Livonia, Avon and Lakeville's Captive Signals

There's a concept in preservation that's analogous to the world of wildlife conservation. In the ideal scenario animals are present in and fully engaged with their natural ecosystem. Far less ideal is when they are in simulated ecosystems in zoos or similar managed preserves. The least desirable state is where the creature is stuffed and mounted in an exhibit, fixed in place and time. For vintage railroad signaling technology the ideal is when equipment is in active everyday service. Next best is when it is still functioning, but used mainly for display instead of operations. The least desirable is of course when the equipment is on display but otherwise dead. Unfortunately in the world of heritage railroading, the most common way to treat signaling equipment is the latter, often in the form of a line of vintage signals around the entrance or parking area. Sometimes lit, sometimes not, they're better than the alternative, but still just stuffed specimens. 

Every so often a heritage railroad will make the effort to get vintage signals or interlocking equipment into some kind of working order. Often times it is officially non-functional due to regulatory costs, while still effectively working as intended. I recently discovered that the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad, via the on-prem Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has been installing and activating a number of vintage signals. The specific ones that caught my eye were a pair of PC or Conrail era Michigan Central style small target searchlights that appear to have been salvaged from one of the CSX re-signaling efforts in former New York Central territory. One is a two offset head mast that can at least display a R/Y Restricting indication, while the other is a three offset head mast (used to display Y/R/G Approach Slow)  with an unknown indication repertoire. 

Around the museum station area is an active PRR position light on a cut down mast that was likely salvaged from the Buffalo Line during its recently de-signaling as well as some sort of home brew searchlit dwarf stack. 

While not on the level of the Reading and Northern that went as far to install fully functional main line CTC, the effort to install working signals in an approximation of their natural habitat is certainly appreciated.