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Monday, January 14, 2019

Signal Videos from the 70's, 80's and Beyond

I don't tend to seek out railroad compilation videos, even historic.  They typically consist of about 10-20 cuts of some freight train passing with various "heritage" units on grainy VHS.  Any signal or interlocking content is fleeting and involves sorting through a lot of cruft.  Well after a recent content drop in the later two months of 2018, the Railroad Media Archive has become a major exception to the rule. I first noticed it earlier in the year when it posted 17 minutes of color 8 or 16mm film from a PRR cab ride between Columbus and Cincinnati on a route that is now mostly a rail train.  Signals and interlockings are definitely the focus and one can really see how properly focused PRR Amber Position Lights really pop.  At Cincinatti the person even got some footage in the still active Tower A.



There is also posted two explicit interlocking tower videos that have all sorts of interior video demonstrations of interlocking machines including one off-brand pistol grip machine from the B&O/EL Sterling tower that I had even never seen before.  The operation of the machine even comes with sync sound!  A real feat in the age of film. There are a whole bunch of other towers covered with demonstrations of CTC machines, table interlockers, mechanical lever plants and even the GRS N-X machine at F Tower in Fostoria.





There is another video that exclusively deals with the old NS tower in Lima Ohio, including a demo of the US&S Style S machine there.



Finally this guy seemed to be in the right place at the right time, even up into the 1990's with video of SO interlocking in South Fork PA just before the tower was closed and a ride in a Capitol Limited dome car as is traversed the Conrail raceway into Chicago between HICK tower and ENGLEWOOD with all of the old school PRR and NYC signaling still in place.





Like I said, you won't be disappointed. Check out all this guy's stuff. Be warned, it might make you a little sad to see how much amazing retro technology has been lost since just the 1990's :-(

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