GWR Route: Hatton to Bearley and Alcester Branch

Bearley Station: gwrbj2349

View of the other of the side of the Bearley East Junction to Bearley North Junction single line key token. The staff and ticket system was still too inflexible for busy lines, as it did not allow for the situation where the train intended to carry the actual token was cancelled or running very late. To provide for this, the electric train token system was developed. Each single-line section is provided with a pair of token instruments, one at the signal box at each end. A supply of identical tokens is stored in the instruments, which are connected by telegraph lines. A token can be removed from one instrument only if both signalmen cooperate in agreeing to the release. Once a token has been removed, another cannot be removed until the token which is "out" is replaced in either instrument. (There are variations on this sequence of events.) By this means, it can be ensured that at any one time, only one token is available to be issued to a driver. Tokens belonging to adjacent sections have different configurations to prevent them being inserted into the wrong instrument. Nevertheless, in the Abermule train collision in 1921, lax working procedures allowed the safeguards provided by the electric token system to be circumvented; a driver was handed a token for the wrong section, and proceeded on the mistaken belief that the token was correct. To prevent this, it is now a requirement in the UK for the signals controlling entry to the single line section (starting or section signals) to be locked at danger unless a token has been released from the relevant token instrument.

back