Vale of Rheidol Railway

Reinstatement of Capel Bangor passing loop, sidings and signalling, resignalling of Aberffrwd passing loop

Photographs taken by Author April 3 & 4th, 2003

The Vale of Rheidol Railway has reinstated the sidings and passing loop at Capel Bangor and installed signalling at the station. Aberffrwd passing loop has been re-signalled. In addition much hard work has been undertaken by the staff in relaying large amounts of track and generally bringing the railway up to a superb standard. (All staff on the VoR are employed. There are NO volunteers).

The original signalling, since privatisation, was based loosely on a non-standard staff & ticket system with the only passing point at Aberffrwd. This caused operating problems in as much as the passing point was at an unbalanced location being two thirds of the way up the line. The re-introduction of Capel Bangor loop splits the railway into three sections of almost identical length, allowing operational flexibility.

At each passing loop, two ground frames have been provided at each end of the respective loop. The ground frames are locked by an Annetts key fitted to each section token. Each ground frame controls a lower quadrant, GWR style semaphore home signal. The home signal is preceeded by a yellow whistle board that also signifies the start of a 10mph restriction through the station areas. The ground frame also has facing point lock levers and point levers.

At each site a location case houses mechanical token interlocks and communication facilities. On arrival in the station, the train crew protect their train by reversing the points behind them. They then advise the Duty Officer that their train is complete and location of the train. When the Duty Officer is satisfied, he gives authority for the next section token to be removed from the mechanical interlock; this is done by inserting the first section token into the interlock and similtaneously turning both tokens. This locks the preceeding token into the interlock, and releases the token for the next section. If a train travelling in the opposite direction is passing at the loop concerned, the train crew undertakes the same process, with the crew of the first train to arrive seeking the authority to proceed on behalf of both crews.

Each section is named as follows: Aberystwyth to Capel Bangor ('A' - 3 tokens); Capel Bangor to Aberffrwd ('B' - 2 tokens) and Aberffrwd to Devils Bridge ('C' - 1 token). The Duty Officer records all communications on a train graph and duty log designed for the purpose. The low numbered token (eg A1) is always issued first and returned last at the end of an operating day. The system was tested with three test trains in service on 4th April 2003 during the HMRI Inspection. Photograhs show the following, click on the blue text:

Picture	Details
Aberffrwd1	Test train 1, the Permaquip 'buggy' and Test train 2, Diesel no 10 passing at Aberffrwd.
Aberffrwd2	The east end of Aberffrwd loop showing the points, level crossing and rear of the Down Home signal.
Aberffrwd3	Test train 3, Steam Locomotive No 9 'Prince of Wales' awaiting the arrival of Test Train 2 at Aberffrwd.
Capel Bangor	Test train 1, the Permaquip 'buggy' and Test train 3, Steam Locomotive No 9 'Prince of Wales' passing at Capel Bangor.
Nantyronen	Test train 3, Steam Locomotive No 9 'Prince of Wales' taking water at Nantyronen station on the Down trip.

Vale of Rheidol Railway: www.rheidolrailway.co.uk

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23 Sep 06 08:45:09