signal questions 3 (NW Mailing List)

[NW Mailing List]

John Garner asked:
> Is there a chance that rather than "an eastbound movement lined on the near
> track (main 1)"  that it could also be a westbound movement on the near
> track (main 1), running reverse main, that has just passed? Just a thought.

Actually, no. The eastbound signal would stay red until the entire westbound
train had cleared the block between Ingleside and Blake. This way, if the
train was stopped for any reason, it would not have a permissive signal to
reverse direction back into the block to the east. I believe it is related
to the 'current [direction] of traffic' concept mentioned by Jimmy, but
I don't understand the details of how that part works.

Even if the train crew had verbal permission from the dispatcher to make a
reverse move, I beleive the signal would still stay red. Since it would be
showing a stop-and-stay indication instead of restricting, I expect (but am
not 100% certain) they would need verbal permission from the dispatcher to
pass the signal after reversing direction.

Joe Shaw
Christiansburg, VA
http://www.krunk.org/