At about the same time, the "Super Continental" was stopped at Hinton. It departed five minutes late on the single track. As the "Super Continental" approached the start of the double track section, the dispatcher from the CTC lined the dual-control switch at Dalehurst at 8:29 am. to the south track. With this setting, the absolute three-aspect signal at the Dalehurst control point on the north line would be switched to "stop". The signal, which was about before the end of double-track, had three solid red lights. These would indicate an absolute "stop" to the freight train which must not proceed any further.