Re: VR Staff & Ticket and Pilot Working

[Eddie Oliver <eoliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

Gavin Potter wrote:

 
> For a start, I have never heard of a long train staff and ticket section
> being divided by a divisible staff. Block posts could be introduced or time
> interval introduced. If the section was to long for permanent working then
> the section could be divided into shorter sections by the introduction of
> another staff section on a permanent basis.

What do you mean by "a permanent basis"?

It was of course common in NSW for certain
ordinary-train-staff-and-ticket locations to have provision for
introduction and cancellation by means of "opening" and "closing"
levers, although the changeover was to be done under the supervision of
all manner of powers-that-be rather than as a routine operation - so
that in practice it was only done once in the proverbial "blue moon".
Gunebang may still have such equipment, although it is never used. Some
of the locations thus equipped were wartime creations that were NEVER
opened.

The staff or staffs not in use at a particular time had to be retained
in the local regional signalling engineering office so that there was no
possibility of the long and short section staffs being simultaneously
accessible.

Eddie Oliver