edwin_m
Veteran Member
Thingley would have been on the "old" Swindon panel which went only a few years ago, as no doubt discussed elsewhere on that link, and I expect the GF would have been replaced during that re-signalling. The economics of ground frames seems to have tilted back and forth over the years, depending on whether someone thought it was cheaper to provide the kit for local control or the extra circuits back to the main interlocking.
Maybe that "someone" or some other "someone" has now decided that a hand signal isn't good enough to authorize a train movement past a ground frame. Or for some reason the signaler might want to prevent a train entering or leaving the siding after they'd released the frame. I'd have though that having blocked the main line by doing that, they would want the move completing as quickly as possible.
Maybe that "someone" or some other "someone" has now decided that a hand signal isn't good enough to authorize a train movement past a ground frame. Or for some reason the signaler might want to prevent a train entering or leaving the siding after they'd released the frame. I'd have though that having blocked the main line by doing that, they would want the move completing as quickly as possible.