1:37 Restricted speed is very serious business. It's much more involved than what you describe. The main thing to remember about Restricted speed is that it's not a hard and fixed speed limit, but a dynamic one that can change moment by moment. When operating at Restricted speed, the train crew is entirely responsible for being able to stop the train before anything bad happens. "Bad" things can include hitting another train, passing a _Stop_ signal, going over a broken rail, going over a mis-aligned switch, going over a derail set to the derailing position, etcetera. At Restricted speed, the train is not supposed to be operated faster than the crew can stop the train in half the distance they can see down the track. If they can clearly can see 2000 feet down the track, then they need to be going slow enough to be able to stop in 1000 feet. If there's a horizontal curve ahead and they can only see 50 feet down the track because there is a building blocking the view around the curve, then they have to be going slow enough to be able to stop in 25 feet. There is a maximum permitted speed associated with Restricted speed, usually 15 or 20 MPH, but the actual speed limit depends on being able to safely stop in that distance, which can change very quickly depending on track, environment, terrain, grade, etc.
3:20 Not quite. _Approach Diverging_ means that the train will take a diverging route at the next signal, switching to another track. That next signal is showing _Diverging Clear_ or _Diverging Clear Approach Diverging_ or _Diverging Advance Approach_ or _Diverging Approach._ The train needs to slow down to whatever the safe diverging speed is before reaching that next signal. That speed will be explained in the employee timetable. _Advance Approach Diverging_ (the Flashing Green, or Flashing Yellow over Green) is a signal that _may_ be encountered before this one. Just like _Advance Approach_ gives extra warning and braking distance of an entire signal block before a _Stop_ or equivalent, the _Advance Approach Diverging_ gives an extra signal block of warning before a diverging movement. (This one doesn't mean you'll expect to stop at the second signal, though.) That _Approach Restricting_ signal simply means to expect a _Restricting_ signal at the next signal. The train will have to proceed at Restricted speed, so it will obviously have to slow way down, and may have to stop. No _Restricting_ signal conveys any information about the following signal (if there even is one) or even whether the track beyond it is even occupied, so the state of that next signal is not known unless it can be seen.
![[SFS] Locomotives that HIT STUFF...](/img/n.gif)
Nice work.
1:37 Restricted speed is very serious business. It's much more involved than what you describe.
The main thing to remember about Restricted speed is that it's not a hard and fixed speed limit, but a dynamic one that can change moment by moment. When operating at Restricted speed, the train crew is entirely responsible for being able to stop the train before anything bad happens. "Bad" things can include hitting another train, passing a _Stop_ signal, going over a broken rail, going over a mis-aligned switch, going over a derail set to the derailing position, etcetera. At Restricted speed, the train is not supposed to be operated faster than the crew can stop the train in half the distance they can see down the track. If they can clearly can see 2000 feet down the track, then they need to be going slow enough to be able to stop in 1000 feet. If there's a horizontal curve ahead and they can only see 50 feet down the track because there is a building blocking the view around the curve, then they have to be going slow enough to be able to stop in 25 feet. There is a maximum permitted speed associated with Restricted speed, usually 15 or 20 MPH, but the actual speed limit depends on being able to safely stop in that distance, which can change very quickly depending on track, environment, terrain, grade, etc.
3:20 Not quite. _Approach Diverging_ means that the train will take a diverging route at the next signal, switching to another track. That next signal is showing _Diverging Clear_ or _Diverging Clear Approach Diverging_ or _Diverging Advance Approach_ or _Diverging Approach._ The train needs to slow down to whatever the safe diverging speed is before reaching that next signal. That speed will be explained in the employee timetable.
_Advance Approach Diverging_ (the Flashing Green, or Flashing Yellow over Green) is a signal that _may_ be encountered before this one. Just like _Advance Approach_ gives extra warning and braking distance of an entire signal block before a _Stop_ or equivalent, the _Advance Approach Diverging_ gives an extra signal block of warning before a diverging movement. (This one doesn't mean you'll expect to stop at the second signal, though.)
That _Approach Restricting_ signal simply means to expect a _Restricting_ signal at the next signal. The train will have to proceed at Restricted speed, so it will obviously have to slow way down, and may have to stop. No _Restricting_ signal conveys any information about the following signal (if there even is one) or even whether the track beyond it is even occupied, so the state of that next signal is not known unless it can be seen.
Cool video