Please correct me if I'm wrong but this is meant to be read from 'top to bottom & left to right' i.e. In this situation the top disk indicates the permission to the diverting track to the left & the bottom disk indicates the permission to access the main track to the right ( going straight ahead ) Now the points are set for the main track ( which I intend to travel upon ) but I'm reading the signal like it's telling me expect a diversion here. I crossed it hesitantly and it didn't SPAD so I assume it's meant to be this way. Am I missing something ? or might this be a bug ?
No this is accurate as basically the older semaphores are a ground disk Version of semaphore signal on approach to these I always slow down no matter what current speed
Thanks for the reply! So you're saying this signal should be read like a simple semaphore? The top disk displaying a clear main signal & the bottom disk displaying a distant caution signal? Two questions now - 1. How would I differentiate between this type of ground signal vs the ones that we see elsewhere (used while shunting on SOS etc.) 2. What aspect would it have shown if I were clear for the diversion instead of the main? I knew I was clear for the main because I set the path myself & I was going slow enough to observe the position of the coming switch but how'd the driver know that IRL.
So I did jump in the game to check that, and it's even more weird... This happens when routed to the diversion track.
I think it's been programmed the wrong way round. Disc signals are read top to bottom, left to right. Skip to 18:55
Shunt sigs are read in the same orientation as mainline semaphores. Top one in your pic is protecting the platform road, the lower one the loop. Unless DTG have messed up again. https://www.railsigns.uk/sect4page1.html
No, this is not how these shunt signals work. As RattenReich said, top to bottom, left to right. It is purely a shunt signal, it doesn't display information regarding the next signal. If the red bar is horizontal, it is at stop, at 45° then proceed at caution etc. The SoS example is correct, the Somerset line wrong.
I'm wondering why the top signal in the first image has a green lense but has a white lense in the second image?
It is possible that they are both correct. I am just guessing, but standards at GWR might not have been the same as at LMS. Even within LMS there may have been different standards at L&NWR and the Midland. Changing these shunting signals to national standards would have been a low priority. The local drivers would be expected to know which signal was which from local knowledge. In TSW you either need to learn these local quirks, or use the HUD.
This is the difference between 'stepped' and 'stacked' routing. Shunt discs are 'stacked' when there's no route info, thus top-bottom left-right. The topmost disc always shows the leftmost route. This is not the same as stepping, where the highest semaphore arm denotes the primary route, and the lower arms indicate diverging routes.
Thank you for your replies, everyone ! Categorising broadly, I've seen 3 types of responses so far - 1. It might be a bug 2. It's a dwarf semaphore 3. It's the Great Western variant of the stacked disc shunting signal. I'll check how rest of the disc signals behave on WSR.
Thanks for sharing this BTW, it was a really great watch ! I didn't know that BR had some sort of radio dispatched token system, up until last night. Glad to learn something new there !
