Cyril Beuzeville Byles
Cyril Beuzeville Byles (1871-1952)
Cyril Beuzeville Byles was born at Blackburn, England on 17 August 1871, son of John Byles (1839-1901) a Congregational Minister (Unitarian from 1898) and Susan. John may have also been a merchant.
He went to school in London at Philological School, Marylebone, a school for ministers who had little money, and he then went to do some study Moravian School in Konigsfeld Baden (Germany) between August 1887 and December 1887. He then studied at Dresden (Germany) from February 1888 until he went to Reading. At Dresden he met his future wife, Ida Unwin.
Byles started as a trainee at the Great Western Railway Reading Signal Works in October 1888, apparently interested in signalling from boyhood. He moved to the drawing office in June 1890 and then to Teignmoputh in November 1892 to take charge of signalling the lines for gauge conversion, returning to Reading in March 1894. He was appointed an assistant signal engineer at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway in December 1897 and became Signal Engineer in May 1901, the youngest chief signal engineer in the UK.
Byles was a lecturer in railway economics at the University of Liverpool in 1907/8 and Victoria University Manchester in 1909. He wrote a book called “First Principles of Railway Signalling”, the first edition of which was produced in 1910 and the second edition after he had moved to Sydney. An important philosophy in the book was that the role of the signal engineer was to engineer out risk, to make the railway as safe as possible, but economics had to play a role. Safety was first priority.
The family sailed from Fishguard and he took up duties as Signal Expert on the New South Wales Railways on 25 March 1911. He was recruited to install the proposed automatic signalling on the approaches to Sydney and modernise the signalling on the NSWR. This came at an important time as there was severe congestion at the entry to Sydney yard due the large volume of passenger and goods trains trying to pass through “The Tunnel” – the Cleveland Street bridge.
He quickly installed auto signalling on the lines approaching Sydney, devised new standard signal indications to improve the train density, devised an economic method of installing automatic signalling on country main lines, standardised almost all the signalling equipment and had almost all of it made in the workshops. He introduced many modern practices from America, and his principles and practices formed the basis for practices and design principles up until recently.
Within a year or so of arriving he was given additional duties and was retitled Signal Engineer. In 1917 he took over the safeworking instruments from the Electrical Branch (block, tablet and electric staff). By 1919 more than 50% of the country double track main lines had an economical system of automatic signalling powered by batteries as reticulated electricity supply was rarely available.
He oversaw the installation of the signalling of the first underground railway in Australia and developed special designs so that the throughput of trains terminating at St James was greater than even that quoted for through stations on today’s auto Metro lines. In the 1930s at St James even with trains needing to be turned back and changing drivers, every day the number of trains passing through was up to 37 trains per hour. On his watch a new comprehensive set of workshops was erected at Chullora. By the mid to late 1920s the signalling on the NSWR was as good as most railways in world, certainly better than most in the UK.
The electrification of the Sydney suburban lines, construction of the City Underground Railway and the crossing the Harbour Bridge provided the opportunity to re-signal nearly every line with track circuits and mostly colour light automatic signalling to obtain the highest density likely to be required in the foreseeable future.
Orlando Brain approved his retirement on 28 August 1929 and was to clear his holidays but returned as Advisory Engineer on 19 December 1929. He was to work under his former Assistant, William Barton, but this did not work out, and he formally left on 4 July 1930 (not yet 60 years old), and was granted six months leave.
He did not want to retire, and he said as much at his retirement function. The family indicated that he defended a junior employee against a demand by a commissioner for the employee to be dismissed. It is said that he was not found in great favour by many officers as he was a vegetarian (not meat and three veg), did not smoke or imbibe alcohol. It could be said that he was an early greenie as he and Ida had one of the first houses at Palm Beach, 44 Sunrise Road, which could only be reached by boat from Brooklyn and Hawkesbury River Station. They purchased the property in Ida’s name in 1914, and it was held by the family until 1966. It was called Seawards as it had views of the ocean, and Barrenjoey light could be seen. He never owned a car and lived most of his life, from February 1913, in Sydney at Beecroft. Sometime after he retired, he had a small hut built down the back of the property and rented the main house out.
Byles was the organist at the Anglican church at Beecroft for many years. He was sacked when they discovered that he was of the Unitarian faith.
From about 1920 the three children went to University, Marie (1900-1979) did Law, and became the first female to practice law, David (1903-1985) studied Electrical Engineering and was involved with local government electricity generation and distribution, and Baldur (1905 - 1975) who studied Science/Forestry.
After he retired Byles made his first trip back to the UK where he was afforded special trains to go where he pleased. It was said that most signal engineers in the UK did not know how much work he had done and how advanced NSWR was.
Cyril Byles died on 12 November 1952. His ashes were scattered from Station West Box, and it is said that everything stopped in the yard as this happened.
Byles 1926 Paper on the signalling of the electrified railway.
Robert Taaffe
02 September 2024
