We Use It Because It Works...

[wallyworld]

Some of us remember the KISS methodology-Keep It Simple Stupid. Below is an interesting story in an age of virtual everything with incredible complexity...the story brought up a question, with all our towers and mechanical interlockings going the way of the Dodo..is there somewhere here were at least one example is preserved, perhaps in pieces, or parts..once gone...another question is that my 19th century way of thinking got a good chuckle out of was the forestalled "automation" of Zoo Tower on the old PRR...for a long time the software developers could not manage what a human did routinely...

 

Levers, rods, bells guide the 5.22 to Eltham

Michael Lallo
February 11, 2007

Photo: vicsig.net

Step inside the control room at Greensborough railway station and you could be forgiven for thinking you're in a museum.

But the archaic levers, rods and bells, which were installed almost 100 years ago, aren't for show. Rather, they're used to prevent head-on collisions between trains travelling on the single track running from Greensborough to Eltham.

Here's how it works: When a train arrives at Greensborough from Eltham, the driver hands a numbered steel rod to the controller, who runs inside and puts it in the "electric staff instrument". This allows the controller to unlock another steel rod, which he hands to the driver of the train waiting to go in the opposite direction.

Basically, the rods act as "passes" for trains to enter and leave the single-line section.

But the controller's job doesn't end there. To operate the 'stop' and 'go' signals, he pushes and pulls a series of enormous levers. Then he warns his counterpart at Eltham of the oncoming train by tapping out a message, Morse Code-style, on a contraption powered by a manually operated crankhandle.

The station also features a wooden panel with a dozen lights, which give a rough indication of the location of the trains.

But the "electric staff system" is actually more advanced than the "staff and ticket" system in use on the single line between Eltham and Hurstbridge, where controllers issue tickets to drivers to confirm the driver has seen, rather than taken possession of, the metal rod.

Train enthusiast Paul Westacott, who helps run the Australian Railway Historical Society Museum in Newport, said although the system should be updated, commuters shouldn't infer the current system was unsafe.

"Not everything old is dangerous," he said. "The reason that it's (still in use) is that it's worked so well. The problem is more that it's slow, because everything is manual."