Signalling Exhibits

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(Please note: this description relates to the museum in Tywyn which is currently closed for redevelopment of the site; the new museum will open in early summer 2004 and this page will be revised as the new displays are developed.)

The museum contains a significant amount of signalling equipment, mainly relating to narrow-gauge lines in the British Isles.

Lever frames and related equipment

Lever frames consist of levers, used to operate points and signals, which are grouped together and interlocked with one another to ensure safety. Many narrow-gauge lines dispensed with the need for lever frames, preferring to control each signal and set of points individually.

• Saxby & Farmer 5 lever Rocker & Gridiron frame, No. 4383, from Church Crossing box, Chattenden & Upnor Rly.
• 2-lever crossing keeper's ground frame (i.e. a small, uncovered lever frame), from the County Donegal Railways.
• Stevens counterbalance signal lever from Isle of Man. Used to operate signal in the absence of a full lever frame.
• Linley windlass for working signals on Isle of Man. Used to operate signal in the absence of a full lever frame.

Signals

The museum owns a variety of signals, of many different forms. The Festiniog Railway signal and the Chattenden & Upnor point indicator are on display outside the museum building.

• Isle of Man Railway signal.
• Manx Northern Railway signal.
• County Donegal Railways signal, from Stranorlar.
• Unusual 2-arm signal from Chattenden & Upnor Rly, with electrically lit lamps some distance below the arms.
• 2 ex-Metropolitan Rly semaphore arms, as subsequently used on the Chattenden & Upnor Rly.
• Mechanical point indicator, from Chattenden & Upnor Rly.
• Level crossing signal (Hen Durnpike, Penrhyn Quarry Rly.).
• Somersault signal from an East Midlands ironstone line.
• Festiniog Rly. rotating distant signal.

Single line working equipment

Most narrow-gauge railways have only a single line of rails, and therefore require careful control to ensure that only one train is admitted to a particular section of line at a time. A variety of methods are used, mostly revolving around some physical "token" giving authority for a train to proceed. Items in the museum illustrate the different methods.

• Tyer's tablet, labelled "Section III", from Chattenden & Upnor Rly.
• Wise's Patent divisible train staff, from Waenfawr-Tryfan, North Wales Narrow Gauge Rly.
• Large Electric Train Staff, Carndonagh-Clonmany, Londonderry & Lough Swilly Rly.
• South Snowdon-Beddgelert "crucifix" train staff, Welsh Highland Rly.
• West Carbery Tramways & Light Rly. Co. Ltd. (Schull & Skibbereen Railway) train staff, and train staff ticket box, Ballydehob-Skibbereen.
• Rly Signal Co. manufacturer's samples Miniature Electric Train Staff.
• Rly Signal Co. Key Token (prototype version).
• Isle of Man Rys. staff tickets.
• Corris Rly. point key.
• Rly Signal Co. large Electric Train Staff instrument
• Rly Signal Co. Miniature Electric Train Staff instrument, used as manufacturer's demonstrator.
• Rly Signal Co. Miniature Electric Train Staff instrument with balancing magazine attachment.
• Great Western Railway key token instrument and tokens
• Tyer's No. 6 tablet instruments, from Cliffe-Sharnal Street, and tablets