The Washington herald., 1908-06-28
A SCHOOL FOR SIGNALING
British Railway Instructs It's En-
ployes in Technical Details.
Miniature System Fitted Up Corre-
spending to Real Appliances
Which Operate the Lines.
From Tit Bits.

From TitBfts
A fully equipped school for teaching
railway signaling has been formed bv the
Great Western Railway Company. at Pad
dington station, which has been fitted up
with miniature working models OF all
signaling apparatus required 20 control
the rolling stock OF an up-to-date rail-
way system.
The classroom is under the control OF
the superintendent OF the line. and all
members Of the clerical staff are invited
10 attend the school I'm their spare time
and become acquainted with the actual
control Of the rolling stock under quail
lied instructors. 1t is not TO be wondered
NJ that The facilities offered are taken ad-
vantage Of by a large number Of the
staff. when it is mentioned that the pos
session OF a certificate from the signal
Ing school is an aid to more rapid ad-
vancement
The classroom is fitted up with model
railway complete with every device r-4d
on the permanent way and all the me-
chanical and electrical instruments OF Il
signal cabin. A perfect set OF rails. com
plete functions. cross sections. signals.
and points are laid ont on a specially con-
structed bench. the whole being controlled
by miniature set Of levers exactly like
those in a signal cabin.
Every detail is carefully carried ont
even 10 the catch points. a device VIII IN
is placed az tie junction Of sidings onto
the main line, so that IN the event Of any
train taking the wrong signal when the
road has been made open FOR a fast train.
the runaway train would be automati-
cally derailed-or, as slgnalmen would
term IT, thrown onto old England
ana IN this way prevented from entering
the main line and causing a serious dis
astcr
Signaling 20 a very large extent de-
pends upon the telegraphiC Instruments
and bells worked from box 70 box. Fer
this purpose The corners Of the large
classroom are arranged 20 present sig
nal cabins. and each student takes a turn
az manning one Of these model signal
boxes and transmitting the messages re-
garding the position Of each train This
takes some time 20 learn thoroughly. for
Ia busy box there are numerous instru-
ments TO attend 70, besides numerous
bells.
The men are far too busy to go To the
instrument each time the bell rings. so
that they have 10 depend on the tone of
the bell and learn what the message is
about by the number OF times the ham
mer strikes the gong. II is obvious.
therefore, that the signalman in an i'm
portant box has to act promptly when
several bells are ringing out messages
and warnings at the same time
As soon as the student shows progress
in this direction he is instructed in the
proper use Of head and tail lights. which
enable the expert railwayman 20 tell az
a glance the description OF any partIcu-
lar train-whether fast, slow. goods-and.
In cases where several companies use the
same set Of metals. TO what company
the train belongs. There are numerous
messages conveyed by these head lights.
and the students are made acquainted
with their meaning.
One clear principle underlying all the
apparent complexity OF signaling is this
to preserve "a space OF line for each
train. and no train Is 10 be passed on to
that space while it is occupied. This
system is the block system. and is very
generally in use all over the kingdom
By such varied and admirable arrange
ments as these a train can dash with ex-
press speed through busy functions In
the dark with as perfect certainty as in
the light.