A blog devoted to explaining the ins and outs of North American railroad signaling, past, present and future. This blog seeks to preserve through photo documentation the great diversity and technical ingenuity of 20th century signaling and interlocking hardware and technology. Related topics cover interlocking towers and railroad communications infrastructure.
Note, due to a web hosting failure some of the photos and links may be unavailable.
Preserved, along with the semaphores, because of the only use of the line is for Amtrak Trains 3 and 4, the Southwests Chief and, until recently, the route was under perpetual threat of abandonment. With additional funding obtained to keep the Chief routed through southern Colorado, BNSF is engaged in a slow process of replacing the traditional signaling elements.
Although the Delhi Wig Wag will join several other Wig Wags in various states of preservation in museums and on tourist lines across the country, it was the last example operating on a railroad main line with signaling and high speed operation.A cursory search of Youtube shows a number of others in various states of operation scattered around California and, until December 2020, Wisconsin.
Don’t forget the Van Ness wigwag which was also restored! (Motor was dead for 2 years, they finally fixed it a few weeks ago) pic.twitter.com/mzRrE5C4rY
If you are into technology connections, Wig Wags represent the general lag in display technology that was also seen in the audio visual world. Electric power was limited, long life bulbs weren't very bright so electro-mechanical systems that moved a thing were the best way to get people attention in daylight. From a time where any grade crossing protection that wasn't some dude with a flag was cutting edge technology, the Wing Wag has joined other vintage railroad technologies that today live on only in museums or literal backwaters.
After a long period of not much going on I recently uncovered a bunch of signaling new, little of it good. First off, the last pure ATSF signal bridge on the BNSF 3-track raceway out of LA is beingreplaced by a traffic light cantilever. The signal bridge, which supports 6, two head US&S H-2 searchlights, is located in Riverside and sees joint UP, BNSF operation. Although the ATSF bridge was modernized with new concrete footings and the signal location was equipped for PTC, something still managed to upset the powers that be. Other searchlit locations on the San Bernardino sub appear to be unaffected.
Moving over to the east, the ex.NKP KM interlocking in Vermillion, OH is in the midst of a slow motion re-signaling as its US&S elephant ears are being replaced a mix of current NS signals and an a non-Darth traffic light that appears to have been pulled from the parts bin. The replacement mast was dropped off on or before mid-2019 and has been recently installed so if you live in the area document the old mast while you can.
Finally, after many many years and false starts, new signals are going up on the BNSF/ATSF/Southwest Chief Rtaon pass route to replace the elderly semaphores. I guess this is good for the future of the Chief, but bad for the future of semaphores :-( The photo I have is from Colmor, but I have to assume this is part of a general re-signaling effort.
The only bit of good news I have today is that at this point in time, the main PLs at ARSENAL interlocking have survived the major SEPTA track project of May 2020 that installed a new interlocking south of University City station. So there's that. š¤·
Where railroad signals are involved there are two schools of thought. Should I stay or should I go? Usually this is pretty clear cut, but where Red signals are involved sometimes one should kind of do both. Back in the day in North America, there were long stretches of railroad that were literally out of all communication. A minor failure of some kind could leave a train stranded with no means of proceeding for perhaps hours. Therefore signals not protecting against a conflicting movement or other crash inducing hazard were defined as being permissive in that trains could pass them at slow speed and proceed until a more favorable signal indication was passed. Of course with three standards colors (R,Y,G) and signal heads only capable of displaying 2 or 3 aspects, railroads needed to get creative in how they indicated which signals could be passed, and which could not.
The first solution was to use the color and shape of a semaphore blade to define the type of signal and the rules involved. Absolute signals were painted red with a squared off end while distant signals were given a fishtail end and painted yellow. When permissive automatics came on the scene the fishtail was inverted into a point with the yellow background and black band remaining.
Of course semaphore signals are only disable during conditions of daylight. For the nighttime a marker light was applied below the main head. Also popular on position light signals, marker lights were the common way to define an automatic in the position/semaphore systems. Although there were the occasional exception of using a marker to denote an absolute signal (I'm looking at you N&W), more often the markers were used to make absolute signals that could be switched to act like a permissive signal.
Alright, you have your marker, but what if you also have absolute signals with more than one head. It's possible to mistake the marker for a lower absolute head in the darkness, even if the marker was smaller. One solution would be to use a yellow or lunar marker, but back in the day railroads still wanted a distinction between Stop and Proceed and a rolling Restricting. The solution was to offset the signal heads, using the relative position to convey the permissive meaning.
At this point someone realized that maybe they should just tell the crews that a signal was permissive. In the United States a number of railroads, typically in the South, adopted the (P) board for "Permissive".
Canadian railroads, on the other hand, have gone with a [R] Board for Restricting.
Of course the easiest/cheapest solution was to simply use the milepost number plate, useful in defining the particular the signal location, to also indicate a permissive status. Now milepost number plates have been around since the dawn of the automatic signal era with Hall Banjo, so why the need for markers and offset heads? Well reflector technology was pretty primitive up until the 1960's, either consisting of white paint with a bit of glass or glass cats eye jewels. Film plastic reflectors was what gave the railroads assurance that the number plate would be distinguishable at sufficient distance at night (at least when they still cared about such things).
Of course one outlier from the whole number plate system is Canada where offset heads or [R] boards are used instead. In fact, virtually all signals, absolute and permissive, come with a number plate denoting either the milepost or signal (lever) designation.
I'm sure for many of you this was pretty basic information, but these pages tend to come up in Google searches so its nice to have a comprehensive guide to the North American way of distinguishing permissive signals from absolute signals. The same distinctions also apply overseas, but there most countries have more unified sets of signal rules.
So while this is a rail signaling blog and not a railfan video blog, sometime I like to highlight sets of videos that really show off the signaling. Recently YouTube suggested a number of grainy 8 or 16mm film film compilations taken out the front of old school British DMU's running on long since defunct branch lines.
The videos were posted by the appropriately British sounding Alen Snowdon and were narrated by his wife. Due to the limitations of old school home film recording, the clips are all about 3-5 seconds long and show only a fraction of the route. However this fraction contains a large proportion of the signalboxes and signaling apparatus that the train passes. It's sort of like one of those low frame rate fast motion videos, only the frames are a few seconds of every passing semaphore signals.
Not all of the videos are cab rides or even rail related, but the ones that are, are a wonderfun time capsule showing the anachronistic state of the British rail network in the 1960's. Thanks to two World Wars even the main lines were stuck in he Victorian era, with very little power signaling and steam hauled trains galore. Just before the infamous Beeching Cuts, the branch line infrastructure is absolutely decrepit, sort of like how the Amtrak Harrisburg Line and Conrail in general looked in the 1970's and 80's.
Also worth noting is the astonishing level of employees needing to keep these old branch lines in operation with both signalmen and station agents working every 1-3 miles along the line. It is interesting that instead of cuts British Rail didn't simply try massive cost reductions like CTC or even ABS!
There's even a little main line action out of london, although one would never know it due to the state of disrepair. Also note the high quality railfan view despite a full width cab. Anyway, enjoy the videos, they aren't hours long and the archive isn't intimidating.
In Europe, mechanical signaling is still quite common. Paired with the manual block system, all or nearly all-mechanical interlocking towers control thousands of miles of main line track. However in North America, the all-mechanical tower, that is with semaphore signals controlled directly by levers and pipeline, is virtually unheard of . Yes examples can be found at drawbridges and diamond crossings on low density track, but the difference is quite stark. Part of the reason is the general incompatibility of automatic block and mechanical signals. Manual block was much less popular in North American than in Europe. The other reason had to do with a number of ICC regulations that required signals to be interlocked with train detection (read track circuits) and that signals be electrically interlocked with point detectors.
You can imagine my surprise when I discovered Neilson Jct in Neilson, IL to have a set of fully mechanical signals controlling a manual block style junction with non-Restricted speed movements. Now RR Signal Pics does a great job providing basic details about Neilson, but I just wanted to not only call attention to that page, but also to a set of videos that have been on Youtube since 2011, but due to poor use of keywords, does not appear on most interlocking tower or signaling related searches.
For a single switch between two secondary tracks, Neilson has a surprising number of levers. First, just like in British practice, each former C&EI distant has its own lever. Second, each of the southbound signals are connected to derails which also come with a facing point lock. Finally, the 12 lever operated a mechanical timer that I assume provides approach locking in the absence of track circuits.
The northbound home signal handled the route route selection issue by having two semaphore heads, each controlled by a different lever and indicating one of the two routes. Of course the straight route semaphore was for the C&EI and the lower diverging route semaphore for the BN.
Aside from the British style of operation, what really puzzles me is how such a tower survived up through 1989. Checking Google Earth it appears the single junction switch was replaced by a hand operated type and that the line is un-signaled.
Basically just watch the 7 videos and read up on the RR
Signal Pix page. I'm just trying to call attention to an historical
oddity that is in need of some help with discoverability :-)
With electro-mechanical interlocking machines in terminal decline on North American main line railroads, the NYC Subway stood out as a bastion of classic signaling with more GRS Model 5's and US&S Model 14's than could be found throughout the entirety of the "real" railroad network stretching from coast to coast. Unfortunately, this appears to be coming to an end. Last I addressed this subject the system had just closed two towers at 4th Ave and Church Ave on the Prospect Park Line. This week I learned that three additional towers have closed on the Queens Boulevard line with one to follow shortly.
First I need to catch up on some old news. Way back in 2013 the NYCTA
closed the fishbown 5th Ave tower that worked the junction between the
Queens Boulevard the 6th Ave trunks. This tower was notable for being
able to watch the operator line up alternating straight and diverging
movements between E and M/V trains on a 40 lever GRS Model 5.
The Queens Plaza complex had already been re-signaled in support of the 63rd St connection, but just past it was the Roosevelt Ave crossover complex with another GRS Model 5 equipped tower at the east end of the eastbound platform. Only open as needed, I got some photos of the 60 lever machine back in December of 2015 after someone had left the lights on. I had known that the Queens Boulevard was on track for a CBTC capable re-signaling project, but I had expected that to take years if not decades to complete. Unfortunately I just found out that the tower closed less than a year after :-(
After Roosevelt the normally GRS equipped IND line enters US&S country. Although hard to get photos of due to the presence of a manned dispatch booth, the Continental Ave tower held an 83 lever US&S Model 14 that was also visible from the platform. This interlocking contains not only crossovers, but access to Jamaica Yard from the west. I just learned that its duties were recently transferred to a new N-X style area interlocking panel located in somewhere in the station.
Union Turnpike tower contains a 43 lever US&S machine and mirrors Continental Ave's function for trains accessing the yard from the east. Apparently this tower is still open, but will close soon. For sch a complex signaling project that involved at least a wiff of CTBC I really expected it to take many more years than it did :-(
I'd say I should have tried to get more photos, but the paranoid staff I really did the best I could. As I learned from Church Ave, it's really tough to provide a good "feel" for old NYC Subway towers since there is just so much that is behind the scenes.
In related news, I also got word that the PATH smashboards protecting
the DOCK drawbridge at Harrison have been removed. This was not
unexpected as both the DOCK complex and PATH in general are being
re-signaled. It's a shame that the smashboards did not make the cut as
PATH is keeping its pneumatic trips and switches, but in the age of CBTC
there probably isn't as much of a need to get in the operator's face.
Anyway, sorry for the bad news. Visit NYC while the towers last!
Not sure how I missed these gems. Both of these videos have been on Youtube for a number of months and I am just getting to them now. The first is an old school video tour of the B&OCT 75th St tower shortly before it closed in 1996. This was one of the last major "all mechanical" interlocking plants that even had a number of mechanically worked signals. It was located on the joint B&OCT/PRR Panhandle trunk line that snaked its way up along the western part of the city through Dolton Jct, Brighton Park, Ash Street and many other complex crossings and junctions.
By 1996, the PRR was gone, both both the Wabash and Belt Railway crossings were in place. The videos shows movements passing by the tower, but also the operator manipulating the 132 lever S&F mechanical frame. One interesting thing to note is how the facing point lock levers were stored in the unlocked position, instead of locked as seen at most other North American towers. Make sure you have some time booked, because even at 46 minutes you'll want to watch the whole thing.
The second video is an inside tour of METRA Tower A-2 shot in 2015. I have previously covered this tower on this blog and I was actually able to use info from the video to solve a few mysteries such as where the rundown timers were. So check out the video and feel free to check back with the Tower A-2 page on this blog for the updates.
Lastly I found some vintage clips of MO interlocking and tower in operation in a 1975/76 public information film on railroad operation. Begining at the 8:13 mark is a segment on signaling that includes film of the big old GRS Model 5B machine being manipulated inside MO tower, along with its model board showing switch position indicators. Fancy stuff!
If a book on North American signaling has a chapter before semaphores that covers stuff like, flag signals, ball signals and tilting targets, Hall "Banjo" signals are often included since they not only look strange, but have also been extinct in the wild since the 1950's. While hardly forgotten to history, most sources tend to focus on how these signals worked mechanically, as opposed to how they were employed functionally. The result is that unless one really digs, you are unlikely to know much more about a Hall banjo signal than it was sort of like a searchlight and sort of like a semaphore. Today I hope to clear up some of the ambiguity surrounding these dinosaurs of North American signaling.
First, how do Banjo signals work? Hall disc signals were one of the first types to work in conjunction with the revolutionary idea of the track circuit. Now I have seen some sources associate Banjo signals with time separation systems, and while they could certainly be used in such a capacity, I am going to focus on their use in automatic blocks. A disc signal (patented ~1869) is basically a searchlight mixed with a semaphore, before the advent of either electric lighting or electric motors. Like semaphores, disc signals have a large day indication (the disc) illuminated by natural light, and a small night indication illuminated by an oil lantern. Like a searchlight, there is a magnetic armature that moves in response to an electric current. When the signal is energized the disc and filter are moved away from the day and night signals changing them from red (or yellow) to clear (or green). If you can't tell where the disc goes, it is moved up to the 10 o'clock position where a small corner can still be observed.
Some say this is where the term "Clear" signal came from. Argue in the comments.
The above photo shows a pair of banjo signals in their "clear" state, the colored disc moved up and out of the way to allow daylight to show through. The two state disc signals could be made to display three signal states be using either a distant-home configuration (as is still popular in Europe) or by mounting two heads on the same mast, one displaying Red and Clear, the other Yellow and Clear. Clear/Clear = Clear, Clear/Yellow = Approach and Red/Yellow = Stop (and Proceed).
This rare color photo shows a Hall disc signal actually doing its job. As you can see the colored discs are actually pretty effective. In a time before electricity, these would be a high tech alternative to mechanically operated semaphores. This also explains why Banjo signals are so often associated with the Reading system. In the late 19th century the Reading was an extremely wealthy railroad and would be able to afford something that would be like CBTC today. As ABS became more prevalent, disc signals fell into the same category as 2-position lower quadrant semaphores,a commodity technology which lasted into the 21st century on some former Southern Pacific lines.
Now it is time to put together the final piece of the puzzle. Above we see an arrangement that was only possible within a fairly
narrow sliver of time. Reading Hall disc signals are on the same mast as mechanically operated semaphores. What is going on here? Well the disc signals that are designed to work with low power, primitive track circuits are providing an automatic block signal indication, while the mechanical semaphores are worked from a nearby interlocking tower providing the route protection.
Here we see a slightly different scenario where we have two position semaphores for trains moving torwards the camera, the top mounted semaphore for a straight route, the middle semaphore for a diverging route and then the low mounted call-on signal. Then we see the Banjo for trains moving away from the camera as ABS exit signals. The semaphores can be directly controlled from a mechanical lever frame, displaying either Clear, Medium Clear or Restricting, and any ABS modifications given by the Baljo signals when the train departs the interlocking limits. So Medium Approach would be Medium Clear entrance to Approach exit.
I am by no means an expert on all the ways these signals were employed, but I do know that one can't simply dismiss them as proto-searchlights or glorified semaphores as is often the case in so many books and museums. Hall disc signals needs to be understood in the context of a manual block world devoid of even the basic electronics that would revolutionize railway signaling in the 1890's. They were cutting edge technology employed by only by those railroads that could afford to be early adopters.
It's been pretty quiet lately so here are the few bits and pieces of signaling news that came to my attention.
First, I think I covered this before, but it is worth repeating that some of the Raton pass semaphores are finally being replaced by color light signals. The change would have happened years ago had BNSF not completely pulled its traffic off the line leaving only the daily round trip of the Southwest Chief.
On the CSX Pere Marquette route through Michigan, the well known C&O searchlight signals in Romulus, MI are being replaced. C&O searchlights are especially uncommon with most being found on their former Michigan subsidiary.
As if it hasn't been resignaled enough, Berea interlocking outside of Cleveland is getting some new signals in on the CSX portion of the plant.
Is a Darth Vader hood enough to save Seaboard signals in Georgia? Nope.
In a rare bit of good news, the old N&W 3-track signal bridges at HUNT interlocking are still standing, over a year after the plant was re-signaled.
And the signaling for Denver's new electrified commuter system is becoming clearer. It looks like it will be Metro-North style low information dwarfs with cab signaling. I guess the Cephry won't get to enjoy a nice high speed run in/out of the city on the new elevated viaduct. :-(
Well that's it. Tune in next time for hopefully more information on railroad signaling.
Not really sure what more I have to say about the Pennsylvania Railroad position light signaling system. It is the name of the blog and what I haven't already covered in surveys and news items, it was technically incorporated into NORAC, a signaling system we have already better known. So instead of just going down and describing all the PRR signal indications I am going to take a different approach and look at how the PRR position light signal indication evolved from the initial PRR semaphore indications on which they are ostensibly based. Moreover I will also look at the prototype PRR PL system, known as tombstone signals, as well as later developments such as Limited Speed.
I should first mention that if you are looking for a great technical history on the PRR PL you can find one at railroadsignals.us and there you can learn all about the original 4-lamp position light system, sometimes known as "tombstone signals" due to one of the variations of backing plate.
The 4-lamp PL's were an almost literal translation of the semaphore blade positions into lights. If you are wondering why the PRR didn't just go with using the all color "night" indications, the reason is because reliable high intensity light sources (and mains power) were not yet available yet. Searchlights and position lights could make use of low wattage bulbs that could run for long periods even on battery power.
Looking at the chart above we see all of our familiar favorites including / over | approach medium and --- over | Medium Clear, but we also see some interesting deviations from the later system, most significantly --- over / Medium Approach. Also, "Slow speed" indications were handled by a little two lamp analogue of a subsidiary signal on a third head. These consisted of a --- over --- over / indication, which I believe is Restricting and a --- over --- over |, which plays the role of a Slow Clear or Slow Approach.
Sorry for the small chart there, but I wanted to show how the 1950 version of the PL system compares with the older semaphore system, still very much still in use at that time at various locations around the vast PRR. One interesting thing is how indications that involved the shape of the semaphore blade (Caution and Permissive Block) had to make use of the upper head \ indication. We can also see why the Semaphore system had no Approach Slow as Y/Y was the night indication for Caution.
Prototype PL's, trying so hard for a third head.
From the 1950 chart we can see how PRR used an exclusively 2 head Semaphore system, which in turn lead to the 2-head PL system. The Standard Railroad of the World was not about to go around throwing money at unnecessary signal heads, but as the above picture shows, signal engineers were not unaware that the PRR's use of only two heads presented a few limitations. With the subsidiary signal available for slow speed movements, --- over / Medium Approach was an obvious choice since it was not available as a semaphore since R/Y was reserved for Restricting. However when the PRR PL system was finalized with 3-lamps and 2 heads, Medium Approach had to go for a combination of Restricting and Slow Approach for slow speed movements. If you are wondering how one diverged to stop, spend some time on the LIRR as they still use the original PRR system where one diverges over Approach after first passing Approach Medium with the theory being Approach Medium gets you down to Medium Speed and Approach requires traveling at Medium Speed.
Also making its appearance in the 1950 version of the PRR PL system was the Limited Speed triangle, which allowed for higher speed turnouts (45mph vs 30mph) without having to spend more than 30 cents on a signaling upgrade. Limited speed turnouts started seeing wider use in the 1930;s and 40's in the electrified region where the higher performance of electric locomotives and multi-track main lines made efficient crossing over more of a necessity.
I should also note at this time that the ever stingy PRR applied a backing plate only to the | on the lower head because it was thought that any Engineer approaching a signal at Restricting or Slow Approach, would be going slow enough to see the indication even in bright sunlight.
This finally brings us to the 1956 modification of the PRR signal rules to finally include Medium Approach, first cut from the lineup over 40 years earlier. What changed was that flashing relays were finally considered reliable enough for use in safety critical signal applications. This allowed the PRR to overload the lower head / so that the speed would be upgraded to Medium when flashing. This method of Medium Approach would be wholeheartedly adopted by Conrail in color light R/*Y* form as a way to, what else, save money over the three head R/Y/R Medium Approach used by the New York Central and Reading systems,
So the only thing left to go over are those funny signals with the extra marker light below them or \ indications on the upper head, which I will do...in another post that focuses specifically on manual block signaling in the United States. Sorry :-P
I guess it serves me right for not checking through the interwebs for a couple of days because when I came back from a trip I found not one, but two pieces of devastating signal news. The first is that the remarkably preserved CBQ and CNW signal bridges at the Rochelle, IL diamond crossing are all being replaced. These appear often in railroad media due to the proximity of the Rochelle Railroad Park. Once again we see both local government and railroad management being completely tone deaf when it comes to the preservation of a local tourist attraction. Yes, I know new signals are somehow "cheaper", but couldn't an offer have been made to somehow preserve the look and feel of the old setup? Especially devastating will be the loss of another set of CNW style oval target searchlights.
Across the metro area it appears that the venerable CP-506 is on its last legs. Located just east of the General Hammond-Whiting Amtrak Station, CP-506 marked the Chicago Line's transition from the Central to the Pensy RoW and featured a position lit west end and color lit west end. From the photo it appears that the long snaking interlocking limits are being shortened. It also looks like a third track could be part of the project.
In addition to CP-506, CP-507 at the opposite end of the General Hammond-Whiting station is also being re-signaled. This is a bit of a surprise as the interlocking was installed new in the 80's or 90's along with a modern style PL cantilever support, but in this day and age it doesn't matter if the old signals are 5 years or 50 years of age.
Elsewhere on the Chicago Line NS is continuing its rather haphazard replacement of NYC and Conrail era signaling. Locations include Huron and Waterloo.
Resignaling is also spreading on the former N&W territory including the well known asymmetric cantilever featuring one CPL and one traffic light.
Further east there is some work going on at CP-88/CP-BETHLEHEM. The layout there was already strange so we'll have to see how much of the interlocking is changed.
The SEPTA West Trenton separation project will mean the end of a great example of Conrail era 4-block signaling between CP-WOOD and CP-TRENT. If you live nearby try to take advantage of the railfan window for some photos or video.
Out west it appears that the effort to remove the last semaphores from the Raton pass is a bit more extensive than it initially appeared with low cost traffic light signals popping up at multiple locations despite BNSF's capitol improvement freeze due to funding hangups.
Like usual lots and lots of bad news, however I am slowly collecting a few silver linings so stay tuned.
Well I have the sad duty to report that RONDOUT Tower in Rondout, IL will be closing on March 7th, 2015. This tower was a former Milwaukee Road job, since taken over by Canadian Pacific and operated with the support of MERTA. It's claim to fame is a 2x1 diamond with the EJE and features a US&S style unit lever CTC machine with local control of the relay plant. The signals ans I suspect part of the interlocking logic itself have been updated with "modern" 1980 style searchlights and a recent search of the photo archive does not indicate that a re-signaling is in progress, only a transfer of the control to the CP dispatcher in Milwaukee. I guess the value added of having eyes on the crossing was no longer seen as necessary. Along with the re-signaling of Tower A-5 it appears that METRA is really trying to cut its cost on the Milwaukee division.
In other news some of the frozen-in-time ATSF semaphores are being replaced as the US&S T-2 mechanisms wear our beyond economical repair. With capitol funding for this line still scarce no wide-scale replacement is anticipated.
NJT completed the installation of Rule 562 operation between DOVER and Lake Hopatcong on the former DL&W main. This setup replaced a previous 261/251 arrangement that was in place to allow easy access to a spur track and crossover with the more lenient ABS rules on one track. Here at Hopatcong we see 'C' boards up for eastbound movements.
You know it's examples such as these that makes me realize that there probably isn't exactly any specific malice towards old signaling when CSX is ready to replace a Darth Vader cantilever at FB interlocking in Fredericksburg, VA with a new Darth Vader cantilever, just because they can't be bothered to test signals in situ. The real irony is that around 2005 the "old" canti replaced another modern type RF&P cantilever. I guess money does grow on trees.
It looks like the joint C&O/SOU cantilever at Orange, VA is not long for this world. In 2012 this canti lost the C&O facing entrance signal, but was given a reprieve due to the Southern RR entrance signal. Is it just me or does the replacement Darth Vader appear to use C&O indications like its elephant eared forebearer? I suspect it does!
Will the installation of a third track between CP-412 and CP-415 on the NS Chicago Line mean the demise of this classic NYC signal bridge? Probably.
Last, but definitely not least it appears that NS is finally making its move to eliminate the Rule 251 operation on the Enola Branch between STELL and I assume SHOCKS (or WAGO). NS caltilevers with Rule 562 'C' boards are up a STELL and the pneumatic point machines have already been replaced. At some point since my 2012 visit a trailing crosover was installed at WAGO to ready it for regular use in bi-directional operation.
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