The Institution of Railway Signal Engineers (IRSE) convened a seminar on signalling in Heritage Railways. The event was hosted at the Severn Valley Railway in Kidderminster and was attended by 140 very interested delegates. The day was opened by John Francis, President of the IRSE.
There was lively debate about the development of signalling in a heritage environment where there is often a potential conflict between historic authenticity and modern interpretation of safety principles.
Calvin Stephenson, pictured, Henry Williams Project Engineer, presented a paper on Level Crossing Systems in which he compared the various types of crossing protection systems. He also detailed our experiences in heritage environments and developments in computer technology that have enabled a fresh approach to be taken on control system design.
Other speakers included the HMRI on the dangers presented to rail users by level crossings and representatives from several heritage lines on the challenges presented by maintenance and upgrades.
