Crossleys 56 Driver Gets Red Flag From Signalman. Do not move! Let’s a Pacer go in front!

Crossleys 56 Driver Gets Red Flag From Signalman. Do not move! Let’s a Pacer go in front! Shipley-Bradford Junction signalman oversees a class 56 loco depositing empties into the Crossleys scrapyard at Shipley in West Yorkshire, this was before electrification in 1993.

[@boblordylordyhowie]

I was on the renovation of Shipley station years after this was taken, as the subway tunnel cover, the hut like object, was removed and the station was electrified at the time. The safety guy was hovering around when we were trying to take down the cover which was rotted, heavy duty wood. We got one of the labourers to circumnavigate the station and come from the direction of the huts and tell the safety guy there was a phone call for him, as soon as he was gone we collapsed the cover into the empty subway tunnel. When he returned after not getting to the phone on time, the person must have hung up, he discovered a pile of rubble in the tunnel being cleared, on asking what happened, we told him it was going as scheduled then it just went on its own.

[@MrSolodriver]

That's the first time I've seen a signalman throw levers without using an old tea towel! 😄

[@olivethrush7450]

Well they are a different breed oop in Shipley.

[@ooheaven1459]

I was thinking the same. I'm almost traumatised to see levers being pulled without a cloth

[@robertbate5790]

A great historical record. I spent a week of nights in my local signalbox just after MAS signalling, but still had hand worked gates on the road crossing. Brilliant experience, began rail career twelve months later. The box has long since vanished. I started off as a railman shunter, and yes that was my working speed too. Id have time for an extra cuppa waiting a move nowadays, lol 🤣 👍👍👍👍

[@boblordylordyhowie]

I had a job as a signalman, all I had to do was pass the exam. Unfortunately the examiners knew before I took the exam that I would fail but never warned me. I was an electrician, trained to solve puzzles, whereas a signalman was expected to know nothing and report any faults. They never considered that an electrician could learn not to care and just report faults.

[@robertbate5790]

@@boblordylordyhowie That's not good. Did you answer the right questions though, lol 🤣

[@modelsteamers671]

​@boblordylordyhowie if you think a signalman knows nothing it explains a lot about you and your examination failure.

[@FeckHallBahn]

Fantastic video. In my top 10 - I really enjoy signalling and shunting!!

[@TheKurtsPlaceChannel]

Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.

[@transportinterests5371]

Thank you!

[@susanallen2678]

Now that was cool to watch. Thanks.

[@transportinterests5371]

Cheers!

[@stephenhall8973]

Signalman David Scriven in Bradford Junction box. A fine Raillwayman.

[@davidlowe7519]

Indeed yes. As a relief man I worked Bradford Jct quite often.

[@cedarcam]

Great to see the box being worked. I wish we could go back to those days and see the old way of working the triangle again when there was no platform 5 so trains were reversed round the triangle

[@Pmjs]

The 1st time I saw a Class 56 is the day one brought up an HST power car from Heaton to Craigentinny 1988.

[@grahammoizer4388]

Nice video Pete.

[@chrisheaps7975]

My Dad worked at shipley signal box peter heaps

[@anthonycordingley1256]

My dad worked at shipley as a leading rail railman in about 1973 ish

[@sugarsson210]

Ah yes, a 144 or 143 with a 142

[@Grid56]

142, the 143s were west country ones

[@ckildegaard]

Very interesting. Why is the flag used rather than a signal semaphore or light? How does the signaler know that the driver has seen the flag? If there's no semaphore or light in that particular position (thus necessitating the flag), how does the driver know when they're released?

[@transportinterests5371]

All good questions, sadly I don’t have a clue to any of them!😀

[@delboy1727]

The flag is used because the train is reversing, and there is no normal signal in front of the driver that says 'stop.' I've never worked this box, but I imagine it is a local agreement that when this shunt is being undertaken, the driver must be on the lookout for a red flag displayed by the signalman to know when to stop. As for being released, there will be a signal ahead of the train that allows him to proceed, and you see the signalman clear this signal at 2:58

[@drummerboy1390]

⁠@@delboy1727that’s exactly right. It looks like it’s a regular movement, so there will be a local agreement and the driver and signalman will be familiar with the procedure.

[@Grid56]

The flag is used to indicate that the 56 is clear of the junction track circuit. The driver will be watching the box so little chance ov him missing it. It all has to be done fairly quickly as after setting back the freight may be obstructing the Leeds to Skipton line behind it.

[@joginns778]

Whers the signal man's cloth for operating the levers brilliant video, reminds me of my days visiting my friend at Corby nortth sigal box now sadly gone,

[@transportinterests5371]

Cheers!

[@davidlowe7519]

Lever cloths didn't seem to be used in Yorkshire, not even back in the 1960s

[@joginns778]

@@davidlowe7519 I think the reason clothes were used sweat of the signal man's hands tended to make the lever handle rust in some boxes the handles were painted white to stop rust,

[@davidlowe7519]

@@joginns778Indeed yes. My colleague David Smith and myself polished up the lever tops of the boxes we worked in West Yorkshire and used cloths (1990s). I never cared for the white painted lever tops. LMR used to encapsulate lever tops in white plastic.

[@joginns778]

@@davidlowe7519 glad to here it my husband's mate was a signal man at Corby north he worked with a right idiot called pat MC can every Saturday when it was quiet he'd polish the floor when he turned up for his shift on Monday morning the floor was covered in. Fire ash it seemed pat didn't lick a shiny floor, pat also didn't like the royals on his shift he would put there picture at the other end of the box and shoot it with an air rifle sadly all four box's are gone Corby North was the last to go and was the biggest it's picture is on Google not long before demolition,

[@Grid56]

Soon to be a busy place again when Northern depot opens.

[@grahamallen1970]

Setting back at BR speeds....not the crawl at 5mph now

[@chrisbaines6931]

Yes and we don't have the same fatality rate either. I work in rail safety, it's safer today than ever before.

[@grahamallen1970]

@@chrisbaines6931 thank you for your service...Best wishes from a retired driver I must of been lucky to get this far

[@grahamallen1970]

And don't forget today's safety written in yesterday's sacrifice....

[@user-tt4sx5ve1q]

Is that a loco shed across the way?.

[@transportinterests5371]

I think it was a goods shed, but I may be wrong, just as sure as I am with most things!😜🤪🤣😂

[@Rodneygd]

Cute miniature trains.

[@beeble2003]

What's the significance of the red flag?

[@gloomyvale3671]

I would imagine to tell the coal train to stop while another train comes past

[@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge]

The class 56 and scrap wagons were reversing on the wrong line so there aren’t any signals facing the driver, he’d had to let the DMU come through from the junction.

[@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge]

Another gem of a video 👍

[@davidlowe7519]

@@Shelfandtabletoplayouts00gauge Because the train will be signalled forward by a shunt disc and the driver must be informed not to move if a conflicting move is to be made in front if it, belt and braces!

[@transportinterests5371]

Thanks!!

[@dieseldragon6756]

Mandatory British video ident at 00:20... 🫖🇬🇧😋 Also: Having been born shortly before the roll-out of electronic signalling and regional SCCs, am I right in recalling that signal failures were a *very* rare event in the days of manual boxes? 😇

[@Grid56]

Manual signals had their own foibles. During hot weather the rods and wires expanded and could go too slack to pull off to locking point.