Details of St. Margrethen – a posting by Stefan Niklaus (www.gleisplaene-schweiz.ch)

English version of this posting

In a previous posting I have discussed the old command frame at St.Margrethen, and was somewhat clueless about many details.

Stefan Niklaus, who operates the website www.gleisplaene-schweiz.ch, has now sent me a long email with many details and considerations, which I post here, translated from the original German. Many thanks to Stefan!

If I scan this description of the layout of this station, I think I recognize the "old ways" of running a railway station, back from the times of the 19th century: Many manned posts, who all throw their points manually and mostly on the ground; a detailed communication system between the train director and the posts, which used various indicators, bells and sometimes telephones, but no (station) block instruments. And the interlocking system was mostly devoid of dependencies, so many safety-relevant decision were taken by people: A look back to a people-intensive and rules-based approach to railway operations!

When reading the following text, it may be helpful to open Stefan's track plan at his website www.gleisplaene-schweiz.ch. However, I added snippets of it to the text below for orientation. Here is a first part of it, with the track numbers which are frequently referenced in the following:

But now for Stefan's text!

Command frame

Route release lever („Step switch“)

Only one route can be released at one time. For example, a departure route to Au from track 3 could endanger an arrving train from Lustenau, as the manual points are not technically controlled. If e.g. points 24 are reversed, a side collision is possible.

There are no route releases for departures to Rheineck and Lustenau. Towards Rheineck, safety was apparently only in the responsibility of the train director, as he could control arrivals via home signal F 1/2. Moreover, on this side, there were facing point locks.
Towards Lustenau, there is also no route release. However, posts 1 to 3 gave confirmations via lamps when their points were aligned, at least this it was it says on the plan unter „Gleistafel mit Rückmeldungen“.

I suppose that moving the route relase lever to some position indicated the requested route to the posts, who would then align the manual points. At posts 1 to 3, a bell "„Aufforderung zur Einstellung des Be[s?]tätigungshebel“ ("request to reverse the confirmation lever") would have sounded. The pointsman would throw the points and then reverse the confirmation lever to indicate his confirmation for the train to the traffic director. I do not know what that lever did look like. The traffic director probably could see the confirmation as a lighted lamp in his track panel.

Positions of route release lever from right to left:

1) From Lustenau into tracks VI bis IX. No longer possible because of station remodelling.
2) From Lustenau into track V
3) From Lustenau into tracks II-IV.
For 2) and 3), shunting signal R1 must be in position „Rangieren verboten“ ("no shunting"). The routes, however, are equal.

4) From and to Au. Arrivals and departures on a single lever.
5) From Rheineck into track III. This allowed to clear signal F 1/2 with aspect 1.
6) From Rheineck into tracks IV und V. Removed because of station remodelling.
7) From Rheineck into tracks VI to IX. This allowed to clear signal F 1/2 with aspect 2.

Then the three route levers:

First lever

• From Rheineck into track A III (position 5) = R1 with position "no shunting", points 1 to 6 locked in normal position.
• From Rheineck into track A IV / V and VI – IX (positions 6 and 7) = points 6 reversed and locked, R1 and R2 in position "no shunting". It is interesting to note that the same position had different requirements for the shunting signals. Either the signals were checked when the route was released, or they were not locked at all…

Second lever

• To Au out of tracks II – V (position 4) = R1, out of tracks VI/V = R1 + R2* showing "no shunting".
• From Au into these tracks. Also here, we have the question how the two shunting signals were locked, as either one (R1) or both need to shwo aspect "no shunting".

Third lever

• Route release from Lustenau into tracks II – IV (position 3) = points 34 locked in normal position, R1 shows aspect "no shunting", and signal E can now show aspect 1.
• Route release from Lustenau into track V (position 2) = points 34 locked in reversed position, R1 shows aspect "no shunting", and signal E can now show aspect 2; or into tracks VI – IX (position 1) = R2 shows "no shunting", rest as above.

Note that here it says (route) release (to post 1), unlike with the other levers.

Arrivals on track 1 are not possible.

On the route levers, a signal R2* is mentioned. Also the diagram of the control frame on the track plan shows this name, but the signal is not present in the track plan itself.

Signal lever F

The wire line from this signal was probably necessary for the still existing facing points locks. The wire line would no longer continue to the signal, but end after the outermost points on a reversal pulley. Something similar had been used at Kerzers at some time.

Additional items

It is unclear how signals B, C and D were cleared, and how the line block was operated. Moreover, an arrival route from Rheineck into track II (item f on the lower margin of the track plan) is missing.

Originally, there was only signal B, a Hipp disc signal, probably operated from a separate box. Leter, the following changes were made (in parentheses the item letters from the lower margin of the plan):

• 1954: Colour-light signal B (item f) and new route fII. It is unclear how the signal was operated, and the new route released. There are no corresponding elements on the command frame.
• 1960: New track panel (item l). Now, the signals were repeated, and the confirmations from the posts indicated via lamps.
• 1967: Line block to Au, and signal C (item n). Operated from where?
• 1980: Starting signal D and probably also line block to Rheineck (item u). Operated from where?

It seems there was an additional panel in the traffic bureau. Its type is unclear, as Domino 55 was not yet available when signal B was installed in 1954. This panel might have been used for signals B, C and D as well as the line block (request direction change, lock direction, block/unblock line, confirm train arrivals).
If it was like that, the traffic director had to walk in and out: Route release, then route lever, then into the bureau to clear the signal, back out again to the tracks to send the train away.

Why there was initially only one starting signal towards Lustenau, I do not really know. Maybe the ÖBB [the Austrian federal railways] required this. Very uncommon is the letter A for a starting signal. Typically, this would indicate a home signal.

Towards Lustenau, there is apparently no line block. In the book "Schienennetz Schweiz", edition 1980, the line is listed without line blocking.

Signal boxes / posts

Important difference: Post 1 is a signal box, 2 to 5 are only posts with pointsmen.

Post 1

Three shunting signals, all operated differently: R with a lever on the frame, R3 with a separate crank, R5 with a switch mounted to the barrier crank. R5 is probably operated from the barrier crank to remind the pointsman to close it when allowing a move on the numberless shunting track. The barrier crank itself is not shown in the plan.

Starting signal A was probably operated without communication with the command frame.

Arrival on home signal E 1/2 locked points 34. Aspect 1 was shown for arrivals on tracks II – IV (points 34 normal), aspect 2 for arrivals on tracks V – IX (points 34 reversed). The speed was limited to 40 km/h both for aspect 1 and 2 because of the manually operated points.

Lever locks e1 and e2 checking the track circuits. Route e2 checked a circuit on points 39. This track circuit probably allowed to reverse the route lever to normal.

All points are operated on the ground. However, the plan says at item m: Points 39 track-circuited und centralized to P1 [post 1].

Two control bells: Release bell and request to operate the confirmation lever.

Post 2

4 points levers, remaining points operated on the ground. No dependencies between points and signals.
Also here, there is control bell for operating the confirmation lever.
Who operated points 47? Logically, it would have been post 2, but post 1 is nearer.

Post 3

No points levers, all points operated on the ground. Points 22 and 20 (number missing in the plan) are somehow coupled and operated together. Also points 14 and 17 are coupled, the change items say at item e: Switch stands 14/17 combined. What „ged.“ means, is unclear.

Near post 3, there were the shunting signals R1 and R2, however, they were operated from the command frame.

Similar to posts 1 and 2 there is a bell to operate the confirmation lever. Additionally, there is a control bell and a confirmation bell. Unlike at post 1, where this is called release bell, it's called confirmation bell here.

Points 16 / 19 had a separate lever box B for arrivals from Au. Why just these points had this is unclear. There were not that important, after all, they were removed later (item t).

Post 4

This post apparently had only ground-operated points. Also, there is no control bell and no confirmation lever, as the post was directly opposite the traffic bureau. Maybe shouts, or lamps and flags were used (Remark HMM: That would then really have been operations like in the 19th century!).

Post 5

Three points levers 1/2, 3/5 and 6, but not 4/8. Additionally, the post operated the barriers on the main street. Also here, there is no control bell and no conformation lever. The command frame is some 200 meters away, but the points were locked with facing points locks.