201307 – Flinders – A Point of Principle: How Trains Move from One Line to Another

Some time ago the Australasian Committee decided that at least one paper a year would be presented to the Technical Meetings which covered basic principles. They were to be presentations that took a basic signalling/telecommunication subject and went through the principles of use and operation. They were to be aimed at younger members and those who had recently joined the profession. However it is to be hoped that maybe they also passed on some new information to older members as well.

This paper is part of that series and looks at point operation (also known as switches, layouts and turnouts) and discusses some of the methods of moving points both mechanically and electrically. It also describes the various means of detecting that the points have moved to the required position and that they have been prevented from moving as a train passes over them. By necessity, some Civil Engineer’s terms will have to be used in this paper!