The token
This week's Saturday Timewatch shows the old token system that was used to ensure only one train was on a stretch of single track at the same time. Look closely and you can see the crewman holding a circular metal ring that will be taken by another staff member on the station platform as the locomotive passes. The token, with a specific geographical name on it, is a unique item to that particular stretch of track that the train has just travelled along. So once the token is safely handed over it will then be conveyed to the train waiting on the other platform so that it can then proceed from the station.
The photo was taken on he Swanage Railway heritage line. However, I clearly remember the use of manual tokens along the Cambrian Coast line before an electronic system was introduced. From memory, I think that was sometime in the late 1980s.
The token
This week's Saturday Timewatch shows the old token system that was used to ensure only one train was on a stretch of single track at the same time. Look closely and you can see the crewman holding a circular metal ring that will be taken by another staff member on the station platform as the locomotive passes. The token, with a specific geographical name on it, is a unique item to that particular stretch of track that the train has just travelled along. So once the token is safely handed over it will then be conveyed to the train waiting on the other platform so that it can then proceed from the station.
The photo was taken on he Swanage Railway heritage line. However, I clearly remember the use of manual tokens along the Cambrian Coast line before an electronic system was introduced. From memory, I think that was sometime in the late 1980s.