GWR Route: Banbury to Wolverhampton

Acocks Green & South Yardley Station: gwrag17a

Close up of image 'gwrag17 showing Acocks Green station's down platform with passengers waiting the arrival of a local service to Birmingham Snow Hill. Careful observation will show that there two signals, one above the other at the far end of the down platform. The top signal is a starter signal which authorises the driver to leave the platform. The bottom signal is a 'distant' signal which in the period up to the mid-1920s on the GWR were painted red, before being changed to yellow. Two signals one above the other was a common arrangement. The purpose of a distant signal is to indicate whether the next stop signal is set at clear or danger. If the distant signal was horizontal - which is described as being set at caution - then the driver will start to slow ready to come to a stand. If lowered to 45º below the horizontal then the driver knows the signal is set to clear and he can maintain speed. The signals in the picture are top to bottom - Acock's Green starter and Tyseley South (or just Tyseley as the picture is before 1907) distant.

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