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Paul,  <o:p></o:p> Yes, as Jeff has mentioned, and as BaltACD has confirmed, having the signal being taken away is a moot point in that it did not actually happen in the wreck of OV-8.  I did not mean to derail this thread by implying that a signal being taken away played any roll in this accident.  <o:p></o:p> I only mentioned the possibility of signals being taken away in order to make a finer point about the fundamental reason why signals have to be watched continuously if they are clear.  I am only trying to distinguish the degree of distraction from the lapse of attention because it is common to associate a distraction with a momentary lapse of attention.  In the case of this wreck, the distraction was quite prolonged, as opposed to being momentary.       <o:p></o:p> In this case, the home signal was not clear, but the crew must have assumed it was clear if they were conscious and under the influence of the operator’s message.  So even if a remark from the operator caused the crew to have a lapse of attention, that lapse needed to be at least two minutes long.  That was the time required for the crew to watch the home signal if they believed it was clear.   <o:p></o:p> Regarding the issue of having no warning if a clear home signal is taken away:  When a train approaches an interlocking with the route lined for it, it is possible to drop a red board in the engineer’s face.  If that happens, the engineer may not be able to stop for the signal or even for the conflicting route, but he must make every effort to do so.  Whether that would require stopping as quickly as possible, I am not sure.  Perhaps it does because I suppose one way a route could be taken away from an approaching train would be for a conflicting train to run its red home signal and enter a conflicting route.  So dynamiting the train that lost the route might prevent a collision if a conflicting train has run its stop signal.    <o:p></o:p> Not only might the operator accidentally drop a red board against an approaching train after having lined up the route, but also some extenuating circumstance may compel the operator to do it intentionally.  And then there is always the possibility of a broken rail or other type of signal fault that can take the route away from a train on approach.
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