Snow Hill Train Register Book (extract)
I have recently inherited some train registers.
This one is of particular interest as it covers a period about four months before the final closure of Birmingham Snow Hill station.
I have chosen the pages for Thursday 21st / Friday 22nd October 1971 to scan, as the entries were made by Bill Bradbury and Ted Breakwell, two railwaymen who I later worked with.
There are no entries in the 'Rear Section' columns on the Down page, nor 'Advance Section' columns on the Up page as the station was a terminus by then, 'up' trains from the Handsworth direction returning as 'down' trains to Wolverhampton or Langley Green.
Bill has entered times in the 'Is Line Clear' and 'Train out of Section' columns, as was custom and practice, whereas Ted has entered times in the 'Description Sent' and 'Description Received' columns, this was technically correct as the 'Method of Working' was 'Track Circuit Block' and there was no requirement to 'Accept' trains or send 'Train out of Section'.
3-1 in the 'Description of Train' column is the bell signal for an 'Ordinary Passenger Train' and 2-2-1 is for 'Empty Coaching Stock'. Ted has suffixed these bell signals with 'W' or 'L', for Wolverhampton or Langley Green, these origin/destination descriptions were transmitted on Tyer's 'Clockwork' train describers at the same time as the train's class was rung out on the single stroke bell.
The 'Line' column on each page records 'R' for Relief Line (arrival on the up or departure on the down) and the numbers 3 or 4 for the platform used.
Snow Hill Train Register Book (extract)
I have recently inherited some train registers.
This one is of particular interest as it covers a period about four months before the final closure of Birmingham Snow Hill station.
I have chosen the pages for Thursday 21st / Friday 22nd October 1971 to scan, as the entries were made by Bill Bradbury and Ted Breakwell, two railwaymen who I later worked with.
There are no entries in the 'Rear Section' columns on the Down page, nor 'Advance Section' columns on the Up page as the station was a terminus by then, 'up' trains from the Handsworth direction returning as 'down' trains to Wolverhampton or Langley Green.
Bill has entered times in the 'Is Line Clear' and 'Train out of Section' columns, as was custom and practice, whereas Ted has entered times in the 'Description Sent' and 'Description Received' columns, this was technically correct as the 'Method of Working' was 'Track Circuit Block' and there was no requirement to 'Accept' trains or send 'Train out of Section'.
3-1 in the 'Description of Train' column is the bell signal for an 'Ordinary Passenger Train' and 2-2-1 is for 'Empty Coaching Stock'. Ted has suffixed these bell signals with 'W' or 'L', for Wolverhampton or Langley Green, these origin/destination descriptions were transmitted on Tyer's 'Clockwork' train describers at the same time as the train's class was rung out on the single stroke bell.
The 'Line' column on each page records 'R' for Relief Line (arrival on the up or departure on the down) and the numbers 3 or 4 for the platform used.