the mimic diagram of junction having a control key in each line X-B and in each siding P-W and a route is selected by first operating the key at the beginning of a route and then the key at the end of the route. Alternatively, each arrival line and each arrival siding and each departure line and each departure siding has one key each so that sidings Q and R may have an arrival key and a departure key placed respectively at the end of a siding occupied by the head of a train in the siding and facing in the arrival or departure direction; the sequence of operation of the keys at the ends of a route having no significance. In the first case, for a route from A to Q, the sequence of operation is insignificant since movement in this route is restricted to one direction from A to Q and the keys A, Q each closes a contact to complete the pick-up circuit of a route identifying relay RAQ, Fig. 3a (not shown). Utilizing the second arrangement of keys on the mimic diagram, for the route from A to Q, the arrival key QA (not shown) of the siding Q and the key A are operated, closing contacts in the pick-up circuit of relay RAQ as before, this relay on operation latching up and opening its own pick-up circuit. At. front contacts raq2, raq3 and raq4 direction latch relay DA, Fig. 4, and group latch relays GA and GB are picked up and latched, these relays setting in known manner, in required position the groups of track switches associated therewith. At front contact gb2 a single-winding group relay GK is picked up and held so long as relay GB is latched, to set in the required position for the route, a further group of track switches. The relays DA, GA, GB may be operated by contacts of other route indicating relays utilizing the same group of track switches, e.g. contacts rar2, rqx2 and rbq3 of route indicating relays RAR, RQX and RBQ for routes AR, QX and BQ respectively. Contacts of the relays DA, GB are included in the common lead of route indicating relays of conflicting routes. Relay GA operates one track switch individually and has none of its contacts used to prevent the establishment of conflicting routes, but even without such contacts it could be used as a group relay.