The example we have collected bears the iconic British Rail ‘double arrow’ logo, usefully dating it to 1997 at latest. I’ve included some images (above and below) of railway workers from the 1920s and 1964 giving trains the ‘Right away!’, using hand signals and flags. Whatever the method used, they highlight the importance of the human element in ensuring the safety of rail passengers and the trains running on time. This provides an indicative guide to the level of usage the sign or signal has seen, according to the total number of individual examples that exist or have existed, and split roughly as follows:

Under speed signalling, the signal aspect informs the driver at what speed they may proceed over a junction, but not necessarily the route the train will take. Speed signalling requires a far greater range of signal aspects than route signalling, but less dependence is placed on drivers' route knowledge, although the need for drivers to learn the route is not eliminated as speed signalling does not usually inform drivers of speed limit changes outside junctions. Usually speed limit signs are used in addition to speed signals, with the driver following whichever shows the lower speed.

British Railways: 1949-1965

Railway infrastructure on the hill-country main line, Sri Lanka, including a gantry of semaphore signals On some railways, colour light signals display the same set of aspects as shown by the lights on mechanical signals during darkness. This cookie is set by the provider The Guardian. This cookie is used for embedding The Guardian video player. Our Steam Engine Train flags are made of tear proof polyester. The edges of the Steam Engine Train have a double lining and at the flagpole side a strong flag band is sewed in. This refers to the location, route or geographical area in which the sign or signal was used or, alternatively, the relevant company.

When the train is routed towards a diverging route that must be taken at a speed significantly less than the mainline speed, the driver must be given adequate prior warning. Colburn, Robert (October 14, 2013). "A History of Railroad Signals". theinstitute.ieee.org. Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. Archived from the original on October 22, 2013. Rulebook Master: Module M1 Section 3.1 "Dealing with a train accident or evacuation - Providing emergency protection" " (PDF). Network Rail. Archived from the original (PDF) on August 10, 2018 . Retrieved February 12, 2017. While these stops may not have a lot of traffic, they are already there and may have enough occasional traffic to keep them on the schedules as a stop on demand or flag stop. Boarding At Amtrak Flag Stop. As the train approaches the junction signal, the signal may step up to a less restrictive aspect (single yellow, two yellows or green) depending on how far ahead the line is clear.Nonetheless, this system permits operation on a vast scale, with no requirements for any kind of communication that travels faster than a train. Timetable operation was the normal mode of operation in North America in the early days of the railroad. From the operating department’s point of view, a train arrives on time if it stops in the platform within the minute following the time in the Working Timetable. Likewise, it departs on time if it starts moving (towards a clear signal) at the correct time in the Working Timetable. There is normally a close correspondence between the Working and Public Timetables, except that Working Timetables are written to half-minute precision, and Public Timetables only to the nearest minute. Rubicon Project sets this cookie as an internal user identifier that stores user data to be used for analytics. MediaMath sets this cookie to avoid the same ads from being shown repeatedly and for relevant advertising.