Sir Toppham Hatt has recently started a large scale renovation programme to simplify the approaches to Knapford Station, which are cluttered and difficult to follow. As part of this process, the old semaphore signalling system is receiving a comprehensive upgrade, with older signals being removed and newer ones being installed. This means that engines must be extra careful whilst approaching junctions and sidings, as the AWS ramps are disabled during the work.
One morning, Toby was approaching from the Vicarstown end of the station. Although it was a lovely day, and Henrietta was with him, he was still worried. "I'm worried, Flash."
"Worried about what?" Flash asked.
"Knapford station," Toby replied. "The signalling system is in such a mess at the moment, I don't know which signals are active or not. And there's so many attached to the gantries that I don't know which one is for me! It's a lot more complicated than on the Wisbech and Upwell, when we only had Home and Distant signals to deal with."
"You're not the only one," admitted Flash. "And with the AWS out of action during the work, it makes it a little bit harder. But don't worry. Two pairs of eyes is better than one, and I'm sure we can figure it out."
"OK, Flash," Toby replied. "Here we go." And they soon arrived at the outskirts of the station. Here, the line increases from two to eight tracks gradually, to allow access to all the platforms. Toby came to a stop on the relief line in front of the Home signal, which had just turned red to signify another train ahead of him in the section. Elsewhere, a Home signal dropped into the Clear position, but the Distant remained up, to indicate that the next signal was a Red. Knapford uses Lower Quadrant signalling, where the signal drops to indicate it is safe to go, and raises to indicate that a train must stop. This layout confused Toby. He was used to the signal rising to tell him it was safe to go.
"Wait for our signal, and we'll be clear to go," Flash reminded him, as Murdoch rattled through on the Up line. Toby looked up at the gantries. He had been warned that some of the signals were out of action, but was relieved when the signal suddenly cleared.
No sooner had he begun to puff forward, then Gordon shot past! "That was for the main line, not the relief line!" Gordon shouted. "The Relief signal is right above your line!"
Gordon was soon clear, and two sets of signals dropped at once. "One of those must be mine," Toby said. Then Henry rattled past on a very slow goods, well within block section working; he was only doing 35 miles an hour.
"Watch the signals!" Henry called.
This went on for the rest of the morning. The signalling layout was in such a mess that Toby had no clue whether to stop or to go, and so constantly got it wrong.
"This is where AWS would really help!" said Flash, getting frustrated. He reached for the radio. "Knapford Box, this is NWR 7, do you read, over?"
"Copy NWR 7, apologies for the delay. The main line is very busy, over."
"When will the relief signal clear, over?"
"Traffic is soon through. I will radio you when you can proceed. Out."
"Thank you." Flash looked about. "I imagine we'll still be here in a few minu-"
"NWR 7, the line has cleared. You are cleared to arrive at Platform 5. Over."
Knapford Box, thank you. Out." Flash rubbed his hands together. "Finally." The signal dropped, and the pair rolled into the platform, utterly confused and exhausted.
Thomas rolled to a stop in a neighbouring platform. "These signals are such a nuisance!" he said. "We don't know whether to come or go, and we're not helped by the signals being replaced either."
"Oh well," sighed Twilight. "It could be worse. There could be no signals at all and trains have to be flagged in with detonators."
"I can never remember which signal is mine," Toby sighed. "On my branch line, we only had one signal to worry about most of the time. And shunting disk signals were almost nonexistant. Oh, it boggles my mind!"
Thomas smiled. "Remember Toby, all you need to watch is the one right above your line, and where you are going to. If you'll excuse me, I need to take some passengers to Ffarquhar! I'm going from here as the water pipe at Knapford Junction has burst again and the River Ell is off limits!" He whistled, and pulled away.
"Are you going fishing?" Flash called.
"Possibly best not to remind him of that," Toby sighed. "Is it time to go again?"
A few minutes later, the passengers boarded, and Toby set off for the signals. The gantry in front was undergoing repairs, and as Toby looked up, he noticed something odd. The signal was in a down position, but the light was red. "I know exactly what I'm doing!" he chortled, and sat there. The signal was red, and so was the distant. Toby couldn't go, even if he wanted to.
Suddenly, a loud whistle sounded behind him, and James rolled to a stop. "Hurry up!" he said. "You're making me late too!"
Rarity, on the other hand, looked concerned. "Are you sure the last signal was green?" she asked. "If Toby is in front of us, in the same section, then the last signal must have been a red!"
"Well, that man next to the level crossing said it was safe to proceed!" James replied.
"But was he referring to the level crossing or the signal?" Rarity asked.
Flash, overhearing this, got his radio. "Knapford Box, this is NWR 7, over."
"NWR 7, this is Knapford Box, how can I help you, over?"
"I am held at a red outside Knaford Station. Requesting permission to pass the red under caution, over."
"NWR 7, permission denied, we are registering a track fault on our diagram. Please hold until contacted again. Out."
"We can't go, the signal's red!" Rarity exclaimed.
But James couldn't see the aspect, only the arm. "The arm is in the down position!" he said. "Therefore, it is green."
Suddenly, there was a loud whistle, and Gordon flew past with the express.
"OK, it isn't green."
Sir Toppham Hatt came out of his office. He looked rather annoyed. "What is the cause of delays?" he asked.
NWR 7, this is Knapford Box, we have an update for you. You have permission to pass Red under Caution, but you must obey all other signals, over."
"Thank you, Knapford Box. Out."
Seconds later, the radio in James' cab buzzed.
"Yes?" Rarity asked.
"NWR 5, this is Knapford Box, can you explain why you passed a signal at danger without requesting permission from the signaller, over?"
Rarity went pale. "Oh dear."
Following this incident, it was decided to replace all of the semaphores with colour light signalling, and to reactivate the AWS to ensure trains couldn't jump red signals by mistake. New rules have also been implemented to ensure this never happens again!
First one to comment :3
Cool adaption :3
I think I remember this episode, though you rewrote quite a bit of it. Not bad.
3rd comment, thank you for actually providing a reason for Toby to be worried that isn't "Oh no, too many signals, scawy..."
The signals being worked on, and not fully reliable due to that, is perfect logic as to why Toby would be worried, much better than the show.
This is so much better than the original
10265945
Thomas's Anthem
10266696
If you are truly sorry about butting into conversations, stop doing it, for Pickersgill's sake.
10266644
10266651
Thanks.
10266653
Semaphore can be awkward to read (in Train Simulator I've blown through a LOT of reds by mistake), but it's even more challenging when the signals are being worked on. I added the bit about AWS ramps for extra realism. Having said that, a few signals around Manchester were still lacking AWS as late as 1986.
10266671
Thanks.
10266845
You have taste.
10267249
Yes, what he said. Cause the fact you keep doing it shows you are incapable of doing it
10267494
Or being sorry, it seems.
10267496
Aye, and he even does this on Deviantart and my wikis too
10267497
Great.
10267252
Yeah, before it was his 1930's style of Surprises, then Thomas' Anthum became the new one
10267500
You never know what's round the bend...
10267502
Yeah, if anything I wonder if he'll do any other 1930s, 60s, 80s, or maybe even 50s cover of anymore songs.
10267507
I'd love to heat 'Really Useful Engine'!
10267543
Likewise.
As well as Thomas, You're the Leader, Go Go Thomas, and a few others.
If anything, I'd like to see what he'd do with "Ode to Gordon"
10267558
Don't stop?
10267565
Yeah pretty much, there are several more songs
10267567
The show has a lot of music. Shame they didn't keep O'Donnell and Campbell.
10267569
Indeed
10267575
Hartshorne did his best.
A " is missing.
But we still have train wrecks and collision on people missing signals.
If my recollection of the set is right Knapford only has five platforms, so Thomas would've pulled into platform 4, which is a bay platform. Ergo he must've backed in and, as such, he and Toby would be facing different directions.
11596243
Chaos architecture.