The people who work in the Banbury North Signal Box have my respect for the hard work that they do

@alanclarke4646

7 ай бұрын

Agreed. I'm 62, and after seeing the complexity here, I've decided I don't want to be a signaller when I grow up!😂😂

Can't believe how clean everything is, you could eat off the floor. And how great all the levers looked. Operations at their finest!!

@garrettvalentino4856

3 жыл бұрын

Instablaster...

The usual immaculate ex-Great Western signalbox !! I first visited the one at Ayhno Junction in about 1972 as a BR trainee. The box was south of Banbury where the line to the south via Oxford and the line to London diverge. It's long gone, but was just as immaculate as this one. Glad to see the traditions are maintained, but I see it was demolished in 2016, with the onward march of technology. If you still want to see theld stuff, go to Stockport, where you can see several of these mechanical boxes built in the 1890s all within about a mile of each other. They are still there due to a monumental cock-up by the then Railtrack who gave a modernisation contract to a firm that knew absolutely nothing about British signalling. Of course the project failed and the old boxes are still there.

Rather beautiful. Symbolic of what this country's lost in a way.

I used to work in the adjoining box (Banbury South) and on a late shift the trains are one after another so that you barely have time to sit down.

When I drove suburban trains in Adelaide (Sth Australia) we still had handful of lever framed signal cabins left, I knew few Signalmen it was great thrill to be able to pull levers to make the road & pull stick off for next train! Great memories.

Fabulous video this box is sorely missed

Really good

very hard work

Bravo Guys.

Full hard work

I love the old fashioned signal system and switch movers I guess if it's ain't broke don't fix it over there that's why that older stuff is still in use I guess

So fascinating to see what was once used during the steam age still governing the movements of modern day trains! Is that a Class 170 @0:19?

Banbury North Signal Box was a Great Western type 7 building constructed in 1899 to house an 88 lever frame. As an indication of expansion of facilities at Banbury at that time, its predecessor had just 17 levers! The lever frame seen in the videos, however, is a Great Western VT5 example with 95 levers that was commissioned on 12 October 1956. The signal box was decommissioned on 30 July 2016 and demolished on 26 March 2017 after a series of public visits had taken place.

Very nice

6:40 "I've got all these detonators so I might as well use them. What can they do, sack me?"

@GaryCameron780

4 жыл бұрын

Might have been done on purpose to signal last train. Or as a prank. Either way cool to watch.

@chris-ryan

3 жыл бұрын

I believe it is tradition(accorrding to another video I watched) when a signal box is being retired to place 7 detonators on the line for the last train. kzread.info/dash/bejne/Y5uTtK2AYcbPXbg.html&t=493

Very sad demise. Shame on Network Rail for the demolition.

Hard work

Good to see this once more. It's been a pleasure working LOCK & BLOCK Atleast the lever frame is electrical. He's got it a little easier

good and good working

@mrinmoybagdi5617

6 жыл бұрын

hari sai qwedaz া

Hard working

Brilliant !!!!!

Why do they always use a cloth when pulling the levers?

@owenjones-wells9395

Жыл бұрын

It's to keep the lever handles from rusting. The natural oils on our skin would cause the metal to corrode over time. I'd imagine it also helped prevent blisters, as pulling levers (especially point levers) could be quite hard.

I have the same work. But not such a large Bank.

Good evening, really interesting signal box. However, it is not yet clear to me whether or not those wooden instruments of the electrical block (Absolute block if I am not mistaken) are influenced by the passage of the train and, in particular, whether or not they are electrically connected to the starting signals. Here in Italy the devices of the manual electric block (large red metal box) provide that the block is occupied after the transit of the first axle on the pedal placed downstream of the starting signal and that its release occurs when the train passes with the the last axis is the home signal of the next station (in the event that the next station is disabled, for example during the night, liberation occurs when the train passes the starting signal of the next station, which therefore behaves as if it were a checkpoint intermediate manual electric, i.e. located in full line). Grateful for the attention given to me, I would like to take this opportunity to extend cordial and sincere regards

@paulebberson4884

19 күн бұрын

The signalman uses the bell codes to indicate a train has entered or left a section. The signals (red levers) cannot be cleared unless the signalman in the receiving signalbox has indicated on the 'wooden instruments' that the line is clear.

What a incredible job so quickly almost extinct. You really had to know your shit to be a tower operator. Look at the condition of that tower. Amazing. Like a house... When people loved their jobs and did them well

@FowlorTheRooster1990

2 жыл бұрын

It was tradition and I believe also an un written rule to keep their boxes clean and tidy, even the Crossing Keepers huts were kept tidy and they are not proper signal boxes.

Now just a pile of rubble. They could at least have preserved it or let a private railway/entrepreneur carefully demolish it and rebuild it elsewhere -- but no, Network Rail has to destroy everything, so 115 years of heritage simply gets wrecked. If you look at this site on Google Earth now (next to the road bridge just north of Banbury station) you'll see that it's been completely razed, leaving just waste ground. Fifty years after we started demolishing beautiful old buildings in the '60s and replacing them with concrete eyesores, only to realise by the '90s that it was all a huge mistake, the thickos at Network Rail still haven't learnt a thing.

@G0IMB

5 жыл бұрын

@Sean Embry I have the same question

@marke5503

5 жыл бұрын

@@G0IMB Using a duster stops the salt in your sweat from the hand palms being transferred onto the bare metal of the levers and corroding them. Use of a towel (duster) is easier; you have to keep taking gloves on and off, and given a signalman/woman in a busy mechanical box is constantly on the go - you would forever be playing round with gloves. Also gloves make your hands sweat! Plus there is the tradition element as well.

why do they use a rag to trow the switches? in the usa they never did that.

@dexstewart2450

6 жыл бұрын

Gives a better grip. I was the Signal Engineer for this patch in 99/01

@modelsteamers671

5 жыл бұрын

It stops the sweat in your hands from tarnishing the polished metal.

was the 7-5-5 bell recorded for the last time?

@TransitZone

6 ай бұрын

No only from Banbury south I think

i think this job is very tough omg

Those are some very well maintained Armstrong Levers!

These are herritage type interlocking. Rri now is ssi

What is the tapping he does about? Is he sending morse code messages to somebody?

@RWJP

6 жыл бұрын

Sort of, yes. The taps are his response to the bells. Each ring of the bell means something. For example, 1 ring of a bell means that the next signalman along is calling for your attention. When that happens the signalman in this box responds with a single tap, which rings a bell in the other signal box to confirm he is listening. An exchange might go something like this when one signal box wants to send a freight train to another: Signalman A: 1 Bell - "Calling Attention" Signalman B: 1 Bell - "I am listening" Signalman A: 3 Bells - "Is the line clear to send a freight train?" Signalman B: 3 Bells - "Yes, the line is clear to send a freight train" Signalman A: 2 Bells - "Train is on it's way to you" Signalman B: 2 Bells - "I understand the train is on it's way to me" Signalman B: 2 Bells then 1 Bell - "The train you sent has arrived safely" Signalman 1: 2 Bells then 1 Bell - "Thanks for telling me the train has arrived safely"

@TractorMonkeywithJL

6 жыл бұрын

Thanks, very interesting.

what does the ringing mean

@marke5503

5 жыл бұрын

On the old signalling systems, trains are “offered” and “accepted” between adjoining signal boxes by the use of bell codes, which also denote what kind of train it is; and in the case of a multi-track area the instruments that transmit these bell codes also denote what line it is on. Bell codes are also used to indicate when a train is passing one signal box to the next one, to communicate when a train has arrived complete (or not!) and to pass emergency messages quickly.

@marke5503

5 жыл бұрын

@ stops the sweat on the hands for corroding the metal

I have literally no idea whats going on here :(

Kalau kaya gini mah gak ada waktu buat ngising

Wow.. I gotta hand it to these people. This looks super complicated and stressful. One fuckup and you're on the hook for millions of dollars of damage and most importantly... People's lives.

@BrokenIET

Жыл бұрын

Pretty hard to screw up, as the signals are interlocked and there are track corcuits, not much more dangerous than the new electronic equivalents

sipahi kumar

All I hear is bells which should be in a specific pattern but aren't.

@TheSonic10160

Жыл бұрын

It's as much about the number of bells as the pattern they're in One bell is to get attention, then a code of bells to ask if the line is clear for a specific train. Three bells is for a freight train per someone else's comment on this thread.

ESTW würde es echt erleichtern

Now that's some real responsibility; I'm not sure I'd want it.

Bischen wie In der Kirche !!! :))

Human error must have been a problem over the years one wrong switch and could be a disaster.

@TheSonic10160

Жыл бұрын

Thankfully, these systems are mechanically interlocked. You CAN'T pull a wrong switch, the locking bars in the room underneath the upper level will not physically let you.

Great quality video, but knowing next to nothing about a Signalman's job, totally incomprehensible. It would have been nice to have a bit of instructive commentary, with perhaps a few slow motion sections, to let us uninitiated into the secret.

BUSY BOX !

👍👍👍👍👍❤️😎🦘🇦🇺

CHANDAN MISTRI

Drink whiskey, chomp cigars, and throw levers. Not the worst gig.

19th century…………

@Pitcairn2

4 жыл бұрын

That's when we built them. Before anyone else.

Ain't socialism great

This video isnt that interesting given the lack of narration

@j.a.g1291

5 ай бұрын

I agree, the video would be MUCH better with some sort of narration, either subtitles or a voiceover. A short summary I can give is this: The bells you hear are the result of communications to adjacent signal boxes. Each time the signalman in this video "taps" his instrument, he will cause the bell to ring in the corresponding adjacent signal box. Each bell you hear in this video is the result of an adjacent "tapping" their instrument. The number and rhythm of the bells rang form a code. Its somewhat similar to morse code, but whereas in morse code you have long and short strokes, here you can only ring a bell. So instead, the gaps between the bells make the code unique. For example, a common bell code heard in this video was 3-1-1: 3 beats in quick succession, a pause, then one beat, another pause, and then one beat. I believe this bell code refers to express freight, but I may be wrong. There are many different bell codes, all with different meanings, but arguably the most common and useful bell codes are this: 1 beat (a singular bell) - Call attention 2 beats - train entering section 2-1 (2 beats, pause, one beat) - train out of section. most of the different codes stem from "is line clear for..." This is because each type of train has their own bell code. For example, that express freight bell code mentioned earlier, 3-1-1, means "is line clear for express freight?" As you might expect, the "belling" of these codes become rather quick, and sometimes quite difficult to understand even for qualified signalmen. In this video, the "belling" is somewhat poor, especially 2-1 (train out of section). I doubt an instructor would be very pleased with it! You can probably tell I am rather interested in the subject, but I must disclaim I am merely an enthusiast, and qualified at all. Anyways, I hope that made the video slightly more interesting for you. If you have any questions, I'm sure I could give them a go!

@paulebberson4884

19 күн бұрын

@@j.a.g1291 Yes this video really needs a commentary. Is there anyone left now who really understands what is going on here? There seem to be many additional bell codes from normal operation. At one point the signalman was linking to another signalling system and keying in what I assume was a headcode description.

@LUAu101

9 күн бұрын

@@j.a.g1291 This is a very good explanation, but I really don't think you should pass judgement on a skilled professional's belling like that. The belling is fast. It is not poor. (Admittedly a slip of the finger towards the end of the video appears to have resulted in 2 being acknowledged twice but that's all.) You get used to your bells. Bells are being exchanged here with an adjacent box which was busy enough to be exempted from the requirement to record times, not necessarily so enthusiasts can follow along at home. When you watch a skilled chef chop onions you don't go oooh dear, if I tried that I'd chop my fingers off, that can't be very safe. You admire a professional at work. Now for sure clear communication is essential and the bell signals should be distinct, but this is like the difference between a fluent native speaker and a language learner. A learner might wonder how the natives can understand what's being said but if you're fluent it's easy. 3-1-1 is indeed a class 4 train (freight with a maximum speed of 75 mph).

@LUAu101

9 күн бұрын

@@paulebberson4884 This video was filmed and edited to be shown as part of a tour of the box that was offered to members of the public shortly after its closure in 2016. Videos of the tour can be found on KZread. Of course the tour itself went into a lot more detail about how the box worked. This video was meant to show the box in action. It was meant to be an exciting, attention-grabbing insight into the fast-paced, loud, invigorating, even frenetic nature of a busy box to complement the more detailed explanations of the tour and show visitors to the closed box how it used to be only weeks before. It wasn't meant to be a beginner's guide to absolute block signalling. Of course it could be said that stuck up on KZread on its own it doesn't work as well as it might have done as part of the original tour, but I think for the more casual viewer it provides a brief flash of the exhilarating world of mechanical signalling that captures the sounds and energy of a busy shift. For a more interested viewer they will know what's going on or can find out by looking at the many videos explaining absolute block signalling on KZread. Or start with The Signal Box website, it'll tell you everything. I don't think it would have been improved with a dry commentary drowning out the sounds of the bells or the trains rushing past. Signal boxes are *loud*! It's great! In any case the only 'additional bell code from normal operation' I heard was 3-5 'cancelling' which is here sent because a train which had terminated in platform 1 had started back in the opposite direction and so wouldn't be continuing through the section. And yes you're right he's typing the train description/headcode into the train describer system so that the signaller at Leamington Spa (now closed) knew what was coming. When Fenny Compton Box fell in 2004 absolute block working was replaced by track circuit block to Leamington Spa, which also lost its NX panel, the whole thing being taken over by a nasty computer system that could drive you nuts with the alarms it constantly sounded off.

@j.a.g1291

9 күн бұрын

⁠@@LUAu101I did not mean to insult the signalman, I apologise if that’s what I have done. When I said it’s “poor”, I did not mean to insinuate I know better, or that he should be ashamed, far from it. I simply meant that the short and long pauses were less distinct than usual. The belling is obviously swift, clear and understandable, and that’s arguably all that matters. If you want to keep up with the tv metaphor, I guess you could say I’m a typical football fan having a go at my club / a player for some small niggle that doesn’t matter. Again, didn’t mean to insult, I apologise.

What country?

@RealTheBritishGamer

Жыл бұрын

uk

Hard work