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Signal diagram track colours.

You are here: Home > Forum > Miscellaneous > The real thing (signalling) > Signal diagram track colours.

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Signal diagram track colours. 10/06/2016 at 13:53 #82981
NewBuildmini432
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48 posts
Defaultly it's black. What do colors mean? I only know lever color codes.
Class 150/2 approaching towards Welshpool. Wrong train you got, only 158's are fitted with ERTMS.
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Signal diagram track colours. 10/06/2016 at 14:17 #82983
madaboutrains
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316 posts
Blue, Yellow - Up Line (The sky think up)
Brown, Green - Down Line (The ground think down)
You also have pinks and other colours which can be used for up and down lines.

RIP Feltham Panel 1
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Signal diagram track colours. 10/06/2016 at 14:58 #82984
JamesN
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1607 posts
" said:
Defaultly it's black. What do colors mean? I only know lever color codes.
There are a number of standards - it Depends on region, circumstances, age etc. Any specific diagram you're referring to?

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Signal diagram track colours. 10/06/2016 at 20:18 #82986
kbarber
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1742 posts
" said:
Blue, Yellow - Up Line (The sky think up)
Brown, Green - Down Line (The ground think down)
You also have pinks and other colours which can be used for up and down lines.

LMR used to use red for berth tracks (but that would have been in Absolute Block areas and probably before the 1980s). There were other colours that could be used where there would otherwise (for whatever reason) be two adjacent TCs with the same colour. I hear it said (I'm sure someone here can confirm) that Wembley Main Line has a black TC on each line between the Euston & Willesden control areas... they were installed at different times and someone forgot to check the Euston colours carefully enough when the Willesden area was being planned (or so 'tis said)!

These, of course, are track circuit colours (it was the (G)WR that used all black for TCs). For lines not track circuited, a bluish colour was very common. On the Eastern Region (not sure quite how old this was, and again would probably not be the case after the 1970s) goods lines were a purplish-pink colour. I think the GW used grey for the same purpose.

Of course some older diagrams survived until much later, often with additions & alterations added to the original, so you might in some cases find these older standards alongside bits that conformed strictly to the newer ways.

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Signal diagram track colours. 11/06/2016 at 09:12 #82989
GW43125
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495 posts
" said:
Blue, Yellow - Up Line (The sky think up)
Brown, Green - Down Line (The ground think down)
You also have pinks and other colours which can be used for up and down lines.
The one I've always remembered is "Green and brown on the down; blue and buttercup on the up"

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Signal diagram track colours. 12/06/2016 at 08:50 #83008
Mattyq
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259 posts
Please don't shoot me, I am only the messenger!

I related the story of colours to an expat Pom here in Australia who wasn't aware of it.
"Look up and you'll see the sun (yellow) and the sky (blue).
Look down and you see grass (green) and dirt (brown)".

My expat Pommy mate said "If that were true and the story originated in Britian, the colours used for Up tracks would be light grey and dark grey"!!! :yikes

Not fat ..... fluffy!! (G Iglesias)
Last edited: 12/06/2016 at 08:50 by Mattyq
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