Archived report · 2 min read · Set in Ostrova ·
The Clock of the Vallis Station
A maintenance inspection of the platform clock at Vallis Station finds the hands moving backward by exactly the length of each passing train, and the timetable board beside it has begun to list departures for trains that were cancelled years earlier.
- filed: Filed with the rail infrastructure register
- reference: PC/VS/16
Subject: platform clock, Vallis Station, platform 2. Electric motor movement, 1932, with synchronised slave dials.
1. The clock was installed when the station was rebuilt in 1932. It is a single-face dial with a brass casing and a radiant white enamel surface. It was last serviced in 2018 and has been reporting correctly against the master clock at the signal box.
2. The inspection was carried out in the early afternoon, with the platform open and trains running normally. Timing was checked against the signal box master at 13:00, 13:15, and 13:30.
3. At 13:00 the clock read the correct time. At 13:07 a service train departed from platform 2 and passed the clock at a speed of approximately 40 kilometres per hour. At 13:08 the clock was read again. It showed 12:59.
4. The clock was observed over the afternoon. Each passing train caused the hands to move back by an interval that matched the length of the train in seconds, to within one second. The effect did not occur with empty trains or with trains passing on the other platform.
5. Between trains, the clock ran correctly. The error was recovered each time the platform was clear, so that the reading at each full hour matched the master clock.
6. The timetable board on the opposite wall of the platform, which is operated by a separate system, was checked against the current working timetable. It listed three departures for the 16:40, 17:05 and 18:12 services. None of these services is in the working timetable. The three services were withdrawn in 1967 following the closure of the Vallis branch line.
7. Recommendation: the clock to be recalibrated and the timetable board to be reset. The board was reset in the morning. By the afternoon, it had again listed the three withdrawn services, with a fourth added at 19:30.
8. Observation not explained by the survey: the fourth service, the 19:30, is listed with a single passenger note in the margin of the board, in small neat capitals: *RESERVED FOR THE SURVEYOR. NO TICKET NEEDED.*