'carrot cake' being the preferred British engine driver's food?
I suspect the move away from the 'marker lamp', which effectively was what they were, towards the 'searchlight', came about with the advent of the 'barrier'- type level crossing protection?
These effectively allowed direct access to the railway ROW....although access to this ROW is seemingly protected and enshrined in law..[hence the elaborate, cast, warning signs seen in the past?]
Previously, considerable effort went into preventing free access to the lines...[level crossing gates, etc?]
so the engine driver really did not need to 'see' the road ahead.......instead, the whole shebang being controlled by the signals, and the 'signalman?'
Of course, knowledge of the 'road' also helped.
[consider this, a modern euro express travelling at speeds of well over 100mph? The driver would need a considerably more powerful headlight to see far enough ahead to take evasive action should there be a problem, than is currently fitted to Germany's finest automobiles?
considering the vastly different stopping distance between a train, and a car?]
I suspect the move away from the 'marker lamp', which effectively was what they were, towards the 'searchlight', came about with the advent of the 'barrier'- type level crossing protection?
These effectively allowed direct access to the railway ROW....although access to this ROW is seemingly protected and enshrined in law..[hence the elaborate, cast, warning signs seen in the past?]
Previously, considerable effort went into preventing free access to the lines...[level crossing gates, etc?]
so the engine driver really did not need to 'see' the road ahead.......instead, the whole shebang being controlled by the signals, and the 'signalman?'
Of course, knowledge of the 'road' also helped.
[consider this, a modern euro express travelling at speeds of well over 100mph? The driver would need a considerably more powerful headlight to see far enough ahead to take evasive action should there be a problem, than is currently fitted to Germany's finest automobiles?
considering the vastly different stopping distance between a train, and a car?]
