Does the dispacher interact with the Automatic Block System?
Can the dispacher set block signals to red if an approaching train has no Track Warrant?
I’ve noticed thatwhile a local is using the UP Mainline in town to spot out some boxcars, the block signal on the single mainline leaving town is always red. I can see no reason for it to be red unless the dispached can set the block. Is this normal? Can the dispacher overide a block signal?
No interaction other than to record and report to the signal desk any signal outages or failures reported by the train crews. Automatic means automatic – it works by itself. Manual means manual – a human intercedes.
The train dispatcher cannot observe anything about ABS on his console, nor control it, nor anything; it’s completely invisible to him. It does not show on his console – the territory looks to him just like ordinary dark TWC or DTC. If it was visible to him, then it wouldn’t be ABS any longer, it would be CTC or a manual interlocking.
ABS is not a Method of Operation like CTC – it’s just a “means of advising of track conditions ahead.” The Method of Operations is some manual method such as TWC, DTC, Current of Traffic, or Timetable & Train Order. In fact, CTC systems are nothing but a manual Method of Operation overlaid on an ABS system; the CTC takes the place of the TWC, DTC, or T&TO method.
The red signal is red because that’s the way it was wired. There are many ABS signals wired to be normally red or normally yellow. It is done this way because it was determined that was the safe way to operate trains at that location. I’d have to know more about the specific location to determine why. If you could post some photos looking at the signal from both directions, showing any adjacent turnouts, I might be able to do that. Some of the possible reasons include the way the switch controller circuits are wired.
It helps to know what state, what line, what town we’re talking about. Signaling is highly idiosyncratic to location. Do you know what this line’s method of operation is at this precise location?
Are you sure this signal is a ABS signal? Does it have a number plate on it? If it is paired, does the signal opposite it also have a number plate on it? A number plate definitely indicates a non-controlled, ABS signal. However the lack of a number pl
That particular signal may not be an ABS block signal at all - it may be controlled by the dispatcher as a means of controlling who gets out on the line, or it may be part of an interlocking (or both).
As RWM points out - context is everything when it comes to signals.