Re: Oakleigh

[cmgord@ecr.mu.oz.au (Christopher_Martin GORDON)]

: First one was methinks a small panel in Nth Melb Jct Box for the pts &
: signals for the Macaulay Stabling Sidings.  This was replaced when Nth Melb
: Jct was resignalled in the early 80's? and received a Unit Lever Panel.  The
: 2nd was Spencer St No.2 Box (now gone too), and the 3rd was the Metrol
: Panels.  I'm not aware of any others.  After the first brief flirtation with
: NX panels in the late 70's, VR went back to unit lever panels for all the
: Metrol area 'stageworks' panels.  (i.e. the panels at Flinders St A, B,
: Franklin St) which had only limited lifespans.

So would Epping be a NX panel?

: People often complain about how 'slow' the recent resignallings (SSI &
: Westrace) are, it's actually IMHO a symptom of Unit Lever Panels.  If a
: conflicting move is to be made, the Signaller has to wait for the track circ
: uit to pick up, (plus 'hidden' anti-bobbing protection time) then operate
: the point lever(s), then operate the signal.  If a halfway modern
: processor/VDU/mouse/trackball/NX workstation was used, (surely the costs
: would have to be comparable to all the MUXing for a Panel & Diagram) the
: route can be stored in advance, and excecuted as soon as possible, instead
: of factoring in human reaction time to point free lights etc... and
: operation of multiple levers...

Say you have a train on the points you want to change you can switch the
lever over and the points will run once the track picks up.

I was watching at Newport as soon as the train pased the home signal, 
back went the lever for the home signal, then the lever for the points,
and then the home signal again.  The points changes once the track lifted
and the signal cleared.  You don't need to wait for avaibility of the points
therefor it is changing as quick as it can.




--

Chris Gordon
http://www.ecr.mu.oz.au/~cmgord

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