Southern Signals
Semaphore Signals
| Shunt signals. |
| As was explained in the introduction, a shunt signal
only gives a driver permission to proceed as far as he can see the line is
clear. It does not tell him whether or not the road is clear to the next
signal (if there is one), so he has to be prepared to stop at any moment. This
is necessary as otherwise no movement could be made onto a line that is already
occupied. Just a couple of examples are where an engine runs round a train and
sets back onto the coaching stock (here the shunt signal is called a
'calling-on signal') or is moving on shed with another loco already
occupying the approach road. Such signals will be red and white ones, either a
white disc with a red stripe or a miniature semaphore arm which can have a
vertical or horizontal stripe, a ring or a letter according to the installation
and the local instructions for that Signalbox.
Such signals will also control movements over a crossover and into and out of sidings. Once inside the sidings, however, there is frequently no need for further signals. Sometimes the exit signal will be placed where it can only apply to the exit road and sometimes where it could be taken to apply to one or more other roads. In this latter case it was normal on the Southern to use a yellow dummy which was originally a yellow miniature arm with a black vertical stripe or in later years either that or a black disc with a yellow horizontal stripe. In either case the meaning is that the signal may be passed when "on" provided the movement is not in the direction to which the signal applies. |
| A very early Southern Railway shunt signal that was in use at
Sheffield Park on the Bluebell Railway. These arms were supplied by
Westinghouse and they were very easily converted once the Southern Railway
decided to standardize on disc signals although the miniature arms could still
be found well into the 1950s. Unfortunately this particular signal's age
was catching up with it so it has been replaced by a Westinghouse disc but will
be used again, when a more peaceful location is available!
photograph by Peter Richards |
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In this photograph the shunt signal, a Westinghouse disc controlling
movement is safely fixed at stop!
photograph: Mike Morant collection |
| The previously viewed shunt signal at Newhaven once more.
This is immediately recognizable as a Southern Westinghouse signal as the other
railways/regions used circular discs. This is not to say that there were no
round discs on the Southern, there were, but not in large numbers and mainly
after nationalization, though they featured in the L&SWR low pressure
pneumatic system. Note that the round discs had the lights on the left rather
than the right, as shown here. This signal also shows to good effect that the
proceed indication for after dark was shown by a blue, not a green, lens
because the oil lamp burns with a yellow flame, and as every schoolchild knows,
blue and yellow make green!
photograph by Glen Woods |
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Left: Mounted on a standard Southern Railway rail-built post is this standard SR stop arm, but we are more interested in what is mounted beneath! Moving down the post the first thing to note is the white diamond that informs a driver the signal is exempt from Rule 55, then there are two shunt dummies. At first glance they appear standard Westinghouse ones, as used all over the Southern Railway/Region, but closer inspection shows they have no spectacles and are, in fact, illuminated dummies, but of the Westinghouse shape rather than the full circular shape seen in previous pages. Underneath the dummies are two arrows to indicate to which movement the dummy above it applies. At the time of the photograph the left dummy is "off", for a movement to the left. |  |
| Above: A close-up of the
dummies. The black hoods of the lamps that illuminate the dummies may just be made out above the boards carrying the arrows. Photograph taken at Ryde St Johns Road during May 1977 photograph by Clive Standen |
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This page was last updated 28 January 2004
