SEPTA Sours on Unilens Dwarfs

In yet another chapter of the rail industry's love-hate relationship with the Safetran Unilens signal, over the last few years SEPTA has been systemically replacing its Unilens signals with L&W LED searchlights similar to those being employed by Amtrak in the Chicago, New Orleans and Albany terminal areas. Although I am in the Philly area and perform various SEPTA excursions I only just noticed the change since they were limited to the former Reading Company lines I haven't ridden lately. Below is an example of a compact Unilens "high" mast at JENKIN interlocking since 2006 that was converted from Unilens to LED searchlight at some point over the last 2 years.

Track 2 LED searchlight high dwarf at JENKIN in 2003

Track 2 LED searchlight high dwarf at JENKIN in 2010

Combing through some SEPTA territory railfan window videos I can confirm that the majority of Unilens signals have now been replaced by LED searchlights. including those at NEWTOWN JCT, TABOR JCT, the Fox Chase sidings and Norristown Elm St. Because of SEPTA's use of reduced aspect signals, new searchlights won't get much opportunity to demonstrate their full rage of colors and the clipped flashing might be a little irritating while displaying "cab speed" indications.

LED Searchlights at Albany Union Station

For those of you who might be encountering the Unilens saga for the first time, the Unilens was created as a solid state replacement for the traditional electro-mechanical searchlight. It makes use of plastic light pipes (think big fiber optics) to deliver light from up to 4 lamps to a single lens assembly. While this might sound like a great solution, apparently the product suffers from expensive propritary incandescent bulbs and degradation of the light pipe that reduces output over time as well as giving green indications a yellow cast.  While some of SEPTA's Unilens dwarfs were approaching 20 years in service, some, like those at Norristown, had been installed less than 10 years ago. It's entirely possible that the long term costs of operating the type became just too much. It will be interesting to see if LED searchlight technology migrates to the Class 1's, which still seem wedded to the Unilens for restricted clearance applications.

The Ongoing Saga of D&H Main Line Signaling

Last we checked in on the former D&H Main Line between Albany and Sunbury/Scranton, NS had reversed its decision to abandon all of the signaling below Binghamton. Since that time NS has made some alterations to the signaling it had inherited from Canadian Pacific and after a couple of field trips and Google street view surveys I can offer up a summary of the goings on. 

First we need to dive into the crazy quilt of signaling on the old Delaware and Hudson main line that is under the control of NS after purchasing the route from CP in order to access New Englande markets via the Boston and Maine route. I previously discussed the complex ownership history of the D&H in an article on D&H interlocking naming conventions.

The D&H currently exhibits 6 different generations of signals in the 200 or so odd miles between the NS Buffalo Line in Sunbury and the Boston and Main division post in Mechanicville, NY. They can be broken down as follows:

Generation 1 includes the legacy D&H with GRS SA searchlights, relay based logic and iron/steel mounting hardware including masts, cantilevers and brackets. 

Generation 2 covers the early CP era in the 1990's with SA searchlights and relay based logic using modern aluminum structures.

Generation 3 is the Unilens Era where CP applied a solid state upgrade of its older SA searchlights, primarily at automatic block locations as those present less of a testing burden than interlockings. I believe this began in the late 90's and overlapped with some Gen 2 signals being installed at interlockings. By 2005 end of life Gen 1 interlockings were being actively replaced by Gen 3.

Generation 4, the Mystery Searchlight era, is the shortest, taking place from around 2009 through 2011. This represented CP souring on its Unilens solution and falling back on older SA searchlight guts in a custom housing. 

Generation 5, starting around 2011, is the great CP resigning that have up on searchlights entirely looked to replace Gen 1 signals at relay-based interlockings north of Binghampton with typical Safetran CL-20 type Darth Vaders.

Generation 6 is modern day with NS type Darth Vaders going in to replace both Gen 1 signals select relay plants, but also to replace Gen 3 signals at newer 2005 vintage interlockings. On the remaining CP territory this included the use of mystery N-type signals in place of CL-20's.

So how do things stand today? The CP re-signaling of the 2010's zapped pretty much all of the old D&H signaling north of Binghamton except CPF-499 and the Afton siding beginning at CPF-587.

In fact CPF-587 is seeing NS replace its southbound D&H Cantilever with a leftover CP mystery searchlight!

South of Binghampton D&H signals are holding on at CPF-648, CPF-650 and CPF-679.

CPF-650, still original D&H.

However Gen 3 Unilens signals have been replaced by NS Darth Vaders at CPF-630, CPF-631, CPF-659, CPF-661, CPF-714 and CPF-716.

CPF-716, Unilens signals replaced by Vader masts in 2022.

Interestingly enough, the intact Unilens masts have been gathered at the NS Scranton yard and the adjacent CPF-673 and CPF-672 were in their Unilens (or SA?) configuration as of November 2022. Nevertheless, almost all of the intermediate signals remain as Unilens, with just a handful having been converted by CP to CL-20 Vaders.

It will be interesting to see what the future holds, especially if NS extends between Scranton and Sunbury or if the need to replace the Unilens intermediates prompts an expansion of cab signaling.

Reading Country News

Just a brief news post.  I can report that the last remaining 1950's vintage signaling on the former Conrail Reading line, including CP-WEST LAUREL and CP-LAUREL, has been deactivated as of a couple weeks ago.  The section of ABS 251 between CP-BLANDON and CP-ALLEN remains intact for the time being.  Fortunately I paid a visit to these vintage interlockings around Thanksgiving of last year.  They had been part of the GRS provided Reading area CTC project that had been installed along with the Blandon Low Grade line. You can read about my documentary visit here.

Meanwhile, out on the New York Branch, CP-WOODBOURNE has also has its signals replaced (although possibly not resignaled outright given the old Conrail relay hut is still in use.)  This was probably part of the same project that hit the Conrail signals at CP-BERRY, CP-NESH, CP-FAIRLESS JCT and even the 1990's Conrail signaled CP-RIVER and CP-BELMONT.  At this point the Trenton Line can pretty much be considered an extension of the A-Line.

Interestingly, it appears that CSX is one of the last railroads clinging to Safetran Unilens signals As I previously reported, a number of design flaws has parked their neo-Searchlights for replacement on most railroad....except CSX.  For example, Caltrain is the latest road to retrofit their Unilens signals with LEDs.  Not sure if these specific examples at the San Jose Diridon Station are 3-color or just flash *R* Restricting, but its a major rebuke of the type.

I actually have one other major bit of positive news to report, but I'm going to save it for its own post. ;-)

No Respect - The Safetran Unilens

While riding up the Caltrain Corridor I noticed a little something that once again reminded me that the Safetran Unilens signal, for all its seeming usefulness, is the ugly duckling of the signal world.  The Unilens series (now in its second generation) was created as a solid state replacement for the old fashioned electro-mecnahical searchlight signal.  Inside, instead of a moving colored filter, one will find four lamps each connected to a single (hence the name) lens via fiber optic cables. This seems like the perfect solution to the old problem of getting multiple colors out of a compact signal head, and in fact should have been a marked improvement seeing as each Unilens head could support 4 colors instead of three.

From the Greek, Uni meaning one and lens meaning lens.

 Not only could the Unilens play the role of a dwarf signal, it could also be used in mast mounts behind a circular target just like the older searchlight and in the case of close quarters transit applications the Unilens had an additional trick up its sleeve with a goose-neck attachment that allowed the lens  to be placed a foot or two away from the actual lamp housing.

Initially adoption was good with a number of traditional searchlit railroads, such as the Delaware and Hudson and Canadian Pacific, buying them as a simple replacement for the US&S H series and GRS SA's they had been buying for decades. The BART rapid transit system enthusiastically bought into the whole goose-neck configuration for its limited number of wayside signals

But then things took a turn for the worse.  Crews complained that the small internal lamps didn't provide a bright enough light and the lamps themselves were proprietary, expensive and prone to burning out.

You be the judge!

The Canadian roads that briefly used the Unilens in high signal applications switched over to Darth Vader style LED lamps, and the transportation authority that owns the Coaster route to San Diego actually took the step of replacing its high mounted Unilens signals with target configuration Safetran colorlights.

I am posting this because while passing by the BART Millbrae station I observed that the goose-neck Unilens signals, perhaps some of the only examples ever purchased for rapid transit, had been swapped out for bland and boring LED traffic light type signals.  No the Unilens isn't going the way of the position or searchlight signal.  CSX, SEPTA and BNSF still prefer them in close clearance signaling locations across their systems, but as a replacement for what was once the most common signal type in North America if not the world, the Safetran Unilens has fallen dismally short.