Semi automatic signals on LU.

The closest analogue to this would be the use of a king lever to hold the stick relays, so that the signal levers could be left in reverse and the signalling worked automatically by the track circuits. As far as I know LU signalling never allowed individual signals to be set in this fashion; it was either all of the controlled signals at a site or all of the controlled signals for one direction of travel.

AIUI, on LU 'controlled' and 'semi-auto' signals are one and the same thing, but on Network Rail lines they are 2 separate things, with a semi auto being closer in operation to a full automatic signal.

On NR, the semi's are used in areas where the likes of groundframes are found. This allows drivers with no contact to the signaller to pass these signals at danger (as at an auto) as long as the driver has first confirmed the groundframe is locked and the points are set in the correct route. If this were a controlled signal, and you have no contact you would sit there until someone came to you.

All signals with anything other than an A or S are to treated as semis. So this includes all X signals, with whatever letters preceed the X (various combinations are used to indicate what the X signal's purpose is- be that protecting a possession or protecting the entrance to a controlled area.

Yep I'd say it is worrying but I do wonder where this 'LU TO' is based.
Are Tube Lines TOs now officially LU once more? There are TOs and TOs of course, some are really only in it for the salary these days whereas as many of us were dedicated professionals in our day taking a keen interest in all aspects of the job but particularly knowing the ins, outs and quirks of of own 'patches' and teaching ourselves all that was not taught to us on the lineman's course. My 'patch' was a line and a half working out of up to 6 depots and the control room, I missed the earlier days where the AET was the local 'God' and tended to stay predominantly in one area moving only to gain a better permanency.

If the 'LU TO' refered to is based on the JLE he may well have had a very sheltered life unlike those of us who moved around the job in the days preceeding line based maintenance and worked in several disciplines before becoming signal linemen.

Indeed. So if Earls Court signal EC8 is protected by draw-up signal EC800, are both semi-automatic?

Well of course they "are" as far as the rules are concerned.

But are there separate buttons for each signal?
Can the signaller clear EC8 and leave EC800 at danger?
Can EC800 be cleared to green with EC8 at red?

In reality, barring failures, EC800 will always automatically clear to yellow as long as the approaching train reduces speed low enough to operate the timing section (or will be green anyway if EC8 is green). No is there any risk of collision as the converging junction is beyond EC8, not EC800.

So for many years signals like these were habitually regarded as "autos" and not reported if "hit", or were only reported after resetting the trip and fully berthing the train "to minimise delay".

By the late-1990s the application of the rules had been tightened up, as many long-standing drivers found out to their cost.

Yet even in 2010 I still hear of people overrunning these draw-ups and then carrying on; a sure-fire way of losing a driver's job!

Sadly, they're [TLL] staff aren't even getting Staff Passes. Even London bus contractors' operators get them (well their version).

AIUI they will see which set up is better, TLL or LUL CMO, then decide what to do.

Interesting, my understanding from former colleagues who were transferred from LU to Metronet is that all their staff were issued passes etc when taken back into the fold, so basically the conditions for all new recruits improved wholesale whereas the former LU employees had retained their passes etc under TUPE
anyway.
No doubt a large proportion of Tube Lines staff already have staff passes anyway as we retained them under TUPE along with pension rights etc. when transferred.

CMO, COO are unknown acronyms to me but I'm now in my sixth year of retirement and I guess a great many things have changed.

Point taken, however, I'd be surprised if you'd lose indications of floodgates, I believe that when floodgates were secured open the indications were also bridged though I stand to be corrected on that.
The floodgate relay rooms in particular were it seems not subject to the same maintenance and routine change replacement regime as the rest of the safety signalling due no doubt to floodgates being secured open. However, the relays remain in the signal selections of course. The last floodgate relay room that I entered was the one at Green Park to change a delta relay as I recall, prior to that I had occasion to work at the Liverpool Street and Moorgate floodgate relay rooms and in all cases most of the relays were up to 30 or 40 years old. Russell Square floodgate relay room was in such poor shape due to wire degradation that it was rewired about 7 or 8 years ago IIRC. Floodgate control cables remain in situ AFAIK but most of the dedicated direct line Floodgate telephone system has been removed or abandoned to disrepair over the last two or three decades. I have no idea what the current state of the Bull & Bush floodgate control room is nowadays, I haven't been near or by it in 25 years. I would say that floodgates are one of the most grey areas of signalling.

I wouldn't blame anyone for not wanting to touch anything in a floodgate relay room. When I changed the delta relay at Green Park a few years ago I was more careful than usual when lifting and replacing the relay top as the wiring looked rather brittle. I would say from a wiring standpoint the floodgate relay rooms are now perhaps the oldest unaltered equipment rooms closely followed by the older tunnel telephone relay rooms which have seen the odd modification. I think the first floodgate relay room that I entered would have been at Kennington in 1977 and my recollection is that it was like a sauna deep in the bowels of the station down some tight stairways and passageways where one would normally expect a much lower ambient temperature. The room was so small that it was a struggle or two individuals to enter and close the door not that one would want to. I recall the illuminated track diagram as being very browned with the heat.

Again as for the Bull & Bush my belief is that its floodgate control lines remain mostly intact throughout the combine in dedicated cables terminated in 'bathtub type' dis boxes down both branches of the Northern Line but that when the floodgates were secured open the local control lines were isolated and in some cases cut back. Floodgates have been a bit of an issue for years with no-one really wanting to make a decision either to maintain them as operational or to remove the controls permanently. 20 years ago the same was true of the floodgate telephones and I remember the complications of removing the Liverpool Street ones when the old Central line end of platform relay room was being demolished to make way for the new escalator shaft following the Broadgate development. In the end somebody 'upstairs' made a decision not to reinstate them, on the other hand at Old Street I cut out the 20 pair floodgate telephone cable to Moorgate during the relining works and then reinstated it afterwards following another 'upstairs' decision.

I have to say though that it is always wise to leave well alone unless one knows what's what or has explicit authority to interfere. Many years ago when I was a fresh chargehand on Comms Installation one of the supervisors asked to borrow my fitter and to ensure that he had a hacksaw. My fitter returned a couple of hours later sweating over the job he had been given because all the time he was sawing through the 6" diameter cable form of a rack, as instructed and under supervision by two Inspectors, it was arcing. The rack was the old master clock rack in what was then called Transad House over Leicester Square station (Cranbourne Chambers these days) which was supposed to be dead even though it was still powered. ISTR that it took almost a week to localise and repair the damage to the clock distribution system!