Melbourne Suburban Train Destination Codes

From the beginning of electric operation in 1919 until the mid 1990's, Melbourne suburban trains used a code of metal discs and white marker lights (known as Distinguishing Head Signals) to show what line they were running on. The system allowed signallers to quickly visually identify a train as it approached, ensure the correct route would be set. The discs were used by day, and the lights by night - it is worth noting that in some examples, all three lights are turned off. The codes changed a number of times over the years, and I have made this video referencing them as they appear in the 1953 VR General Appendix, also noting changes made in the 1979 edition.

Some elements of the system make intuitive sense, for instance trains approaching Clifton Hill showed the right-hand light for Hurstbridge, middle light for Thomastown and left-hand light for the Inner Circle - which reflects the geographic layout of the junctions. Others make less sense, for instance Lilydale, Upper Ferntree Gully and Alamein all used the same combination (although Alamein later got a different one) making them seemingly meaningless to signallers at Camberwell or Ringwood.

This system was only ever used on suburban passenger trains, and electric parcels vans. Surprisingly no other trains in the suburban area were required to display them, not even suburban goods trains.

As I didn't exist in the 80's and didn't take any photos in the 90's, my photographs used in this video are all from the modern era. The pictures of the Tait and Swingdoor sets are from Elecrail tours in the early 2000's, the pictures of the three car Hitachi were from a railfan tour in 2003. The main image showing the different combinations is double ended Tait motor car 470M at Newport Workshops. Note that 470M is preserved in late 70's condition, and therefor would never have looked like this while travelling to Kew or the Inner Circle. The images are for demonstration purposes only.

You can view the relevant section of the 1953 General Appendix on Marcus Wong's site here: https://raildocs.wongm.com/suburban-t...

You can view a copy of the 1979 General Appendix here (Scroll down 77 pages for the relevant section): http://www.victorianrailways.net/sign...

Music is from www.bensound.com