Barnetby East : Final Shift 2
Yet another self portrait !
My final shift at Barnetby East was a Saturday night, Saturday 18th December 2015 to be precise.
The shift saw no trains as is the norm these last few Saturdays as the last trains have been cancelled to ensure the engineering possessions get taken on time.
The B.East has been the short straw on a Saturday night for quite some time now as it involves taking two back to back possessions. As a controlling box (times 2) there are a lot of phone calls to make and people to talk to.
The easterly possession was from New Barnetby to Stallingborough and Immingham West (but not the Barton branch) so just the 6 boxes involved there [Brock, Ulceby, Reception, West, Roxton & Stallingboro'].
The Westerly possession was to Scunny Foreign Ore Junction, Brigg & Holton le Moor so again 6 boxes to talk to [Wrawby, Elsham, Appleby, Scunny, Brigg & H le M]
In total 12 boxes to go through possession limits with, check that lines are clear, sigs at Danger / Most restrictive aspect, Block Indicators at Train on Line, etc then the same twelve to be rung again once the possession is granted to advise them of the details.
It normally takes an hour or more of continuous phone activity. This week a further irritant was the new 2 2 2 bell code required to be sent when going to Train on Line, a first for all of us when taking a T3 on this occasion.
That aside I'm getting pretty slick at taking these as I seem to draw that short straw I mentioned earlier on quite a regular basis !
05.51 Hours on Sunday morning and my relief is imminent, all levers in the frame save for New Barnetby crossing release.
Reminders on the blocks and levers.
As the numbers of home signals is significantly greater than the number of reminder appliances (lever collars) available I generally only place them on the controlling signals (in this case that's BE 22, 56 & 57) and a couple or more selected signals.
Barnetby East Signal Box, 05.51 Hrs, Sunday 19th December 2015.
Barnetby East : Final Shift 2
Yet another self portrait !
My final shift at Barnetby East was a Saturday night, Saturday 18th December 2015 to be precise.
The shift saw no trains as is the norm these last few Saturdays as the last trains have been cancelled to ensure the engineering possessions get taken on time.
The B.East has been the short straw on a Saturday night for quite some time now as it involves taking two back to back possessions. As a controlling box (times 2) there are a lot of phone calls to make and people to talk to.
The easterly possession was from New Barnetby to Stallingborough and Immingham West (but not the Barton branch) so just the 6 boxes involved there [Brock, Ulceby, Reception, West, Roxton & Stallingboro'].
The Westerly possession was to Scunny Foreign Ore Junction, Brigg & Holton le Moor so again 6 boxes to talk to [Wrawby, Elsham, Appleby, Scunny, Brigg & H le M]
In total 12 boxes to go through possession limits with, check that lines are clear, sigs at Danger / Most restrictive aspect, Block Indicators at Train on Line, etc then the same twelve to be rung again once the possession is granted to advise them of the details.
It normally takes an hour or more of continuous phone activity. This week a further irritant was the new 2 2 2 bell code required to be sent when going to Train on Line, a first for all of us when taking a T3 on this occasion.
That aside I'm getting pretty slick at taking these as I seem to draw that short straw I mentioned earlier on quite a regular basis !
05.51 Hours on Sunday morning and my relief is imminent, all levers in the frame save for New Barnetby crossing release.
Reminders on the blocks and levers.
As the numbers of home signals is significantly greater than the number of reminder appliances (lever collars) available I generally only place them on the controlling signals (in this case that's BE 22, 56 & 57) and a couple or more selected signals.
Barnetby East Signal Box, 05.51 Hrs, Sunday 19th December 2015.