Re: Indicator Lights on Sydney Trains (1980's).

["Bernard Smith" <epping.smiths@gatewaynet.bigpond.com>]

Middle and left was Main Northern.

The full list (from the 1978 edition of Transport Quiz) was:

* Middle and right (facing the train) - to and from all points on Illawarra,
Cronulla and Royal National Park lines beyond Tempe; also trains travelling
to and from Campbelltown.
* Left and right - to and from Lithgow, Rope's Creek, Carlingford and
Sandown or intermediate points.
* Middle and left - to and from all points on the Main Northern Line.
* Left, middle and right - to and from all points on East Hills Line.
* Top left and bottom left - to and from all points on Bankstown via
Sydenham or Lidcombe.
* Top centre - between all points and Chullora Electric Car Workshops.

I think they were an evolution from the UK system of marker lights
indicating to signallers what type of train it was (express, all stops,
freight, etc).  The introduction of centralised signalling made marker
lights unnecessary.

"Dave Proctor" <thadocta@spambait.dingoblue.net.au> wrote in message
884ohl$nti$1@news1.mpx.com.au">news:884ohl$nti$1@news1.mpx.com.au...
> Dan wrote in message <884jvj$jjh$1@the-fly.zip.com.au>...
>
> >** Another mystery that baffled me when I catch trains in the 1980's =
the
> >S,M,H,F,B-sets used to have 2 or 3 small lights alight at the front
besides
> >the 2 high beam lights at the top. What they really used for??? And is it
a
> >myth that it was used to indicate a destination ie. 3 lights means the
> train
> >goes to East Hills as my father told me (hopefully he is wrong)?
>
> There were never high beam lights on Sydney trains up until the
introduction
> of the K-sets.
>
> The lights were indeed marker lights that indicated the line the train was
> to travel on. From memory, they signified the following:
>
> left/right - western line
> left/middle/right - East Hills line
> left/bottom - Bankstown line
> middle - goods road (Chullora, Enfield, etc)
> right/bottom - Eastern Suburbs line
> left/middle     } Main South and Illawarra
> middle/right   } Main North via Epping
> (I could never remember which was which)
>
> I don't know why they discontinued this system - a surprisingly large
number
> of people knew what they meant, and it worked a lot better than the
Tangara
> destination signs ever did.
>
> Dave
>
>