Rail 'ring' explained by former Mayo station manager

by Noel Hoban

Railway systems throughout the world had their own unique systems that would amaze the modern crop of rail users, such was their antiquated origins.

Ireland’s rail system was no different; from timber coaches to steel, loose coupling of wagons to vacuum brakes and the current air breaking system.

Steam locos to diesel and electric. Dining carts of the highest quality serving a la carte breakfasts and dinners.

Semaphore signals containing paraffin oil lamps which still had to be lit and placed in position up to the mid 2000s.

Those are just a few of the multitude of practises that tweaked the imagination of the general public.

However, in my final years and months on the railway the most frequently asked question was “What was the ring given to the driver at each station?”

Like all things in life it seems to be only missed and discussed now that it is no more. Even though one small section of line in Nenagh/South Tipperary still operates this system.

So what was the ring given to the driver? Where did it come from? And what was its purpose?

In this article I hope to try and explain the intricate working of the ETS, known as the Electric Token System.

The ETS was devised in England and introduced into Ireland in the mid 1800s by Great Northern and Southern Railways.

The token was more commonly known as 'The Staff' and when first introduced was a long, heavy and brutish implement which led to a staff snatcher iron structure being installed in the locos of the time.

The signalman put the staff on a pole that was aligned to the “snatcher” that could collect it at speed.

When the staff was modified to a smaller structure, that was when the ring came into play. The ring itself had no real importance other than being a mode of conveyance. It was the iron bar strapped to it that was the Railway Gold. This could not be lost for love or money.

Here's how it all worked:

The area of track between two functioning signal cabins is called the section and the signalman at both ends held control of what entered and exited that section.

In a single line environment, the presence of one train and one train only was of paramount importance and this is where the staff become the major player.

If we take a signal cabin I worked, for instance, Castlerea, I had three instruments in that cabin.

The instrument was an iron structure that housed the staffs with slides locking them in place.

The small box beside the instrument had a topper and handle which transmitted bell codes and generated power.

If I wanted to send a train to Claremorris the first bell would be the “call attention” bell which was basically to see if your opposite number was on site.

On reply to that I would send the bell code for the particular train. Each train had a code, for example 3-pause-1, 2-pause-3, etcetera.

If in a position to receive, a Claremorris signalman would repeat the tap code but press down the key on the last tap and generate the handle.

This would allow me, with a little persuasion, to get the staff to release the slide and, in doing so, release a key in the instrument to put into a socket of starting signal levers.

Now I had the staff, key for signal, and away we go. No other staff could be taken from the Castlerea or Claremorris instrument until signalmen in Claremorris replaced the staff from my train in his relevant instrument.

It gets a little more complicated if you’re taking a train from opposite sections and crossing them, but the principle always remained the same. One staff! One track!

The system was serviced by a linesman from the P+T, later to become Eircom. As often happened during busy Knock specials time, staffs may run low in the Claremorris instrument.

In that instant Michael Reilly, one of nature’s gentlemen, would, as station master, get the lineman who obtained staffs with a boy and transport them by road in the company of a station depot-man to deposit in relevant instrument in Castlerea.

When all books were signed, this process was known as 'equalisation of staffs'.

If you lost a staff on the railway you might as well have your overcoat handy.

The railway is full of folklore and there was a story told about an incident that allegedly happened in Roscommon.

The two night passenger trains would cross there and the signal cabin was the far side of the track from the town.

When the up train arrived first the depot-man would collect the staff and throw it across both the train and far track to land on the signalman’s door.

Weeks earlier the signalman is reported to have had words with a certain taxi-man.

However, one evening the throw occurred but no staff was found on the platform and it never turned up.

A case of instead of 'hailing' a taxi turned into 'nailing' a taxi in Roscommon folklore.

To conclude I hope I made the issue of the ring a tad clear to the reader.

Of course it’s all tracking with large pylons and axel counters in today’s modern world.

The new system is exceptionally safe also but one must marvel at the genius who devised the ETS in the 1800s, which ultimately was the foundation stone of rail safety.

(Noel Hoban is a former station manager at Castlebar Railway Station).