Colour Light Signals and Route Indicators.

Colour light signalling now has become firmly established on many of the world's most progressive railways. In New Zealand good work has been accomplished in installing the three-aspect colour light signalling system, and in Europe and America real progress is to be recorded in the employment of colour lights. On the Home railways colour-light signalling has been developed to the greatest degree in connection with suburban electric traction, and in this field the Southern and Metropolitan lines head the bill. A notable instance of its employment with steam working is found at the York Road Terminus, Belfast, of the Irish section of the L.M. and S. Railway. In this instance the installation includes route indications given by colour-light shunting signals, and white lights are employed as well as green and red signals.

Outside Britain, America has done the most striking work in connection with colour-light signalling. There progress has been rapid in the extreme, and something like 8,000 route miles now are so equipped. One factor which has favoured the employment of colour-lighting in the United States is the freedom from interference by this type of signal during severe snowstorms. On the Great Northern Railway of U.S.A.—which serves territory largely snow-bound for several months of the year—more than 1,100 route miles are equipped with colour-light signals, and every American signal engineer reports enthusiastically regarding the merits of this form of equipment.