What is a "Yellow Peril" and where did the term come from?

[najaB]

Thread title pretty much sums it up. I've seen the term used a few times recently and was wondering.

Any chance of an example? Thanks.

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Are these "Yellow Papers" used by NR during resignalling works/closure of boxes?

 

[Efini92]

It’s a document that details signalling and permanent way alterations.
Here’s what they look like

 

[MadMac]

Are these "Yellow Papers" used by NR during resignalling works/closure of boxes?

Yes. They used to have a yellow cover. Also used, with considerable justification, for the BR-era road vehicles.

 

[Railsigns]

They're the special notices issued to traincrews etc. to advise them of significant signalling and layout alterations. They have been known by various different names. The London & South Western Railway used to print theirs on yellow paper, which the Southern Railway continued, and it eventually spread to the whole of British Rail and remains the convention to this day.

 

[najaB]

Thanks all.

 

[Ediswan]

Thread title pretty much sums it up. I've seen the term used a few times recently and was wondering.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_Peril

The Yellow Peril (also the Yellow Terror and the Yellow Specter) is a racial color metaphor that depicts the peoples of East and Southeast Asia[a] as an existential danger to the Western world.[2]

I suspect the yellow forms came into being while the term was still in popular use (19th century).

 

[ExRes]

They were very much in demand as collectors items

 

[Dunfanaghy Rd]

I have a Signalling Notice of the London & South Western Railway from 1906 - printed on yellow paper. Did other railways do similar, or was the LSWR a trend-setter?
Pat

 

[tgsh2011]

In a different context "Yellow Peril" was used to describe Traffic Wardens in the days when they were employed by police forces and parking infringements were considered criminal offences. The term referred to the colour used on their peak caps.

 

[Railsigns]

I have a Signalling Notice of the London & South Western Railway from 1906 - printed on yellow paper. Did other railways do similar, or was the LSWR a trend-setter?
Pat

See post #5.

 

[Revilo]

Also used to describe the Liberal Democrats.

 

[Dstock7080]

LU still have yellow covers

 

[Gloster]

The dating may be connected to the way the phrase entered the English language in the very last years of the nineteenth century and the earliest ones of the twentieth. Then it was an irrational xenophobic fear of the country being overrun by Asiatics, particularly (but not exclusively) Chinese. It seems to have arrived slightly later in Europe than the USA.

 

[4COR]

There was me thinking about smoked haddock...

 

[ComUtoR]

Our new signalling scheme ones are in full colour booklets.

 

[Gloster]

I have a vague feeling that ‘yellow peril’ was also used at one time for one of the small on-track machines, possibly the Matisa/Neptune Track Recorder. It may be that they were relatively quiet and, being small, not so visible despite the yellow upper parts.