Summoned by Bells

摘要

I suspect that I am no different to many IAgrE members when it comes to an interest in industrial archaeology, steam engines and the like. My particular interest is in Railway Signalling, something which I have done for over thirty years. I am a volunteer signal man at the Severn Valley Railway (SVR) and am qualified to operate the signal boxes at Kidderminster, Bewdley South and Bewdley North. There are four others which I do not work. Quite why I got interested is a mystery although I do recall as a child that we knew someone who was a Signalman and we did have a railway line (now closed) running through the farm. I was always intrigued by all those mechanical clunks and dings as the signalman operated the points and signals and communicated with the next signalman by special bell codes, 3-1 for a stopping passenger train, 2-2-1 for an empty train, 2-3 for an engine and so on. So when in the eighties, the SVR advertised for volunteers, I got involved and have enjoyed it ever since. The SVR set an especially high standard in its signalling and on a busy day, the job can be every bit as intense as on the "big" railway - even though our speeds are limited to 25mph.