Signals

"Down means 'go', and up means 'stop'. So upper still must mean 'go back'! I know, it's one of these backing signals."

- Percy in Percy and the Signal

In terms of running railways, signals are mechanical and electrical devices erected beside a railway to pass information relating to the state of the line ahead of the engine.

Signalmen use these to direct an engine's crew to make certain movements or to stop from their signal boxes. However, sometimes either the signalmen or the engines do not pay attention, often resulting in accidents.

One time, Henry was pulling The Flying Kipper when he collided with a goods train because snow and ice forced the signal down, making it appear that the line was clear by displaying the wrong aspic lunar for "Diverging" instead of red for "Danger".

In Old Iron the signalman had to set the signals at "Danger" after some boys broke into James' cab and fiddled with the controls causing a runaway which Edward and the inspector had to stop.

On Sodor, all signals point upward to indicate that an engine needs to stop and downward to indicate "go". Gordon and James once played a trick on Percy with nonexistent "backing signals". So when Percy came to a signal and it went up instead of down to indicate that he could go, he thought it was a "backing signal". Toby was once baffled by the large gantry at Knapford. James has also accidentally knocked down two signals, once with some well wagons of tractors, and another with Rocky's crane arm, causing confusion and delay.

Locations

 * Accidents
 * Stations
 * Sheds
 * Bridges
 * Tunnels
 * Junctions
 * Railway Sidings
 * Gordon's Hill
 * Shunting Yards
 * Signal Boxes
 * Quarries and Mines
 * The Coaling Plant
 * Crocks Scrap Yard
 * Level Crossings
 * Washdowns
 * Buffers
 * The Intersection
 * The Branch Lines
 * The Main Line
 * The Great Railway Show Yard

Trivia

 * Since the thirteenth series, signals have a different sound when changing.
 * The signals on Sodor are old-fashioned, semaphore railway signals, still used in some countries today, mostly in the United Kingdom. They are also found on vintage railways and railway museums that preserve both steam and diesel locomotives as historical pieces, such as the Illinois Railway Museum in the United States. The majority of signals seen in the show are lower-quadrant semaphore signals, which means the arm of the signal goes down to show green.
 * Throughout the television series, some of the signals are incorrectly shown with the coloured side pointing to the left and the black and white side pointing to the right. Also, the yellow arm distant signals all have a red light on them. But in real life, they only have a yellow/amber light.

Merchandise

 * ERTL
 * Wooden Railway
 * Motor Road and Rail
 * TrackMaster
 * Hornby
 * Bachmann
 * Capsule Plarail
 * Mini Mini Plarail

External link

 * Railway signals and their descriptions from The Signal Box.

Señales סמפורים Semafory