Standedge - Plate Banging on the Top of Coaches

[RogerB]

As a youngster in the last days of steam I used to travel through Standedge Tunnel from time to time. Near one end (can't remember which) there was some sort of warning device that banged on the top of the roofs of the carriages. You could hear it banging along the length of the train.

Can anyone throw any light on this? I was given to understand that it was some sort of warning device.

Thanks!

 

[Dr Hoo]

Wasn’t Standage where there were water troughs in the tunnel - only level part of route?

Drivers and firemen needed to know when to put scoop down and up in the dark.

(Really sticking my neck out here. No doubt a proper answer will be along soon...)

 

[RogerB]

Yes, I believe there were water troughs, that's a good theorey.

 

[John Webb]

I can't imagine anything being allowed to bang on the roof of a carriage due to the presence of vents, electrical conduits and other items on the roof. More likely to be a track-side gong (or even a plate) mounted on the side of the tunnel and operated by a track treadle depressed by passing wheels. Could well have been associated with giving train crew their location relative to the water trough.

 

[RogerB]

^^ That makes sense, just going by what I was told, I was only a kid at the time! Thinking about it, if it was able to catch the leading edge of a carriage it would catch everything that stuck up. If it was a ttreadle operated by the wheels it would go Bang-bang--bang-bang and so on, IIRC it just went bang-bang-bang. It certainly didn't ring like a gong.

 

[John Webb]

^^ That makes sense, just going by what I was told, I was only a kid at the time! Thinking about it, if it was able to catch the leading edge of a carriage it would catch everything that stuck up. If it was a ttreadle operated by the wheels it would go Bang-bang--bang-bang and so on, IIRC it just went bang-bang-bang. It certainly didn't ring like a gong.

A bar on the inside of the rail, as used mechanically to stop facing points being unlocked while there is a train on them, could be used - this would only give one 'bong' per pair of adjacent carriage bogies as it would be held down from the first wheel getting onto it until the last wheel came off it.

 

[RogerB]

^^ makes sense