Birmingham New Street Station: lnwrbns_str3611

The Banner Repeater signal is seen at the north end of New Street's platform 6 next to Coffee House Bay with short tunnel beyond. Reg Instone of the LNWR Society writes. 'By this time the Coffee House Bay was a siding, and no longer equipped for use by passenger trains. The exit signal (lever 47 in New Street No 5 Signal Cabin) is the one barely visible at the other end of the overbridge (tunnel?). The road converging from the left was Cooper's Siding, and signal 47 applied to both lines. There were trap points in each line immediately beyond the signal, but these cannot easily be seen due to the shadow. The driver of an engine in either siding ought not to move towards the signal until it was cleared - Rule 48 (a) and (b) in the 1933 & 1950 Rule Books. This was because the there might be a movement taking place into the siding. Obviously this was not easy to observe, hence the provision of the banner repeater. Signal Sighting Form No 09504 (SRS collection) was produced on 19th May 1953 for the renewal of signal 47 as a tubular steel post (previously a timber one) and the installation of the banner signal, and it was brought into use either on 5th October 1954, or possibly on 12th February 1955. Because the banner should not clear if the signalman's intention was to make a movement out of Cooper's Siding, it was controlled not only by the arm proving contact on signal 47, but also by a plunger in the signalbox.'

Original photograph by James D Doubleday from John Turner's the 53A Models of Hull Collection.

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