What are semaphore signals? A simple introduction

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

For those travelling from Leicester to Peterborough you can still find an ex-Midland Railway lower quadrant signal on the Peterborough direction side controlling trains heading for Leicester for sighting reasons. The line has a mixture of colour light signals and upper quadrant semaphore signals, save for the ex-MR signal.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

I wasn't aware of this one, just goes to show how complex the UK rail network is and just how much legacy infrastructure is out there.

[@oz-man]

I was well chuffed to come across this video as I'm just getting round to thinking about signalling on my layout. Im now a subscriber.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you. Signalling is such a complex subject, my advice would be to take your time and research it. Hope your layout comes out the way you want. TUN.

[@VivianMakin]

Thanks for this video. We have an out-of-service semaphore at the heritage railway station I work at in the USA, but I don't really know much about semaphores. This video is a great introduction to them and the ways they're used in the UK for my reference.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you liked the video. TUN

[@luckyflames1897]

Very confused. When you said the distant signal when it was off. You said next signal may be at danger. ?

[@legdig]

I didn't know the height of a signal is an indicator of the speed limit before today, Thanks for the video!

[@TrainsUpNorth]

As they say, everyday is a school day. Glad you enjoyed the video. TUN

[@The_Untitled]

Very useful, thanks.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you for your comment, I'm glad you liked it.

[@monsvillerailways5736]

Thanks for the background information 👍

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Your welcome, glad you enjoyed it.

[@alistairkewish651]

The best place to observe semaphore signals is on the main line to Penzance, but don’t delay as they won’t last for ever.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

As much as I love semaphore signals at over 700 miles for a round trip it is a little bit too far for me. I'll have to stick to heritage railways. For mainline operations Hellifield in North Yorkshire has some semaphores, plus you have the scenic Settle to Carlisle railway from there.

[@chriswaring5565]

2:05 THE OOOH! SIGNAL

[@Dave_Holloway87]

Great video, very informative 👏 👍

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you

[@davebarker9144]

Very informative video. however some of the video does not match with the audio. EG at 5:10 you are describing didtant signals but shoe a home signal with a train passing.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you for your comment. I wasn't able to get any footage of trains passing a distant signal as it would have been inappropriate to walk the line just for a KZbin video. I could have walked across a very wet and muddy farm field to get the footage but again decided against that. I did get a couple of people to review the video before publishing and I hope that this footage did not confuse as that was not the intention. I take your feedback onboard and will use it to improve future videos. Thanks for watching TUN.

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

Heritage lines tend to fit signals typical for that line from days of old. So, the KWVR uses a mixture of Midland Railway, LMS and BR(MR). However there are exceptions to this rule of thumb such as the ex-GNR somersault signals at Wansford which is on a former LNWR line. Acceptable to all but the most fussy of rivet counters, especially as most of the NVR's rolling stock isn't even British.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Heritage railways will always need to adapt and compromise to survive. I was at a steam gala on an ex LMS line where somebody was complaining about the western loco, yet they had come to see the Flying Scotsman which was ok. You can't please everybody I suppose.

[@forrestrobin2712]

Good on you. Thanks.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Cheers, I will try to keep it up.

[@JP_TaVeryMuch]

4:12 Your mention of SPADs has made me realise that they too will soon be a thing of the past on the London UndergrounD. Or at least drivers being penalised for them. All this because of modern technology which is using the tried and tested track circuit electronic monitoring system and has led to the upsetting removal of the trackside signals - even though they're not nice traditional semaphore ones. Returning to SPADs, who gets the blame now I wonder? Some faceless techie in Frankfurt or Shrewsbury or wherever?

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you for your comment, SPADs have always been an issue whenever you have a human driver. All we can do is hope that with technology the risk is reduced. I'm not saying don't have a human driver, just that we need to understand human factors when designing and operating systems. In my opinion blame culture doesn't help when it comes to safety, if I report my near miss myself or my mate will get into trouble so let's not report it. Next time that near miss could be an accident. Fortunately the rail industry is changing, but it takes time. I have no involvement with LU so can't comment on what they do / plan to do. TUN

[@laurenceskinnerton73]

Interesting.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Thank you.

[@LaurenceHoward-f4h]

A good effort at explaining semaphore signals. Shame your video was sometimes showing things other than what you were talking about.

[@TrainsUpNorth]

Unfortunately I couldn't justify walking along the track to get all the footage I wanted for the video. My other option would have been to walk across a very wet and muddy farmer's field, I decided against this. I take your comment onboard and I will work to improve the videos over time. TUN