WEBB-THOMPSON ROD OF THE ENGINE DRIVER

Rod operated system of traffic control, intended to prevent collisions on single-track roads, was suggested in 1849 by English engineer Henry Woodhouse. Later this system became electric.
The train driver would receive the rod with the prescribed points of ride. The rod would be extracted from the electric rod unit by rotating combination locks. Two similar units connected by wires were installed at the stations on the opposite ends of the segment. Until the rod delivered by the driver was inserted in the receiver at the destination station the system remained blocked disabling operation of trains on that segment of the railroad. Each segment was assigned with specific rods with a certain combination and shape of rings and serial number that made impossible to use rods from other segments.
In the end of XIX and the beginning of XX Centuries in Russia were used English electric rod units by Webb-Thompson.