From: Niels Karsdorp Newsgroups: misc.transport.rail.europe Subject: Re: Netherlands Railway Signals Date: 20 Mar 1998 07:21:35 GMT Organization: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Message-ID: <6et5dv$bsd$1@info.service.rug.nl> As promised a description of the Dutch semaphore signals: The signals are allways placed at the rightside of the track. When this is not possible (due to many tracks next to eachother) the signals are mounted on a 'bridge' above the tracks. SR225 The main signal contains a black and white pole with a red arm. At the right end of the arm there is a circular shape. At the left side there are two holes, filled with colored glass. Behind one of the glasses, a light source is mounted. SR225a o |/ | | When the arm points at 45 degrees into the sky (SR225a) the light shines through the blue glass, resulting into green. This situation means that the track is clear (called 'SAVE') and the train is allowed to pass by. SR225b |-o | | When the arm is in the horizontal position, the light shines through the red glass. The meaning of this signal (SR255b) is 'STOP'. Any train heading a signal in this position must stop. To warn a traindriver for a STOP signal, the main signal is preceded by another signal, SR234/SR238. These signals differ from the main signals in the fact that they have a straight end in stead of the circular shape. The color of the pole and the arm are identical to the main signals. SR234 |/ | | When the arm points at 45 degrees into the sky (SR234) the light shines through a blue glass. This signal means that the following main signal shows SAVE, and the train may pass through without decreasing speed. SR238 | |\ | When the arm points at 45 degrees towards the ground (SR238) the light shines through an orange glass. This signal means that the following main signal shows STOP, and the train should brake now to stop before the main signal. To warn for signals the precessing signals are preceded by beacons. Beacons do not show the situation of the signals, they only warn for the presence of a signal. If a precessing signal should be placed too close to the previous main signal, these both signals were combined and mounted on one pole. A restriction was that the precessing signal may not show SAVE when the main signal showed STOP. This situation has no sence, but could be confusing. SR225a and SR234 o |/ |/ | | A train is allowed to pass by this main signal and the next signal shows SAVE, too. SR225a and SR238 o |/ | |\ | A train is allowed to pass by this signal, but should brake, because the next main signal shows STOP. SR225b and SR238 |-o | |\ | A train must stop before this main signal. So far part one. Niels Karsdorp --------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Niels Karsdorp Newsgroups: misc.transport.rail.europe Subject: Re: Netherlands Railway Signals Date: 20 Mar 1998 07:22:41 GMT Organization: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen Message-ID: <6et5g1$bsd$2@info.service.rug.nl> To continue the description of the Dutch semaphore signals, I will describe the branch signals. In cases of branches, signals with two states are not sufficient. In most cases the main track could be passed by at full speed, while the brached track should be passed by at a low speed. The most wellknow case of branches was at stations with more than one possible tracks for a specific direction. Other situations are when a line branches from the main line. The main branch signal contains of one arm for each of the tracks. The shape of the arm is like a swalowtale (instead of the circle): ___ _____/ / _____ < \__\ To prevent many poles next to eachother, the poles are combined on a certain 'bridge', placed on one pole, mast or more poles or masts. The pole with the arm for the main track(s) was(were) higher than those for the other tracks. The angle of the arms is similar to those of the main signals, horizontal for stop, 45 degrees into the sky for pass through. |-< |-< | |-< | | | --------- || || || || When all the arms are in horizontal position, a train must stop before the branch signal (none of the tracks is free). |_ |/ |-< | |-< | | | --------- || || || || When one arm on a high pole points at 45 degrees into the sky, a train may pass by at normal speed. |-< |_ |-< | |/ | | | --------- || || || || When one arm on a low pole points at 45 degrees into the sky, a train may pass by at decreased speed. To warn for these signals, precessing branch signals are used. Different than the normal precessing signals, these signals have two arms, which can show three different states: | |\ | arms only: | \ The upper arm vertical towards the sky and the other pointing at 45 degrees towards the ground means that the train must stop before the main branch signal. (The arms make up the letter L wich stands for LANGZAAM, dutch for slow down) |/ | | arms only: |/ The upper arm vertical towards the sky and the other pointing 45 degrees into the sky. This means that the main track is free and that the train can pass by at normal speed. (The arms make up the letter V which stands for VEILIG, dutch for save) |/ |\ | arms only: / \ The upper arm points at 45 degrees into the sky and the other points at 45 degrees towards the ground. This means that one of the branching tracks is free and that the train may pass by at lowered speed. (The arms and the pole form the letter K which stands for KROM, dutch for branching). Often the main branching signals are combined with precessing signals for the next main signals. Close to large stations with a lot of tracks it happens that a lot of signals are mounted on a bridge, which covers all of the tracks. There are more signals, but these were the most important. (About the signals for shunting, I need to find more information). Next time I will describe some of the mechanical thechniques.