Ts signal

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ts signals (on the Deutsche Reichsbahn from 1959: Sp signals) are railway signals that are used in Germany. Ts stands for partial journeys and pushing locomotives , today's designation is signals for pushing locomotives and blocking journeys . The signals are on the right, for journeys against the normal direction of travel to the left of the track being used. The signals were very rare, today only the signal Ts 1 still exists in practice.

The signal Ts 1 is set up on routes where trains are regularly pushed along with uncoupled push-pull locomotives. Signal Ts 1 defines the point up to which a push locomotive should work. You should then leave the following train and then return to the starting station.

The point at which the uncoupled sliding locomotive is released from the train can, depending on local conditions, be on a (single or double-track) free route or in a train station. The Ts 2/3 signal is provided in the event that the push-pull locomotive turns around on a double-track free route and returns to the starting station. Due to the directional operation and since trains normally do not turn on the open route, there were as a rule no suitable signals on the wrong track used to regulate the entrance to the station until the post-war period . In such a case, entry into the station must be regulated by a written order. This costs time, which is valuable because the return of the push locomotive increases the load on the route anyway.

If there was frequent pushing, the signal Ts 2 / Ts 3 was therefore placed on the wrong track, which could replace the transmission of commands and accelerate operations. It was integrated into the mechanical and electromechanical interlockings in the same way as track blocking signals, whereby, as with these, there was often no road safety.

The signal Ts 2 / Ts 3 was also used for the return of handover or blocking trips that had served connection points on the open route . For this purpose, the signal was also set up in the lowlands. Above all, the Federal Railroad re-set up the signals in old interlockings to speed up operations.

After the Second World War, technology and technical effort changed in a short time, the attitude towards signaling on the wrong track and the need for pushing operation. As a result, no more light signal patterns were specified for Ts signals and no more control circuits were developed for form signals in relay interlockings. Where entry signals on the wrong track were required for blocking trips and returning pushing locomotives, main signals were set up as for the signaled wrong-way operation (SFB) or track changing operation (GWB). Depending on the interlocking technology and the line load, these show regular journey terms or the replacement signal Zs 1, in the network of the former Deutsche Bundesbahn also the protection signal term Sh 1. With the replacement of the old interlockings, the Ts-2/3 signals increasingly disappeared.

At the Deutsche Reichsbahn the signals have been designated as Sp 1 and Sp 2/3 in the 6th section of the signal book ("Signals for push locomotives and trains on the wrong track") since 1959. The signals Sp 2 and 3 were already deleted from the signal book in the 1980s after none were available in practice. Then the title of the 6th section was shortened to "Signals for push-pull locomotives". As a result of the reintroduction of the Railway Signal Regulations, both terms were re-included in DV 301 without a new listing being planned.

The last signals Ts 2/3 available at Deutsche Bahn were in Bad Driburg until 2008 and in Bruges near Lüdenscheid until 2009 and were used to operate the Herste and Steinebach junctions.

The signal Ts 1 is a stationary board that can be illuminated when operationally necessary. Locations include the Gemmenicher Tunnel near Aachen, the north portal of the Rudersdorfer Tunnel, the Blankenheim train station and the Hochstadt-Marktzeuln-Probstzella railway line in Steinbach am Wald in both train station entrances (as of 2017). The only Ts 1 designed as a light signal stood as the successor to an internally illuminated form signal on the Spessart ramp , which was abandoned in the summer of 2017 in favor of a new route, shortly before the Schwarzkopf tunnel within the Heigenbrücken West transfer point at km 73.4. In the past, such signals were also set up on branch lines, for example on the Bautzen – Bad Schandau railway line near Krumhermsdorf.

The signal Ts 2 / Ts 3 was stationary and adjustable. It was commonly referred to simply as the "push locomotive signal". In the basic position it showed the term Ts 2, a white square on its tip with a black border. For the signal aspect Ts 3, a movable black stripe, which was hidden in the "invisible" basic position on the upper right edge, was mechanically repositioned; he lay diagonally across the white square. The drive principle corresponded to that of a mechanical track blocking signal. It was lit from the inside in the same way as a track blocking signal.

Appearance of the Ts signals

Surname Meaning according to signal book Appearance Remarks
Ts 1 Adjust pushing A white (large) T rotated 90 ° to the right on a black rectangle not to be confused with the similar-looking signal Zs 13 - dead-end and early stop indicator
Ts 2 Stop for returning push-pull locomotives and blocking trips An upside-down white square with a black border
Ts 3 Onward journey for returning push-pull locomotives and restricted journeys Like Ts 2, but plus a black bar that rises to the right and runs through the square A journey permitted by this signal is a train journey with a special order .
Ts 102 Stop for returning push-pull locomotives and blocking trips A rectangular black disc with the inscription "Halt for returning push-pull locomotives / partial trips" Old solution of the Ts signal in Prussia-Hesse and Oldenburg. Already in 1934 no more reorganization.

swell