New comment by RavuAlHemio in "Before pixels: Modular industrial dashboards"

RavuAlHemio — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 08:06:43 +0000

To add to this, those signalling panels (SpDr is the series, I think) work on the principle “from where to were”: you hold down the button for the signal that is showing red, then press the button for the track you want to direct the train to. The system then checks if that doesn’t cross an already-configured path of another train (if so, it refuses to do anything), then sets the relevant track switches as required and finally changes the light on the signal.

The marker is on one of the destination buttons to remind the signaller not to send any trains there, because that might endanger the people working there.

New comment by RavuAlHemio in "Before pixels: Modular industrial dashboards"

RavuAlHemio — Thu, 01 Oct 2026 08:00:13 +0000

I know a few things about German signal boxes, and I doubt the Polish ones will be too different in this regard.

Railway signals have a “daytime” and a lower “nighttime” intensity to make sure that the driver sees the red signal in the summer sun, but doesn’t get blinded by the same red signal on their final run of the day at midnight. The switching between these intensities is done on the signaling panel and I assume that’s what the big switch is for.

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New comment by RavuAlHemio in "Before pixels: Modular industrial dashboards"

New comment by RavuAlHemio in "Before pixels: Modular industrial dashboards"