Automatic Warning System
The Automatic Warning System (AWS) is a form of limited cab signalling introduced in 1948 in the United Kingdom to help train drivers observe and obey signals. It was based on a 1930 system developed by Alfred Ernest Hudd and marketed as the “Strowger-Hudd” system. An earlier contact system, installed on the Great Western Railway since 1906 known as Automatic Train Control (ATC), was then phased out.
AWS links to the signalling system to warn the driver about the aspect of the next signal. These warnings are typically 200 yards before the signal. Information about the signal aspect is conveyed by magnetism to the moving train through boxes fixed in the middle of the track, known as AWS inductors or colloquially, from the metal ramps fitted on the approach side to the boxes to prevent damage, AWS ramps.
When the AWS inductor is reached, the AWS sets the visual indicator to all black. If the signal being approached is set to clear, the AWS will sound a bell and leave the indicator black. This lets the driver know that the next signal is set to clear and that the AWS system is working. If the signal being approached is set to a restrictive aspect (red, yellow or double yellow), AWS will sound a horn continuously until the driver pushes a button to disarm it. When the warning is acknowledged, the horn stops and the indicator changes to a pattern of black and yellow spokes. If the button is not pressed within six seconds, a full emergency brake application brings the train to a halt.
History
Early devices used a mechanical connection between the signal and the locomotive. In 1840 the locomotive engineer Edward Bury experimented with a system whereby a lever at track level, connected to the signal, sounded the locomotive’s whistle and turned a cab-mounted red lamp. Ten years later the redoubtable Colonel William Yolland of the Railway Inspectorate was calling for a system that not only alerted the driver but also automatically applied the brakes when signals were passed at danger, but no satisfactory method of bringing this about was found.
In 1873 United Kingdom patent number 3286 was granted to Davidson and Williams for a system in which if a signal was passed at danger a trackside lever operated the locomotive’s whistle, applied the brake, shut off steam and alerted the guard. Numerous similar patents followed, but they all bore the same disadvantage – that they could not be used at higher speeds for risk of damage to the mechanism – and they came to nothing. In Germany the Kofler system used arms projecting from signal posts to connect with a pair of levers, one representing caution and the other stop, mounted on the locomotive cab roof. To address the problem of operation at speed the sprung mounting for the levers was connected directly to the locomotive's axle box to ensure correct alignment. When Berlin’s S-Bahn was electrified in 1929 a development of this system, with the contact levers moved from the roofs to the sides of the trains, was installed at the same time.
The first useful device was invented by Vincent Raven of the North Eastern Railway in 1895, patent number 23384. Although this provided audible warning only, it did indicate to the driver when points ahead were set for a diverging route. By 1909, the company had installed it on about 100 miles of track.
The first system to be put into wide use was developed in 1905 by the Great Western Railway and protected by UK patents 12661 and 25955. Its benefits over previous systems were that it could be used at high speed and that it sounded a confirmation in the cab when a signal was passed at “clear”.
In the final version of the GWR system the locomotives were fitted with a solenoid-operated valve into the vacuum train pipe, maintained in the closed position by a battery. At each distant signal a long ramp was placed between the rails. As the locomotive passed over the ramp a contact switch beneath the locomotive was lifted and the battery current holding closed the brake valve was broken. In the case of a clear signal, current from a battery energising the ramp (but at opposite polarity) passed to the locomotive through the contact and maintained the brake valve in the closed position, with the reversed-polarity current ringing a bell in the cab. When the signal was at danger the ramp battery was disconnected and so could not replace the locomotive’s battery current: the brake valve solenoid would then be released and a horn sounded in the cab. The driver was then expected to cancel the warning and apply the brakes under his own control.
Notwithstanding the heavy commitment of maintaining the batteries in the locomotives and signal boxes, the GWR installed the equipment on all its main lines. For many years Western Region (successors to the GWR) locomotives were dual fitted with both GWR ATC and BR AWS system.
By the 1930s other railway companies, under pressure from the Ministry of Transport, were considering systems of their own. A non-contact method based on magnetic induction was preferred, to eliminate the problems caused by snowfall and day-to-day wear of the contacts which had been discovered in existing systems. The Strowger-Hudd system of Alfred Hudd, which used a pair of magnets, one a permanent and one an electro-magnet, was tested by the Southern Railway, London and North Eastern Railway and the London, Midland and Scottish Railway, but these trials came to nothing.
In 1948 Hudd, now working for the LMS, equipped the London, Tilbury and Southend line, a division of the LMS, with his system. It was successful, and British Railways developed the mechanism further, by providing a visual indication in the cab of the aspect of the last signal passed. In 1956 the Ministry of Transport evaluated the GWR, LTS and BR systems and selected the one developed by BR as standard for Britain’s railways. This was in response to the Harrow and Wealdstone accident in 1952.
British Rail AWS
BR AWS consists of:
- a permanent magnet between the rails
- an electro-magnet between the rails (with opposite pole to the permanent magnet) positioned after the permanent magnet.
- a cab indicator that can show a black disk or a yellow and black "exploding" disk. Sometimes known as the "AWS sunflower"
- a control unit that connects the system to the brakes on the train.
- an AWS Driver's acknowledgement button.
- an AWS control panel.
The system works on a set/reset principle
When the distant signal is at clear or green (off), the electro-magnet is energised. As the train passes, the permanent magnet sets the system. A short time after the electromagnet resets the system. Once so reset, a bell is sounded and the indicator set to all black if it not already so. No acknowledgement is required from the driver. The system must be reset within one second of being set otherwise it behaves as for a caution indication.
When the distant signal is at caution or yellow (on), the electro-magnet is de-energised. As the train passes, the permanent magnet sets the system. However, since the electro-magnet is de-energised, the sytem is not reset. After the one second timeframe within which the system can be reset, a horn warning is given until the driver acknowledges by pressing a plunger. If the driver fails to acknowledge the warning within 1.5 seconds, the emergency brakes are automatically applied. If the driver does acknowledge the warning, the indicator disk changes to yellow on black, to remind the driver that he has acknowledged a warning and serves as a reminder between signals that the driver is proceeding under caution. The one second delay before the horn sounds allows the system to operate correctly down to speeds as low as 1.75 miles per hour. Below this speed, the caution horn warning will always be given, but it will be automatically cancelled when the electromagnet resets the system if the driver has not already done so. The display will indicate all black once the system resets.
The system is fail-safe, since in the event of a loss of power only the electro-magnet is affected, and therefore all trains passing will receive a warning. The system suffers one drawback in that on single track lines, the track equipment will set the AWS system on a train travelling in the opposite direction from that for which the track equipment is intended, but not reset it as the electromagnet is encountered before the permanent magnet. To overcome this, a suppressor magnet may be installed in place of an ordinary permanent magnet. When energised, its suppressing coil diverts the magnetic flux from the permanent magnet so that no warning is received on the train. The suppressor magnet is fail-safe, since loss of power will cause it to act like an ordinary permanent magnet. A cheaper alternative is the installation of a special lineside sign that notifies the driver to cancel and ignore the warning. This sign is a blue square board with a white St. Andrew's cross on it (or a yellow board with a black cross, if provided in conjunction with a temporary speed restriction).
With mechanical signalling, the AWS system was installed only at distant signals, but with multi-aspect signalling it is fitted at all main line signals and sometime used in conjunction with train stops. All signal aspects, except green, cause the horn to sound and the indicator disc to change to yellow on black.
Disadvantages
Because it was developed before multiple-aspect signalling became widespread, AWS can only indicate whether a signal is "Green" or "not Green". Even though a multiple-aspect signal can display three or four aspects, AWS has only two states.
AWS is an advisory system, and can be easily overridden by habituated reactions of the driver, especially when he/she is proceeding at speed under a series of "double yellow" signals which indicate a stop signal two sections ahead. This has led to a number of fatal accidents. Also, there is no compulsory stop when a red signal is passed. The newer TPWS, which operates at the stop signal, overcomes some of these problems.
References
- Vanns, Michael A (1997): An Illustrated History of Railway Signalling. Ian Allan Publishing, Shepperton, England.
- Simmons, Jack and Biddle, Gordon (1997): The Oxford Companion to British Railway History. Oxford University Press.