Can't imagine many youngsters will dream of being Engine Drivers any more. With automation and modern signalling taking away required human intervention, even if a human is retained notionally in the driving seat its going to be a pretty boring job
Having come across inadvertently the UK's only dedicated signalling and control facility, Seimens Mobility in Chippenham (formerly Westinghouse) who have the contract for such matters on the revival of "The Northumberland Line", Michael Portillo on one of his Train Journeys, visited Chippenham and went "inside the factory".
State of the Art signalling, and safe spacing and management of the trains using the tracks is now done on a "moving block" system which facilitates greater capacity of trainlines. Wiki has a wordy explanation, but there must be a short animation somewhere.
"In railway signalling, a moving block is a signalling block system where the blocks are defined in real time by computers as safe zones around each train. This requires both knowledge of the exact location and speed of all trains at any given time, and continual communication between the central signalling system and the train's cab signalling system. Moving block allows trains to run closer together (reduced headway) while maintaining required safety margins, thereby increasing the line's overall capacity."
Neil
