Train Order working in NSW

["Barry Campbell" <campblbm@ozemail.com.au>]

I have just come back from a trip to Melbourne via the Newell Highway. It
certainly makes Qantas attractive!

Of course, I took the opportunity to look at any relevant railway sites in
the process. The most obvious thing to see is the installation of the new
style of point indicators, similar to those used by QR. The difference
between the NSW and Qld installations are that the Qld ones generally
indicate the direction of a set of throwover points whereas the NSW ones
indicate the status of the facing point lock.

What I want to know is

When does the NSW type machine indicate anything other than clear? Is it as
soon as the the FPL starts to move or is it later?

What is the indicator meant to indicate under TO working? At present a
driver can be assured that the points at an intermediate siding are locked
as he (generally) has the key. At a staff station, the points are normally
detected and the home signal cannot be pulled off without the points being
set correctly and locked.

What happens  when TO working is introduced? Is the ground frame simply set
up so that it works independently of signals or tokens? If so, how? Is there
a standard key used to unlock ground frames, presumably under the authority
of a train order?

Does anyone know?

Barry Campbell