Great Western Coffee Shop

Just finished watching another very pleasant and professionally produced Driver's Eye View by Video125, this time from Exeter to Barnstable which included the driver operated token exchange procedure at Eggesford, the last passing point before the Barnstable terminus. A conundrum popped up in my volunteer signalman mind that I wonder if the august members might can offer their insight or local knowledge?

There appears to be two separate token cabins, up and down, on each platform. They have two separate telephone connections to the signalman at Crediton and it appeared to show that the down driver (whose train we were riding) deposits his CDI-EGG token in the down instrument and collects his EGG-BNP token from the down instrument next to it having been released by the Crediton signalman. Meanwhile the crossing up train driver is presumably doing a similar this in reverse in the up token cabinet.

With seventeen services a day (looking at the 25th) in each direction all four instruments are going to be either choked full of tokens or totally depleted of tokens in a couple of days. Does an S&T person arrive every day or so with a secure token cassette, and do a mass swapping of tokens between the respective up and down machines?

The Sectional Appendix (Section 606) appears silent on the token system.

I believe that the current arrangement which has been in place for many years is for an Exeter based NR MOM to travel out by a NR Response road motor a few times a week to swap the tokens over; this takes between two and three hours on each occasion.
Prior to this, the task was done by a Barnstaple based railman who travelled from Barnstaple to Eggesford and back BY TRAIN and also did the station cleaning.

A similar thing happens with the tokens at Maiden Newton

I think it also used to be the case with Norton Junction - Evesham until that was doubled?

Dave

Yes it did, with the auxiliary token instruments for this section being located on the platforms at Worcester Shrub Hill.

So (to my mind hair-raising) derogations there from the usual rules about tokens not to be carried past the end of the section to which they apply, and only being handled by the signalman or the driver.  At the time it was introduced, I remember thinking to myself "Did they learn nothing from Abermule?"  Still, my concerns were misplaced, as this "temporary" lash-up lasted for near enough 40 years without any serious incident

Not the only derogation - the Bradford Junction to Thingley Junction token was carried through to Chippenham Station from (? dates unsure around 1967) until (? date unsure - when did it go tokenless) and there being no signalman at Chippenham Station, handled by station staff?    Also meant that all trains had to stop at Chippenham, and that a train could not we waiting at Thingley for a service coming off the single line - had to wait back at Chippenham station.  Confirmation of this would be welcome, as would filling in of the dates.

There's good cake to be had at the nearby garden centre café.