File:Train driver and conductor with electric staff, c1914(GN01931).jpg

The staff system component of electric signalling on railway lines was and is a crucial component of railway safety. One purpose was to prevent collisions on single line tracks. This image from the Railway Commissioner's report 1914 shows a train driver and conductor changing electric staffs for single line working. According to the press, the Commissioner reported in 1914 that 'no serious accident has occurred to a passenger for which the department could be held to blame.' The article went on: 'The electrical staff system is now in operation upon most of the more important single lines, so that precautions taken by these mechanical means leave the only cause of accident practically to the erring of the human factor in the system.' (Mail, 19 September 1914, p2) The electric staff system is a key component of electrical signalling on railway lines. Its purpose was to prevent collisions on single line tracks.

The electric staff system with a key safety component of electrical signalling on railway lines, a key purpose being to prevent collisions on single tracks. In 1914, the press quoted the Railway Commissioner's report which stated that 'no serious accident has occurred to a passenger for which the department could be held to blame.' The paper continued: 'The electric staff system is now in operation upon most of the most important single lines, so that precaustions taken by these mechanical means leave the only cause of accident practically to the erring of the human factor in the system.' (Mail, 19 September 1914, p8)