Liskeard - closing switches

[Fast Line Floyd]

......another spanner in the works. All the TCB section SPTs went to Lostwithiel box which controlled the Lostwithiel-Largin-Liskeard (exclusive) section. Only the Up Home at Liskeard had a telephone to Liskeard box.

But that would still have to be switched through.

[Nick Allsop]

Liskeard hasn't been able to switch-out since the abolition of Largin in 1991, Lostwithiel is the first place with AB on the GW main line these days...

[John Hinson]

Liskeard hasn't been able to switch-out since the abolition of Largin in 1991, Lostwithiel is the first place with AB on the GW main line these days...

Interesting! Then why did these switches exist in 1994?

John

[JRB]

Banbury North could not switch out after Fenny Compton closed. No one could justify the bother and expense of taking out the block switch.

[davidwoodcock]

Banbury North could not switch out after Fenny Compton closed. No one could justify the bother and expense of taking out the block switch.

Which could explain why the ones at Liskeard didn't seem to be labelled.

[John Hinson]

It doesn't explain why there are two, though, when there weren't before.

John

[Fast Line Floyd]

Liskeard hasn't been able to switch-out since the abolition of Largin in 1991, Lostwithiel is the first place with AB on the GW main line these days...

Just because the line is track circuit block both ways does not prevent it closing out so is there another reason why it can't close? Normally only a box with dissimilar block working would not be able to close (without closing the line that is).

[John Hinson]

Good point. Is the box fully colour-light now? If it still has semaphores, that could be a complication.

But just to be clear, at the date of the photograph of the two switches, the box appeared to be AB in one direction and TCB in the other. I believe there is (or was) a directive that in such cases, mixed working was not approved of and AB should be used at all times - maybe that was the reason the switches weren't used?

John

[S&TEngineer]

Good point. Is the box fully colour-light now? If it still has semaphores, that could be a complication.

No. Only the distants are colourlights, all other signals remain as mechanical semaphores.

[colin1501]

I believe the up advanced starter is a colour-light, and has been for a few years.

Colin

[S&TEngineer]

I believe the up advanced starter is a colour-light, and has been for a few years.

Appologies, you are correct. I'm getting a bit confused about what period in time we are talking about. The Up Starting became a colourlight when St.Germans was aboilshed in 1998.

[John Hinson]

Whichever, with semaphores it would make switching out on TCB complicated.

John

[Mike Hodgson]

Might it have been installed as part of some sort of stage works, overlooked/not worth the bother of recovering?

[Fast Line Floyd]

Whichever, with semaphores it would make switching out on TCB complicated.

John

On a busy piece of railway potentially yes but down there all you would need is all tracks clear from the Home overlap to section signal (wrong term but it will suffice) overlap to be clear on both lines at the same time so that all the running signal can be pulled.

[John Prytherch]

I think there are two switches at Pontrilas, linked by a bar. I recall being told that on one occasion (in the late 1960s), shortly after the provision of the two switches, by mistake only one was operated so that either the block instrument circuits or the telephone circuits (but not both) were switched through; result chaos!

John Prytherch