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Canterbury Railway Society Inc Photo Gallery: Signalling & Train Control Copyright / Disclaimer Notice - Please Read Signalling and Train Control are two necessary facets of a system of safe working of trains between any designated origin and destination. In real-world applications the operation of the two are frequently combined and carried out by the same staff. The Ferrymead Railway possesses the most extensive signalling system of any heritage railway in New Zealand. Moorhouse station yard is controlled by an 18-lever interlocked frame signalbox (formerly at Templeton on the Main South Line), using mainly two position semaphore signals of the traditional type now largely gone from Tranz Rail lines (last used in the South Island in 1989, and still used in the Wairarapa area). Several turnouts are operated directly by lever while the loop to main points at the far end of the Moorhouse station platform are operated by an electric motor. Disc signals are provided for shunting movements within the Moorhouse yard. The entrance to Moorhouse is controlled by a triple Home signal, with an Outer Home and Distant signal further out near Truscotts Crossing. Clems Crossing adjacent to the Moorhouse signalbox is fitted with crossing bells and flashing lights. Ferrymead station also has semaphore signals and a set of motor points operated by a 4-lever station frame and control panel. Train control in use on days when more than one train is in operation, is carried out by Tyer's Electric Train Tablet machines. Trains normally also operate to a timetable, and on special days, written instructions dictate where trains will cross each other. The tablet system was formerly in use up and down New Zealand, latterly displaced by automatic signalling, CTC and Track Warrant on Tranz Rail's lines. The tablet system ensures safe working by requiring a train to possess the tablet as its authority to enter a designated section of line. Tablet machines are installed at each end of the section and connected by wiring between them. The machines are locked in such a way that only one tablet in total can be released from either machine at a given time. Once the tablet has been obtained, it is handed to the train driver and subsequently collected at the other end of the section. This system was still in use between Christchurch and Waipara until 1991. A recent signalling addition in Moorhouse Yard has been the former crossing keepers hut moved to a new site adjacent to the pedestrian crossing. As well as providing a base for crossing keepers controlling the crossing at festival events, the hut will have six signal levers for controlling signals in part of the yard. • Home > Photo Gallery > Signals
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