Welcome to the Trains Trivia of the Week thread.
Every Wednesday we will ask you a question here related to trains, and you will have a week to answer the question. Next Wednesday, we will update the previous week's answer and put in a new question again. You can use this thread to discuss your answers.
If you have a trivia question which you want to be featured in this section, email it through to
trainznews@n3vgames.com along with the answer.
So you are a ferroequinologist......right?
Last week's answer:
A ‘staff and ticket’ safe working system uses a ‘staff’ as a token to permit a train into a section of rail line. As only one staff will exist for a particular section of rail line, you will need a way of bringing the staff back to send a train in the same direction again. This either requires a returning train, or requires the staff to be returned by road to the originating station.
So as to allow two trains to travel in the same direction, a ‘ticket’ can be used in place of the staff. The ‘ticket’ will have the train information written on it (most tickets are printed with boxes for this information), and will be stored in a box that can only be unlocked using the staff (this ensures the tickets can only be accessed when the staff is available at that station). When the crew receive the ticket, they must also see that the staff is available for the same section of line, so as to ensure that another train is not in the section.
So as to ensure that no two trains are in the same section, the signalman must have received a message from the next station to inform him that the previous train has cleared the section of line. Other rules also prevent this situation occurring.
Tickets are rarely used on mainline railways, however the ‘staff’ system is still in use in some locations. On busy rail lines, the ‘staff and ticket’ system was replaced by ‘electric staff’ systems, which had multiple staffs locked in a unit, which was electrically linked to an identical unit at the other end of the section. This allowed multiple trains in the same direction, but only allowed one staff to be removed at a time.
This week's question:
Where is the longest straight stretch of railway located?
It is located In Australia, between Port Augusta in SA and Kalgoorlie in WA - across the Nullabor Plain.