I've been working as a flagman in Vic for the past few yrs and I'm also a
>electronics tech.
>A recent incident prompted me to start designing a type of torch that uses
>LEDs that will change colour at the flick of a switch (red, green, yellow
>and white) instead of the silly coloured lenses with velcro that we are
>using now.
>There are torches comercialy available at the moment that will do this,
>but they are not approved for use as they use a rechargable battery that
>can't be removed, so if it goes flat half way through a shift you're in
>the poo.
>I'm told that using a yellow torch/flag when we set up standard protection
>is a fairly recent inovation (it used to be a white flag/torch) and is only
>done in Victoria. Is that correct?
There are a lot of train crews who now carry tri-colour LED torches. CityRail bought a large load of them early last year to issue to crews. I would assume other rail operators are looking at the same sort of thing as alternative to existing torches that are bulky, chew batteries, and break easily.
The normal ones are only white/green/red though I suppose it would not be difficult to come up with a combo including yellow to suit the intended usage.
Craig.