Chapter 4 - Work on the Railways - Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW

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*On Wooden Rails <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 8/30/05 8:26 PM Page 136 On Wooden Rails - Celebrating 150 Years of <strong>Work</strong> on the NSW Railways In the Signal Box “Since the first train ran in New South Wales in 1855 some form of signalling had always been used to control movements and ensure safeworking. Initially, semaphore signals were positioned at stations. Wooden arms fixed to the top of a long pole were worked from levers at the base……Gradually, more sophisticated forms of signalling were introduced as new lines were added to the system and marshalling yards expanded. Signal boxes equipped with batteries of tall levers became a familiar aspect of rail operations. These levers controlled the points on the track, directing the movement of trains into the required line.” 1 Signal lamps were kerosene-filled and required a properly trimmed wick to burn for 7 days continuously and to exhibit the correct light to the signal arm glasses. These were awkward in windy conditions, especially when you had to replace signal lamps attached to high signal posts. The signal poles were often over 40 feet high. A 1939 article in the ARU journal RailRoad described the requirements, status and work of the signalman. “From the day he steps into the signal box until he retires, he is subject to periodical examinations in safeworking, eyesight, hearing and medical. So stringent are some of these examinations that any signalman not found in perfect health is immediately removed from the signal box and reduced to the grade of porter. Bells and telephones are ringing, answering them and at the same time attending to the big cumbersome looking lever machines or even the more complicated power machines. And I am not surprised to see signalmen walking out of the signal box tired and weary after eight hours of duty – frequently taking their lunch home with them just as they brought it.” 2 A pamphlet produced by the newly formed Signalmen’s Progress Committee of the ARU, details some of the 136 employment conditions prevailing during the 1930s. Firstly, no person could be appointed to a Signalmen’s grade until they were 21 years of age. “To become a signalman in this period, men had to be fully qualified in all systems of safeworking in operation, irrespective of whether they were to obtain a job that did not require such qualifications. Junior Porters were required to study in their own time, or attend classes at Railway Institutes, and were required to be fully qualified in safeworking or other railway subjects such as Coaching and Goods Accounts, before attaining 21 years of age. Should they fail to do so, or show no inclination or attempt to qualify, they were dismissed – sacked – at 21 years, or alternatively employed in the Carriage Cleaning Sheds.” 3 The classification of signalmen and signal boxes was based on a ‘marks’ or points system adopted from England. The formula would allocate marks for different aspects of box working. For example, to manually pull over and replace lever in normal position (2 marks); swing vehicular gates over crossings and swing back across the road (5 marks); at a signal box where overhead section switch indicators are provided which necessitates prompt action being taken in the event of interruption to power (25 marks). The formula would be used to classify the box and the grade paid for working the box, which caused a lot of disparity between grades and concern from workers on the grading system. 4 1 Hearn, op.cit., p132 2 Railroad, 21 February, 1939 3 ARU Pamphlet, cited in Maurie Mulheron, 50 Years of signalling: History of the Signalmen’s Section, ARU NSW, 1936 –1986, p12 4 Mulheron, op.cit., <strong>Chapter</strong> 1 Signal Box Wollongong 1902 (Wollongong Library/Illawarra Historical Society) <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 - <strong>Work</strong> on the Railways
*On Wooden Rails <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 8/30/05 8:26 PM Page 137 Men On the Wall “The train-control officer was generally referred to as the ‘man on the wall’, for in smaller station offices and signal boxes, that is where the control phone with its imperious ring was mounted. In Albury, the officer on duty had two ‘men on the wall’, besides Junee Control [Juco], to confer with, the Victorian control officer overseeing the standard gauge board in distant Spencer Street could also summon us at will from what was known as Centrol.” 5 At some locations where there were Distant and Home Signals, there would be indicators in the signal box, showing the position of the arms on the Distant Signals. The indicator would contain coloured sections with the words stop (red), wrong (white) and clear (green) with a small handle pointing to the position that the signal arm was indicating. The signal box used various forms of communications from telegraphy, to morse code, to internal telephones using different numbers of rings to relay messages. In many country locations, the smaller signal boxes were also worked by assistant station masters or safeworking station assistants, as part of their normal duties. Thus, the skill requirements and duties at country stations pre-dated any modern concepts of multi-skilling or multi-tasking. In many crossing loops and single line boxes, ‘married’ quarters were provided, as well as single accommodation, usually of a poor standard. Nonetheless, rent was cheap, promotional opportunities were slow, and signalmen would choose to remain in these relatively isolated and difficult locations rather than seek higher grades in larger centres. Levers in Redhead Signal Box On Wooden Rails - Celebrating 150 Years of <strong>Work</strong> on the NSW Railways Maintaining the Signals The Signal Sectionman and assistant were responsible for ensuring the correct working of the signal equipment (attending to the signal frames, points, locks and mechanical signals). The signal electricians would tend to the electrical workings of the signals (cleaning and recharging wet batteries and maintaining telegraphy, telephones and electrical signal equipment) and depending on the box, many boxes were often temperamental, and requiring regular repairs and maintenance. These workers would travel between signal boxes in their allocated section, often over large distances, to keep the equipment and boxes in good working order. Max Harrison joined the job in 1971 and after working at Chullora as an electrical fitter apprentice, returned to Parkes and worked on a perway gang before becoming a Signal Sectionman’s Assistant. The Sectionman was Ron Caban, Max had to wait ten years for old Ron to retire before he was promoted to Signal Sectionman. He worked in this job until about five years ago, then managed the team as well as the team at Dubbo. “Parkes was a railway town, family and friends were on the railway. My sister worked in the telegraph office at Parkes, her husband was a guard, my brother was a fireman on steam, my grandfather an examiner, my son is a train driver, it gets into your blood. When I was five or six year old ,I’d go and watch them from the overhead bridge, put the penny on the track and watch the trains flatten ‘em, the driver would oblige with a blast on the whistle.” 6 Max and Ron were responsible for repairing and maintenance, maintaining the kerosene lamps, work on mechanical points and mechanical signals and repairs after derails. They maintained signal boxes across the area from Manildra through to Kyakatoo, Cookamidgera, Parkes, Condobolin, Forbes , Bogan Gate, Peak Hill, Naramine, as well sidings and crossing loops . They were all manned 24 / 7 in those days. “We’d go out with the two of us on a motortrike, camp a couple of nights a week , take the bedroll and billy, then trike out from camp on a two man trike. Had a systematic maintenance – do the rounds regularly. Later we had a car. It was a two man team – we used the press button code rings, the phone on the wall, even tap into lines along the track. Reacted to wherever there was a failure”. 5 Lloyd Holmes, Tales of the Rails, Australian Railway History, Vol. 56, No. 807, January 2005, p7 6 Interview with Max Harrison, June 2005 <strong>Chapter</strong> 4 - <strong>Work</strong> on the Railways 137
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Chapter 4 - Work on the Railways - Rail, Tram and Bus Union of NSW

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