Editing Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway (section)

==Present operations==
[[File:Fictitious Rander Board of the Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway.jpg|thumb|right|A RANDER board, issued to a train's driver and guard by the duty controller.]]
Today, the railway is a popular visitor attraction in the Lake District, with the majority of its annual passenger numbers coming during the summer months. The entire single journey takes 40 minutes from end-to-end. Passengers can choose between open and covered seating, with some saloon coaches being fitted with heaters for the winter months. Disabled passengers and cycles can also be conveyed by the trains. The locomotives are {{frac|1|3}} scale models of mainline locomotives and are air-braked at 50 psi.<ref name="Ratty Album">{{cite book
 | title= The Ratty Album Volume 3
 | pages=3
 |author1=Andersen, Eliot |author2=Jenner, David. }}</ref> There are over a hundred regular volunteers that help with the running of the railways, which include guarding the trains, carriage shunting and selling tickets at the major intermediate stations along the route.

===Signalling system===
[[File:Signal box, Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, Ravenglass - geograph.org.uk - 1332056.jpg|thumb|Signal box, Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway]]
[[File:Signals and crossover at the Ravenglass ^ Eskdale Railway - geograph.org.uk - 5900799.jpg|thumb|Signals and crossover at Ravenglass]]
The railway uses the ''Radio Control Train Order'' signalling system. Outside Ravenglass station, the line is single track with passing loops at Miteside, Irton Road and Fisherground. Trains operate by radio communication between drivers and at Ravenglass [[signal box]]. At passing loops and the terminus station, drivers contact the controller, using "RANDER" reporting numbers (even numbers for up trains, and odd for down), to indicate that the train is within the loop and is clear of the preceding single track. To leave the loop, the driver contacts control to gain authorisation to enter the next single track section. No semaphore [[Railway semaphore signal|signals]] are used outside Ravenglass station. Points at passing loops are weighted with direction indicators, meaning that no human intervention is required and the points reset themselves automatically after the passage of a train when entering the points from a trailing direction when the points are set for the other rail line.

Elements of the operation were used by British Rail to cut costs on remote lines. What became known as [[Radio Electronic Token Block]] signalling shared features with the Ratty, such as centralised control, automatic points at loops, and on-train equipment rather than fixed equipment at remote locations.

On peak days in the summer months, two trains depart each end of the line per hour. Capacity on the railway allows for a service run at 20-minute intervals.

===Ownership===
The railway company is in common ownership with the [[Ullswater 'Steamers']], a company that operates lake cruises on [[Ullswater]] in the north-eastern part of the Lake District. Both companies form part of the Lake District Estates group, which also owns various tourist oriented properties in the area, and is controlled by Lord Wakefield's descendants.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.lakedistrictestates.com/attractions-and-events/ | title = Visitor Attractions & Events | publisher = Lake District Estates | access-date = 24 June 2016 | archive-date = 24 June 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160624145129/http://www.lakedistrictestates.com/attractions-and-events/ | url-status = live}}</ref>