Hutt Valley Signals

Bits and pieces of railway information of interest to me - mainly signalling and the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa Lines. The Hutt Valley is a suburb of Wellington, New Zealand.

From time to time I test this site with Firefox and Opera (Linux and XP) and also with IE8. I do not have access to a Mac. I recently replaced my ten year old CRT monitor with an LCD screen but my video card (also ten years old) works at 1024 X 768 maximum, which restricts the width of page I can work on.

I have a theory that the amount of information on a page is inversely proportional to the number of bells and whistles so I do NOT use Javascript or Java. There is no fancy formatting on this site but there is LOTS and LOTS of information. The WWW as I like it.

I try and make my pages W3C HTML 4.01 compliant and I support the Viewable With Any Browser campaign.

Contact me at:   signalman at valleysignals dot org dot nz

Signalling Principles

Study the principles of New Zealand railway signalling with particular reference to the Hutt Valley and Wairarapa. Diagrams and photo sequences describe speed signalling, junction signalling, aspects, low-speed lights, marker lights, overlaps, advance caution, permissive working and other aspects of railway signalling. 19th century signalling extant at Masterton is explained.

Safe Working

A page dedicated to the safe-working systems used by the New Zealand Government Railways (NZGR) and its successors.

Browse various safe-working documents including the Rule Book; Electric Train Tablet; Train Staff and Ticket; Track Warrant and Automatic Signalling.

PDF versions of the documents can also be downloaded.

Train Running

Study the operation of specific trains in detail, with the emphasis on signalling and safeworking.

Trains described include a Red (English Electric) EMU travelling to Wellington; Bankers on the Daffodil Express; a Masterton Passenger Train running Wrong Line; Race Trains to Trentham; Q2 Gracefield Shunt; EMUs reversing at South Junction; a 25kv Electric Locomotive departing Woburn and trains to the WestpacTrust Stadium.

Hutt Valley Signalling History

Study the history of signalling on the Hutt Valley line, including the extension of the line from Hutt Valley Junction to Waterloo, Taita and Haywards; the Gracefield Branch; and the Rimutaka Tunnel route to Featherston. Diagrams show the progression from two-position mechanical signalling to three-position upper quadrant semaphores to automatic signalling with colour light signals.

Observe the extent of the interlockings once controlled by the Petone, Woburn and Taita signal boxes - very little of which now remains.

Hutt Valley Timetables

An analysis of Hutt Valley timetables. The period from the opening of the Hutt Valley Branch in the 1920s until the present day is covered.

Masterton Signalling Relics

Some relics of late 19th/early 20th century signalling practice were still in regular use on the commercial railway at Masterton in 2006. This page records Masterton signalling in 2004.

Masterton is the only location I know of where a Woods key is still used and is one of only two or three stations that have two-position signals.

Featherston Station

Featherston is familiar to motorists because the town marks the end of their journey over the Rimutaka Hill.

Today a quiet station on the Wellington - Masterton railway, Featherston's main claim to fame is that it is where patrons on their way to the annual Toast Martinborough wine and food festival transfer from locomotive hauled Ganz EMUs to buses, to complete their journey.

Upper Hutt Station

Upper Hutt is the terminus of electrified commuter services from Wellington. Until early 2007 it was manned 24 hours a day because the single line Trentham - Upper Hutt - Featherston section was controlled from a signal panel and time code CTC machine in the Upper Hutt station building.

Study the operation and history of Upper Hutt, with emphasis on the signalling.

Trentham Station

Trentham is a single to double-line junction. The little used Racecourse Platform (loop) gives punters easy access to the racecourse. A bow-string bridge is a prominent feature of the station.

I document signalling, race trains and rare workings, including a freight train using the loop. I also describe Trentham as it is for most of the year.

Taita Box

Taita signal box, dating from the early 1950s, is switched in during the morning and evening peaks, Monday to Friday, to terminate Wellington - Taita EMUs.

I describe the operation of Taita Box in 2013 and provide some history.

Gracefield & Woburn

The Gracefield Industrial Line, now the Gracefield Industrial Siding, served Gracefield and Seaview. This industrial area was developed after the passing of the Hutt Valley Lands Settlement Act 1925. The line also served the Hutt Railway Workshops and Hutt Park Racecourse. The junction was at Woburn.

Diagrams and photographs provide a historical perspective and describe the operation of Woburn and the Industrial Siding today.

Melling Branch

An introduction to the Melling Branch with a diagram providing geographical and historical perspective. The 1949 suburban steam timetable is compared with later electric timetables.

Photographs show the line as it is today.

Hutt Park Railway Company

From 1885 until 1905 the Hutt Park Railway Company carried passengers on its Esplanade railway to meetings of the Wellington Racing Club at Hutt Park.

In 1915 the line was sold to the Gear Meat Company and the Hutt Park Railway Company went into liquidation in 1918.

Photo Graeme Bennett

Johnsonville Line Signalling

The Wellington - Johnsonville Line has some unique signalling features. Therefore, although the branch is not in the Hutt Valley, I have created a Johnsonville Line Signalling site.

The site includes details current and earlier signalling practice on the branch, including starting signals at Ngaio and Khandallah to allow trains to be divided and mechanical signalling at Thorndon, Ngaio and Johnsonville.

A-Box

A record of the track and signalling changes at Wellington during the installation of the third track in 2009/10.

Track And Lineside Structures

Study various track and lineside structures in detail. I have documented all extant trap points between Woburn and Upper Hutt; an Economical Facing Point Lock (FPL); the Wynn-Williams spring point mechanism; Fletcher Siding at Ava and all location cabinets between Petone and Ava.

Diagrams and photographs describe these and other structures in detail.

Miscellaneous

Browse various miscellaneous pages, including the BR Mk2 cars at Hutt Workshops, a residential subdivision next to a railway workshops, sightings of De508 at Palmerston North, a cab ride to Masterton, commuter train myths and a locomotive in Sri Lanka that reminded me of an Interisland Ferry.

This page is also an index to the many miscellaneous images that I have posted over the past two years.

Griptypethyne (February 2013).......

When I started this site in February 2001 I had one aim - to document passenger timetables and signalling and safeworking on the Hutt Valley Deviation Line from its opening in 1927 to the present day. After three years work I finally achieved my aim - going down many interesting side tracks in the process.

Taita Signal Box will close sometime in the next year. I have therefore started documenting the Box.

I have added a series of pages explaining the relay circuits used in an early 1950s era individual function switch relay interlocking. Go to Petone Relay Circuits for details. I have upgraded the Subsidiary Lights, A-Lights and Petone Relay Room pages.

I have not flown a hang glider for nearly forty years.

In November 2006, for a variety of reasons, I moved my site to a commercial server. The new url is valleysignals.org.nz. The previous url was trainweb.org/valleysignals. Note that in the five years I was with Trainweb I received excellent service.

Contact me :

signalman at valleysignals dot org dot nz