Fixed stop signal?

Yes.

In places where passenger trains terminated but the yard was beyond the station.

The Stanmore branch platform at Harrow and Wealdstone was the one I knew. The yard was to the North of the station and branch trains arrived from the South. The only connection between the branch and the main line was via the platform and into the yard which was a shunting movement.

So there was a shunting disc for shunting movements past the fixed "Stop" signal?

Or a man with a flag or lantern?

I can't remember if it was a disk or shunting arm, but yes.

Most cases I've seen the terminal line would be right direction with a signal the wrong direction to go out. For shunting there was normally an illuminated limit of shunt board (LOS) these days replaced with a position light shunt signal with a double red.

Chris

That's good to know, it sounds like I can use something similar. I would have preferred right line in / wrong line out, but it's a club layout and I wasn't involved at the time the track plan was decided :- (

Thanks to all who replied.

Dave

wrote

A red light on a buffer stop has that purpose, as does the large red circle on a level crossing gate.

There will be numerous other examples.

John.

John.

Surely the red circle was for the benefit of motorists. The Hornby R636 double track level crossing doesn't have red on the side facing trains. Same for most other models and the few photos I can find of the real thing (e.g. Damems crossing on the KWVR). However, there used to be a red lamp on top of each gate.

If it's on the side facing the trains it replaces the stop signal. Something a lot of modellers get wrong.

On a single track line it is one of the few situations they might have an operating distant.

"MartinS"

There did indeed Martin.

Red for the motorist when open ("Open" for the railway) and red for the loco driver when closed.

This was a fail safe device as almost all crossings were interlocked with the signals so that the home signal could not be pulled "Off" until the gates were "Open" and the locks engaged.

However, it still didn't stop gates getting rammed by trains on very rare occasions and, of course, collisions between trains and road vehicles was almost unheard of with gates.

The red light on gates has/had no meaning to drivers other than that any other red light would - i.e. 'Danger', signals control the train! Gates were usually interlocked to signals after the introduction interlocking though. The red light on buffers is again just a marker, not a signal - just like a tail light or someone waving a red in an emergency.

Cheers Richard

The old wooden gates may have been safer than modern barriers, but cranking them open and closed was a strenuous job. The centre of Grimsby used to have a double crossing with two sets of gates, for the freight and passenger lines. With frequent fish trains, the crossing operator up in the signal cabin was kept very busy.

It was reckoned to be quite dangerous too - if they slipped off the handle while operating the gates people would try to grab the handle on the wheel again, and with the momentum........ ouch

Cheers Richard

The vast majority of level crossing are occupation crossings with no protection and require the user to contact the signalman before use.

Chris

Statiscally barrier crossings are safer than gated crossings as for a start motorists get much earlier warning of the crossing being closed.

Chris

A few years ago, driving along a narrow back road through farmland in East Yorkshire, I came upon a gated crossing with a notice instructing drivers to blow their horn for the crossing keeper. Before I could do so, a man appeared from a shed behind the adjacent cottage, donning his reflective jacket, and manually opened the gates for us. I presume he had a means of knowing when the next train was due. I hope so, because it was the electrified ECML!

In North America, most unguarded crossings simply have the warning "STOP - LOOK - LISTEN" (if any). School bus drivers are required by law to do so even at crossings with automatic gates, warning lights and bells. Most buses and coaches have a sign on the back: "This vehicle stops at all railway crossings". They even have to stop at disused crossings if they haven't been officially decomissioned.

Over here, the barriers start descending almost as soon as the flashing lights and gongs start. If it's a 95mph passenger train, it arrives about 30 seconda later.

Over hear it used to be 37s for AHB crossings reduced to 32s as so many motorists drive around the barriers as they can't wait. We are starting to see crossings that adapt to train speeds as they do in the US to give a more consistent warning time i.e. faster trains trigger the crossing further out than slower trains.

Chris

In those cases they generally have repeaters of the block instruments in the shed between the two neighbouring signal boxes or track circuit repeaters in TC block areas.

Chris