Answer the phone Please

[TMBA]

Why doesn't the Signal Operator answer the phone anymore?
Every time I pick up the signal phone I get no answer
I'm only trying to get info
Please pick the phone up - it would make me a lot happier ;D

[Deleted]

tmba said:

Why doesn't the Signal Operator answer the phone anymore?

because they are glued to the footie on the television set that they are watching

[Deleted]

The thing that p*sses me off is when you get down on the phone, often in the cold and rain and without answering they just clear the stick, is it too much to say "Sorry mate"?. I normally accidentally leave the phone off the hook when they do that.

[q8]

Can signalmen/regulators still do what they could and ring you on a signal telephone? Earls Court/High Street/Gloucester Road/Sth Ken were the places that you mostly got that. They could do it anywhere where you were on the Earls Court diagram though. You'd be sitting at a red signal when all-of-a-sudden you'd hear bells. If you ignored the bells he'd flash the signal at you. In other words 'driver you are wanted'

On the Southern controlled lines past Turnham Green and Putney bridge the Bobby would 'wave' the semaphore arm to you if you were required to get in touch

[Deleted]

jim said:

The thing that p*sses me off is when you get down on the phone, often in the cold and rain and without answering they just clear the stick, is it too much to say "Sorry mate"?. I normally accidentally leave the phone off the hook when they do that.

That causes no end of problems, normally ending up with a DMT going to put the phone back on de hook! Keeps them busy i suppose!

[TMBA]

Ironic I suppose but if you want to talk to him he wont always answer and nothing is ever done about it ( I know Ive tried ;D)

BUT if he wants you and you don't pick the phone up when he rings all hell breaks loose.

And as I said I'm only after info like why I'm being held at EC3 or EN41 for instance.

Its pathetic because if we don't give the info over the P.A. we get a blocking but how the hell are we to tell what what is going on if we don't know because we're never given that info in the first place.

[Deleted]

tmba said:

Its pathetic because if we don't give the info over the P.A. we get a blocking but how the hell are we to tell what what is going on if we don't know because we're never given that info in the first place.

You ever tried asking the controller? I called up a while ago and asked if there were any problems as I was at Tower Hill for several minutes, the controller answered with "Were blocking back", that really explains it all, not!

[q8]

Simple answer to the non-reply a signal phone. Make a bloody pest of yourself by contacting the controller on the radio and reporting that the signal phone is not working. He'll soon get cheesed of with drivers for ever telling him that they can't get an answer on a signal phone and then get these signallers to do the job properly. I strongly suspect that Earl's Court is more prevalent at this practice than Baker Street.

[TMBA]

Yea Earls Court is the biggest culprit for it, but I don't see why ! Places like Wimbledon power box are excellent at answering and so to is Barking and Upminster.

[q8]

Earl's Court have always been an ignorant lot of pigs as regards anwering the phone. We often used to get held at EC7 and he would not answer the phone there. So I used to cross to EC13 and try that. If he did not answer that either I used to leave 'em BOTH off the hook so that he had a symphony to listen to.

I got told off umpteen times for that but it did not stop me.

[Deleted]

jim said:

You ever tried asking the controller? I called up a while ago and asked if there were any problems as I was at Tower Hill for several minutes, the controller answered with "Were blocking back", that really explains it all, not!

I remember an occasion when I was with an I/O, when we called up from WL23 at Acton as to what the problem was. Strange thing, we then had a clear route right into Acton, out the other side and accross Hanger Lane Jct! Ironic old life!

[citysig]

Ok, signalman here. Only took me a couple of days to answer but I'm not in any hurry so why should you be? ;D

Despite the age-old myth that we do such things as ignore the phones, clear the signals just as you ring etc. etc. much of it is just a myth.

Firstly. Is the phone working? If I had a pound for everytime I answered a signal phone and heard silence, I wouldn't be sat here now.

Second. What else may we be doing /who else may we be talking to on other telephones? Your call may not be the most important one to us at that time. After all, if you're being held at a red, maybe the disruption leading to this is what is occupying us.

Third. We will always try to answer all phones in the end. Particularly at Baker Street, the ringing noise tends to annoy and can lead one to suffer indigestion from ones biscuits ;D

Fourth. The "call back" facility is available at some locations. All phones which come to us are meant to have it. Very few actually work.

Next (as I'm losing count) quite often the route is ready to clear, and simply waiting for the train ahead to move. This is normally the reason for the signal clearing just as you pick the phone up. The other most obvious reason is that it was your turn next anyway.

Leaving the phone off the hook helps nobody. I know it's been done for years, but there is more chance of the phone becoming defective for the next person who needs it. Not only that, a phone left of the hook is quite often switched off/out by us and therefore becomes effectively non-existent. So when someone does try to call us on it (maybe in emergency) we are not listening as we believe it's still off the hook.

Finally, certain locations will always differ. The chap working one area such as Barking has a lot less railway and trains at any one time to look after than the chap working Aldgate through to Baker Street. Naturally he will normally have more time to answer all calls.

I have said it before and will say it again, we are not on a commission to any other line. We do not get a bonus from any line. There is very good reason why, in recent circulars, a small paragraph told people to wait up to 2 minutes for us to answer.

[Deleted]

I do take your points on this citysig and in many cases you are correct but there are occasions where we can see that we have been forgotten. I often do nights where I drive the first train to Upminster from Ealing, there's one train in front of me which reverses at Earls Court. I regularly come up to a red signal at Turnham Green Jct, which has obviously been forgotten, I guess the signal is cleared before the start of traffic and after the first train has passed it is left, there are no trains from Richmond this time in the morning and I know as soon as I lift the signal phon the sticks will clear they might as well put the signal lever there so I can clear it myself

[citysig]

Jim, we know which room you refer to, and it has been gently brushed upon and I think we both know (and some others here could probably hazard a guess) which page of the reference manual they are on at that time

[frankpick]

q8 said:

Can signalmen/regulators still do what they could and ring you on a signal telephone? Earls Court/High Street/Gloucester Road/Sth Ken were the places that you mostly got that. They could do it anywhere where you were on the Earls Court diagram though. You'd be sitting at a red signal when all-of-a-sudden you'd hear bells. If you ignored the bells he'd flash the signal at you. In other words 'driver you are wanted'

On the Southern controlled lines past Turnham Green and Putney bridge the Bobby would 'wave' the semaphore arm to you if you were required to get in touch

Were'nt there some places with an illuminated "Come to Phone" when you were needed?

[Tom]

Yes. In the Baker St SCC area most (if not all) phones have come to phone signs.

[citysig]

Indeed, as I mentioned...

citysig said:

Fourth. The "call back" facility is available at some locations. All phones which come to us are meant to have it. Very few actually work.

The signs are mainly in the City area. Some signs work, but the phone doesn't; some phones work but the signs don't; and on good days, neither sign nor phone works ;D

Seriously though, the telephone condition isn't quite that bad. The majority of telephones get tested (either during incident or overnight) and the majority pass.

[Deleted]

the thing with turnham green might be another answer the timing for the programme machines does not work at that site for about 2 months now and the signalman insists in putting jobs on it every morning and because it does not work the programme machine roll does not rewind at 03:00 so the machine won;t even work in FCFS so they leave it for approx 1min then clear the stick in push button but roughly at 05:45 when we get there and we reset the roll its just left in FCFS