Britain at Work
A Pictorial Description of Our National Industries

2Ö0 BRITAIN AT WORK. To return to the interior of signal cabins, there are, as a rule, many other dial instru- ments to be noticed in addition to the block telegraph ones. Where signals are hidden from view of the men in charge, an instru- ment, in the form of a miniature semaphore, placed above the lever to which it refers, repeats the working of the real arm ; while another instrument is for use at night, when a lamp showing a red or green light respectively indicates the “on” and “off” position of the Over of the tongue which, as it re- signalmen, who work in DRIVER AND SIGNALMAN EXCHANGING TALLIES. arm. The lamp repeater is a very ingenious apparatus, the flame lamp is a of metal, as long remains hot, mains bent, owing to the unequal contraction of the metals com- posing it. If the lamp goes out, the tongue cools and straightens until it touches a button, which sets a bell ringing in the repeater, and changes a shutter inscribed “ Light in ” to one in- scribed “Light out.” Again, at the great boxes termini there are “ dials inscribed with the names of the traffic dealt with, the nature of what is approach- ing being signified by the pointing of a needle—which obviate the use of multi- tudinous bell calls. The walls of signal cabins are papered with official literature—these are the regulations for working the block instruments ; a list of the platelayers (and their addresses) who are available for fog duty ; a working time-table, showing the exact hour at which every kind of tiain is timed to pass the box in question ; and a sheaf of the current month’s notices, specifying the arrangements made for the special, excursion, and ballast trains, together with warnings as to what portions of the which guard important train describers ”—that is, permanent way may be under repair. With the foregoing particulars the signalman is expected to be fully acquainted, and he is periodically examined in the same by travelling inspectors. The three largest signal boxes in the country are London Bridge (Brighton line) North Cabin, 280 levers ; Waterloo A Box, 250 levers; and Liverpool Street West Box, 240 levers. The London Bridge and Waterloo boxes have each a staff of ten shifts, four in the daytime and two at night ; while at Liverpool Street, during the busiest hours of the day, there are as many as five men on duty to- gether. Each box has . also a staff of train boys, who carry messages, attend to the telephones, and write up the train books. In the course of twelve months the number of lever movements made in these mammoth signal boxes attains they deal with from several millions; for 600 to 1,100 trains per twenty-four hours, not counting light engines, and there is an average of fully a score of lever movements to each train. And the pull of each lever is a heavy one, even to a strong man. Lastly, a few lines about the great fog problem. In foggy weather all the fore- going arrangements are liable to be nullified by the driver’s inability to see the signals ; and, accordingly, some method of sound signalling has to be substituted. A primitive procedure, still widely utilised, consists of posting men at the side of the track close to the signal posts, where they can see the position of the arms. Whilst the latter are at danger, they keep a detonator or detonators on the metals, the explosion of