Old railway manuals contain a vast fund of data giving precise details of how the railways are actually run. The rail heritage enthusiast is sure to have come across such names as General and Subsidiary Rules, Accident Manual, Block Working Manual, Permanent Way Manual, and Signal Engineering Manual. Below we have scans from an old Way and Works Manual. The subject matter of this book is amazing—it begins with the duties of Engineers and Permanent Way Inspectors and goes on to describe procedures as varied as track renewal and re-alignment of curves, testing of railway track with Hallade Track Recorders, maintenance of tunnels, bridges and turntables, engineering indicators, railway surveys, the working of ballast trains, and several other topics besides.
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This post shows scans of a chapter called ‘Stations and Yards’. The year of publication is unconfirmed but, as a reading of the text will show, this manual was issued at a time when pull-punkahs were in use and wayside stations lit with oil.
