A few stories about my Time Working in Woodlawn Signal Cabin by Bridget Kelly
The most exciting time working in the signal cabin was when there was bad thunder and lightening. When the lightening would strike it would run along the wires leading to the signals and in turn came up to the signal levers inside the cabin and go from one to another in a bright spark effect. It all happened very quickly but looked really impressive at night, a bit scary too!
There were 2 signals which were 11/2 miles and 50-100 yards on both sides of the station. They had a green light and red light in them. They were used to let the train driver know if it was safe or not to pass into the station. There was a paraffin lamp in those signals so the driver could see them. The lamp was fixed in to a little box at the top of the signals which was reached by climbing up a narrow ladder. I had to walk out one and a half miles on both sides of the station with paraffin oil to clean and relight those lamps once a week. If the lights were not working the driver could not see if the signal was red or green.
In severe frost or snow the signal wires would freeze so I had to walk out the line with a green flag to direct the train into the station safely.
In severe storms it was very difficult to open and close the crossing gates but they had to be opened and closed to allow the train to pass. It would often take two people to open the gates in strong winds!