Setting back to danger while train is in the platform

Back in the day the procedure would be to contact station staff and have them advise the driver the signal was to be returned to danger, then await confirmation the message had been received or that there was no driver. Which might, perhaps, be a feature request (with the time between initiating a 'tell driver signal is being returned' and confirmation coming back being era-dependent and very much longer for pre-GSM-R eras - how about it Geoff or Clive?)

Which brings to mind something that I was told of Euston panel (the 1965 one Clive has simulated). All the points in the station throat were electro-pneumatic and *very* fast acting. There were also a number of locations where buttons were close together one above t'other on parallel lines. Apparently it was very easy, even for an experienced signalman, to get the wrong button; when that happened, in contrast to an installation with motor points or clamp locks, the route would set and the signal clear before it was possible to respond to the mistake and pull up the entrance button. One source said it was realised to be such a problem that the operation of the panel at New Street was deliberately slowed down so the signalmen had at least an outside chance of not locking themselves up mid-peak!

Using the GSM-R, the signaller can contact the driver. If there's no response from the GSM-R, and the signaller deperately needs to take the signal back, they can ask station staff to check if there is actually a driver.

Thanks all. It's good to know this happens IRL and it's not just me!

I wasn't aware of the "10 minute before departure time" rule but that's good to know. Unfortunately most of my mistakes tend to be clearing an on-time stopper just as a late running express is pulling into the adjacent platform, so that wouldn't help a huge amount in that scenario.

Which brings to mind something that I was told of Euston panel (the 1965 one Clive has simulated). All the points in the station throat were electro-pneumatic and *very* fast acting. There were also a number of locations where buttons were close together one above t'other on parallel lines. Apparently it was very easy, even for an experienced signalman, to get the wrong button; when that happened, in contrast to an installation with motor points or clamp locks, the route would set and the signal clear before it was possible to respond to the mistake and pull up the entrance button. One source said it was realised to be such a problem that the operation of the panel at New Street was deliberately slowed down so the signalmen had at least an outside chance of not locking themselves up mid-peak!

Back in the day the procedure would be to contact station staff and have them advise the driver the signal was to be returned to danger, then await confirmation the message had been received or that there was no driver. Which might, perhaps, be a feature request (with the time between initiating a 'tell driver signal is being returned' and confirmation coming back being era-dependent and very much longer for pre-GSM-R eras - how about it Geoff or Clive?)

Which brings to mind something that I was told of Euston panel (the 1965 one Clive has simulated). All the points in the station throat were electro-pneumatic and *very* fast acting. There were also a number of locations where buttons were close together one above t'other on parallel lines. Apparently it was very easy, even for an experienced signalman, to get the wrong button; when that happened, in contrast to an installation with motor points or clamp locks, the route would set and the signal clear before it was possible to respond to the mistake and pull up the entrance button. One source said it was realised to be such a problem that the operation of the panel at New Street was deliberately slowed down so the signalmen had at least an outside chance of not locking themselves up mid-peak!

Interesting that you should mention Cuxton, I had a similar thing in the late 80's at New Hythe setting back into Brookgate with a 56. The signalman for some reason thought we were in the clear & put the road back underneath us derailing one of the bogies. Shut the branch up for the rest of the day!

kbarber in post 155032 said:

Which brings to mind something that I was told of Euston panel (the 1965 one Clive has simulated). All the points in the station throat were electro-pneumatic and *very* fast acting. There were also a number of locations where buttons were close together one above t'other on parallel lines. Apparently it was very easy, even for an experienced signalman, to get the wrong button; when that happened, in contrast to an installation with motor points or clamp locks, the route would set and the signal clear before it was possible to respond to the mistake and pull up the entrance button. One source said it was realised to be such a problem that the operation of the panel at New Street was deliberately slowed down so the signalmen had at least an outside chance of not locking themselves up mid-peak!

Would I be right in thinking that even if the signaller realised the mistake within a second, pulling the signal so it only "flashes" to proceed for a handful of seconds would be a major no-no?
What about a wrong route at a junction where taking it would cause more severe disruption, not wanting to count on the driver to realise it cleared to a wrong route?