Rule 55

rdf:langString Rule 55

rdf:langString Driver - When your train is detained on a running line at a signal at danger, or without a movement authority , you must contact the signaller as soon as possible. However, you may wait for up to two minutes before contacting the signaller if you can see an obvious reason for the signal being at danger, or not having an MA[,] such as: • the section ahead being occupied by a train • a conflicting movement being made. If the signaller has told you to wait for the signal to clear, or for an MA, you must contact the signaller again every five minutes unless the signaller has given you other instructions.

rdf:langString Contacting the signaller - standard arrangements

rdf:langString Rule 55 was an operating rule which applied on British railways in the 19th and 20th centuries. It was superseded by the modular rulebook following re-privatisation of the railways. It survives, very differently named: the driver of a train waiting at a signal on a running line must remind the signaller of its presence. Rule 55 was introduced following a spate of accidents caused by signalmen forgetting that trains were standing on a running line, sometimes within sight of their signal boxes. It required that, if a train was brought to a stand at a signal, within three minutes in clear weather or immediately in rain, snow, or fog, the driver of the train must despatch his fireman, guard, or any shunter riding on the train, to the signal box to ensure that the signalman was aware of the presence of the train, and that all safeguards to protect it, such as slides or collars on the signal levers, were in place, the crewman then signing the train register to confirm this. In practice, this meant a cautious trudge, in whatever weather, for the crewman. Occasionally the rule was obeyed to the following extent: the crewman merely exchanged a greeting with the signalman, signed the register and returned to the train. In many cases, such as at major junctions or marshalling yards where crewmen crossing the rails were in grave danger from moving trains, the rule could not be applied properly (see exemption white diamond pictured). Further, the need for the fireman to return to the train would delay it if the signal was cleared in the meantime.