Why do some British trains still rely on old levers?

I can see why he is the trainer. He explains how it all works beautifully. Great video.

Usually was not good enough for us here in Greece, we had to let the whole thing decay to the point that nothing worked and that caused a passenger train and a freight train, likely carrying dangerous substances illegally, collided with one another, killing 57, injuring heavily 81, and lightly 99. The infamous Tempi train crash. Many of the dead were kids, students, returning home, or returning to campus. Train crashes are a very sore topic here atm.

I saw trains and my neurons activated

It's good for old equipment to still be in use. The goal should be to build infrastructure that is reliable enough to last a hundred years, rather than replace it every ten.

I love how Tom was instructed to always use two hands when moving the levers and then when they went to watch an actual operator in action that operator was just casually flinging the levers with 2-3 fingers 😂

Those two hour nonstop shifts with actions taking place every thirty seconds actually sound like some kind of hell.

You want to be with Tom when the Apocalypse hits because he's received basic training in bloody everything.

I went through signalling school 3 years ago and am now happily working a lever frame signal box. Best job in the world!

Absolutely here for Tom Scott’s “health and safety is brilliant” arc.

As a heritage signaller, I enjoyed this video. Thanks for highlighting possibly one of the most underrated engineering developments this country has ever produced. It was a career opportunity missed for me, but I am fortunate to be able to do it at a heritage railway.

"Unless you can see the train, you can't be certain" schrodinger's train

I'm a mainline driver and one of my routes passes through the control of 7 signal boxes in around 40 minutes. We visited a signal box during my driver training and it was fascinating to see how much goes in just to keep us moving. I'll remind myself of this video next time I get annoyed when a signaller doesn't clear the road quick enough for my liking 😅

I would have been disappointed if a Tom Scott doing a tour of the UK did not feature an episode on trains!

Thank you Tom!

Trainer: you must use two hands to move the signals.

Signalman: uses one finger

As someone who works in the railways (albeit safely in HQ, you won't see me messing with signals any time soon!) I've always loved Tom's deep respect for each task he does. A lesser man would've taken it for granted that he'd be allowed to change the signals on the live railway, and not been anywhere near as thankful afterwards.

He said 'ten years of signalling school' and my eyes nearly shot out of my skull

As someone who has JUST finished signalling school, this was awesome to watch! The training is so long and important, not just because there's a lot to know, but because you need to be 100% competent before you even start the job proper. We learn multiple topics every day for weeks till we can almost recite those rulebooks word for word and perform the actions and comms that go with them!

Im actually in a third group where I think trains are cool but don't care enough to be obsessed

Kept waiting for the guide to say "pull the lever, Tom!" only to have a trapdoor open under him, shouting "wrong lever!" as he falls into a pit.

Update, 19th June 2026: Given the news of the crash near Bedford today, I've paused comments on this video. My thoughts go out to everyone involved, and to the emergency services personnel who are on the scene.