Signals are a very important piece of infrastructure in Whitecoast City Railway. Their primary purpose is to prevent trains from crashing into each other or occupying the same section (also known as a block) of track at the same time.
Description[]
A signal is an indicator that displays the status of the block ahead using a set of lights. The most common signals found in game are the Four-Aspect Signal, a signal with four lights which can be mounted on either a gantry or a pole, and the shunt signal, a signal with 3 lights which are found in sidings and depots and are mounted to the ground.
Four-Aspect Signal[]
This is the main signal in game. It has four lights (one red, one green and two yellow lights) and four different aspects: Danger, Caution, Preliminary Caution and Proceed. Below is a diagram of a railway with four-aspect signals and a train on the line, showing all the different aspects of the signal.
Danger[]
This is shown by a single red light (which is the lowest light of the signal.) If this aspect is shown, it means there is a train occupying the next block ( and that the driver must come to a complete halt in front of the signal and wait until the signal aspect changes for driver to continue.
Caution[]
This is shown by a single yellow light (which is the second-lowest light of the signal.) If this aspect is shown, it means the next signal will be Danger or that there will be a buffer soon and that the train must slow down to half the line speed (if the line speed is 100 mph and the next signal is yellow, the driver must slow down to 50 mph) unless there will be a buffer soon. Also, unless there are no signals after it, the Automatic Warning System will activate it and the driver must respond to it quickly.
Preliminary Caution[]
This is shown by two yellow lights (which is the second-lowest and the highest lights of the signal.) If this aspect is shown, it means the next signal will be Caution and that the driver can continue at line speed but they must prepare to slow down to half the line speed. Also, unless there are no signals after it, the Automatic Warning System will activate it and the driver must respond to it quickly.
Proceed[]
This is shown by a single green light (which is the second-highest light of the signal.) If this aspect is shown, it means at least three blocks are clear and the driver can continue to drive at line speed.
Shunt Signals[]
Shunt signals are the second-most common signal in the game. They are triangular-shaped and are usually found in Depots and Sidings, mounted to the ground. It has three lights in a triangular formation (1 red, 1 white and 1 red and white light) and two aspects, Danger and Proceed.
Danger[]
This is shown by two red lights. If this aspect is shown, it means there is a train occupying the next block (and that the driver must come to a complete halt in front of the signal and wait until the signal aspect changes for driver to continue.
Proceed[]
This is shown by a two white lights. If this aspect is shown, it means the next block is clear and the driver can proceed and join the mainline, but the driver should be wary of any other signals and that they should stop if necessary.
Additional Indicators[]
There are other Additional Indicators that can be added with the Four-Aspect Signal. These are the Feather Signal and the Alphanumeric Route Indicator.
Feather Signal[]
Signal R010, with the feather indicator lighting up.
These signals have one or two rows of lights in a feather-like shape above the signal. These signals are located at track junctions. If a train is close enough to the junction, one of the rows of lights will light up, depending on where the train is heading (If the train on the diagram is heading left, the row of light on the lights on the left will activate.) On some signal, the "feather" will remain active until a train passes the signal.
Diagram of a feather signal.
Alphanumerical Routes Indicators[]
Signal W065 displaying the number 2. This means the train will arrive at Platform 2.
An Alphanumerical Route Indicator is a dot-matrix screen that is attached to a signal. Like feather signals, they are found near junctions but these indicators are rarer. The screens display a letter or number which determines which route the train will take or which platform the train will terminate at respectively. Similar to some feather signals, some Alphanumerical Indicators constantly display a number/letter and only change once a train is approaching while others only active once a train is nearby.
Semaphore Signal[]
Semaphore signals are an older type of signal with involve an "arm" or "arms" used to display aspects. A yellow arm can sometimes be placed under the red arm to display a Caution aspect. There are currently only two of these signals in game and both of these are not in use. These signals can be found on the heritage line near Kai Natural Park. A development update in the Discord confirmed that Semaphore signals will be functional and will be used on the mainlines in Version 1.1.[1]