Staff and tablets
seedling · planted 2024-11 · tended 2024-11
On old single lines a driver used to receive a "staff" before he entered a section: a metal object, the proof that no train was coming the other way. On some of our branches the idea survives in an electric form. The dispatcher turns a key, the box at the station releases one staff, and the driver cannot enter without it.
I like the idea that the safety of a train can be a thing you hold in your hand. See Single track.