2005 – March – Allison – 150 Years of NSW Railway Signalling

Warwick Allison FIRSE RailCorp When I was first approached to present a signalling paper to celebrate the 150th anniversary of railways in NSW, it was thought that an analysis of the various technologies used could lead to an understanding of what drove the changes. Personalities, politics and opportunities were all important drivers in change. Understanding of why we have what we have is an important element in understanding where we should be going. While the development of the technology was largely performed overseas, in general the colonies were not averse to adopting it. But it was more than the technologies, and the opportunities. The important consideration of signalling philosophy under pinned how the technology was applied. In some cases this was ad hoc, or simply what someone else had done. In other cases (and particularly in NSW) it was a fresh beginning. The opportunities aligned with the technology and the vision to provide a system that would cater for the long term traffic demand and operation of the railways occurred conjointly with the needs for duplication and later, electrification. I have tried to tie developments together with the other states to give an overall picture of what was happening at the time. However there is a clear NSW bias, and as this is being presented in NSW 150th rail year, I make no apology for it.