Demonstration of US&S Co. Style B Semaphore Signal
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- Опубликовано: 26 авг 2024
- Video highlights the workings of the Union Switch & Signal Company Style B Semaphore Signal. This signal came from Riddle Or. on the Southern Pacific Siskyou Line. The signal stood from the mid 1920s till 2003. The signal was fully restored in 2016 and has been mounted in the back yard of my house. The pole has been cut down 5ft. making it stand 30ft. tall.
My absolutely favorite model and type of signal. Hats off to you, sirs! You did a hell of a job. It simply doesn't get any better than that!
This is probably my favorite type of train signal because this is the first one I ever remembered seeing. My local zoo has a fabulous train, and has one of these near their train station. It actually worked, too, as it would change from Clear to Approach to Stop as the train got closer back to the station. They were wise enough to put clear covers on the relay cases, too, so 12 year old me (or however old I was by the time I got curious enough to study it) could figure out how it worked.
It's been several years since I've been to the zoo, but the signal was not working the last time I was there.
I grew up in the '70s in Creswell, Oregon. The SP Siskiyou Line runs right through the middle of town. As kids, we used to fish down at the mill pond, and we could always tell when a lash-up of tunnel motors was minutes from pounding the ground. We'd hear the creaking of these semaphores, look up to see they had changed position, and we'd go run and place pennies and dimes on the rails before the freight blasted through. Fun times. That line moved a LOT of tonnage over the years.
Haha that's a great little story! I lived on Martin Road and would frequently walk towards the freeway to peek over the trees and watch the signals from the northern end of the siding to see if a train was nearby. I miss those signals deeply. In fact, I have photos of the last set as they had just been bagged and were ready for their removal from the Dillard Road area.
I grew up a few miles to the south in Cottage Grove. We lived right above the Weyerhaeuser Mill. When it was a large log mill, lumber, chips, laminated beams.
@@Ottos_ScLm_Race_videos_2009_on Yep, I remember C.G. had these same signals all down the line through that area. I still go to C.G. whenever I visit the folks in Creswell. There's a good Mexican restaurant down there, and we always try and take a drive out around Dorena Lake. Nice area.
Awesome piece of history
Awesome! I grew up seeing these on the siskiyou line.
Thanks for sharing with us tour signal! I come form the New England, and the Boston and Maine Railroad had these all over their system. There are a very few that remain as displays, I really like the demostrations that your are showing us. I'm trying much information as i can on how they work and how they are connected together to "communicate" with each other as a "system".
Lots of code relays. Haha
Do you have a wiring diagram for your signal?
Lot of very high detail work, that's fantastic.
REALLY NICE WORK AND NICE VIDEO!
nice job looks great lots of work but well worth the time put in it
So interesting to watch the video! You and your Dad did a great job. Nice that you kept many of the original parts intact. Kudos.
Until a few years ago, most of the line south of Eugene still used semaphores. You could see them in operation alongside I-5.
Cool, I found some of the concrete slabs that held the signals.
@@TexasRailfan2008 Those are called _foundations._
Outstanding work. Looks great and thank you for taking the time to make this video. Well done.
Thank you for this posting. The lower quadrant "Style B's" were very prominent on the Harriman Lines as well as some other railroads. Here in Texas I remember them on the Southern Pacific in many places including San Antonio west toward El Paso, between Houston and Strang as well as Houston to Dallas and in lesser use at some terminals and junctions including the short stretch between Beeville and Skidmore. I recall the train crews occasionally reporting "lights out" on these signals. We were told to take the information and report it to the signal maintainer during his regular duty hours. We did not call the maintainer out on overtime for burned-out bulbs on Style B's as the semaphore blade position would still give the signal indication. However, if a "target signal" had a burned-out bulb we would call out the signal maintainer on overtime to replace it if he was off-duty at the time. I trained with towerman D. Jones at Tower 112 in San Antonio in late 1974 or early 1975. He was the "Dean" of towermen in San Antonio. Lots of seniority and knowledge of railroad history and practices. One day he mentioned that Tower 112 itself was built as a Katy tower (Missouri-Kansas-Texas RR) to their specifications as the MKT crosses the SP at that location. Apparently the SP and the MKT had made a trade-off with SP agreeing to staff and run Tower 112 and the MKT accepting responsibility somewhere else in Texas for reasons lost to the passage of time. One other item D. Jones mentioned was that he had an older brother that had worked for the SP on a signal gang installing the original block signals on the San Antonio to El Paso line. The time-frame for that was just prior to or during World War I.
I remember that stretch between Beeville and Skidmore myself. Did you know that was part of a light traffic CTC system, owing to traffic from both San Antonio and Houston combining at Beeville. The line has been defunct for years, but I'll still remember it. By the way, the CTC machine was in the Galveston Railroad Museum. Wonder if it's still there? Stay safe and healthy.
@@markschroeder2578 it’s still there, sitting outside and ruined by the salty environment
I once reported a light bulb out on a searchlight color signal in South Athol, MA, CPF-363, Which stands right next to the road. I got the phone number from a nearby crossing signal in Orange, MA.
We used to have some signals like this in the UK but they were operated by a gas cylinder in the base. They were called "Hall" signals and were abolished in the 1930s.
Very impressive.
Fantastic work!
I have heard that he Montana Rail Link former Northern Pacific line along the Clark Fork River still has (or had) upper quadrant style saphores until BNDF ended the lease and began replacement to the new standard lineside color light units without moving parts.
Very similar style signals were used on the IRT elevated lines in New York City.
Very interesting. Glad you could save it. Might I suggest putting in LED bulbs. Brighter and you'd never have to replace.
The focal point on the mirror is quite narrow and requires a sharp light. An LED not only would not look right but also not crest the hard beam. It’s not to bad to climb up and it is easy to change. So far the bulbs have last one year without turning off.
Heresy!! 🙂
Thanks to RUclips (and, the Internet), My curiosity has been answered! Since I was five years of age I always wondered what this "rusting hulk" was (next to the Pearl Street railroad crossing in Keene, NH, on the Boston&Maine Railroad's "Cheshire Branch) how it operated, what its aspects were, how it worked, etc. As time went on I made some other discoveries, further arousing my interests on this signals type. (On the B&M RR these signals were staggered, directionally, approximately one mile increments and, not opposite bounds side by side.
I grew up nearest the B&M's "Southern Division" (the old Northern Railroad) through Franklin NH.
Style B semaphore operatinng units exist at thee San Diego museum in Balboa Park and the museum in Tehachapi, CA.
Mark Clay McGowan has a good You Tube video on the entire historical collection of operating signals
This os a reat video!
Was the southern Pacific's semaphores partly based on England's railway signalling system?
No
There are similarities. The roles of the Home and Distant blades is the same idea. However, the implementation of where the signals are placed and such is very different.
Good you didn't try to remove the original electric board, that thing is definitely some silver painted asbestos.
So a quick story; when I lived in Creswell, I would frequently walk the tracks down past the signals that protected the tracks near Market Road. It was very common to see them malfunction on their last days from loss of communication (likely corrosion) from either the communication lines running along the tracks, or within the electrical box. Even though it was very faulty, it was still kinda cool hearing the mechanisms operate from trackside, and watching the signals move in response to the sounds from within.
To this day I still wonder if CORP has a few of those blades hanging out in a warehouse somewhere along the line...probably not, but it would indeed be an awesome sight to see, that's for sure.
Btw, why is the signal five feet shorter than its normal size? As the video started, I instantly noticed the height difference. Just curious. :-)
I know it’s a long shot. But if you see this post. What and where did you find the new rivets? AND, how did you install them yourself? I to have double B case, and may want replace the metal also.
Thanks, Vince
I got them from JC rivets. They can be found online. As to install them we made a special tool that holds the head of a rivet. I then used an oxy acetylene torch to heat the rivet and then inserted into the hole where my father was inside with a small air hammer. That mushroomed the rivet and so far it has held in place for four years.
Did you do all of the sheet metal work yourself, I need mine replaced but lack any proper tools to do it, what can I do to save money, thanks.
jimmy copeland i took off original sheet metal on box took it to local steel place and they copied it and rolled the new steel for it. Brought it home attached it and drilled and riveted the holes myself.
@@Eriks191 I must say, that is one beautiful signal, I just acquired a Santa Fe T2, lots of work ahead of me but looking forward to the challenge, a question about the concrete form, how deep is it to support the weight of the signal.
Ye olde Railroad from way back when.
I wonder if it were ever realistic to keep semaphores on modern railroads. I can only maybe fancy the cost of replacing them all and training drivers to use both them and modern lights together would have made them stick around in an alternate reality. Are there any systems worldwide that use a mix of both lights & semaphores?
Felice Graziano there is actually one remaining main line in the US that still has them and it’s owned by BNSF down in New Mexico. Not sure how long they will stay.
Railroads prefer non-mechanical signals so it's doubtful that they'll want semaphores any more. Stay safe and healthy.
This is really a great question. It's easy to answer for the USA: No. They would be incredibly expensive to maintain, and bright lights are far preferable to colored sticks at a distance for fast-approaching trains. Upper-quadrant semaphore schemas could be devised to give about all of the same aspects by semaphore that color light signals do today, but interaction with PTC would be painful since the semaphore mechanisms themselves are intended to form parts of the signaling circuits between signals. Edit: For got to mention, the signals the video poster talked about in the SW US are out of service (to my understanding) and on the way out as we speak.
Other countries still do use semaphores. I can't say how many high semaphores lurk in parts of Australia, but I'm sure there are plenty of dwarf ones around. They (dwarf discs) were often used for shunting signals. They were also used in this way in Great Britain and, I believe, Ireland. Great Britain has made sure work to eliminate high semaphores from its main lines the past 10 years. It's my understanding that work is complete, but semaphores can still be spotted on lesser lines. There do seem to be some semaphores still operating in Germany. They're definitely gone in Belgium.
Hi. Fantastic video. I was wondering if you could share some details on the wiring diagram for the hold coil that is nearest to the front of the case. I just acquired a nice old style B and the hold coil has four wires. I have a feeling that one of the magnets has failed because there is zero resistance across it and I think there should be about 500 or thousand Ohms. However I’m not entirely sure how to wire it up. It seems that it should have two circuits. One that energizes when the motor starts and when that actually passes through the motor coil. Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again for the great video
Could you please send give me your email and I could send you all the information on the low wind and high wind magnets. Your magnets are in good shape it’s just how you wire them. We had the same problems.
sure. rconnor@purdue.edu. Thanks!
What do you use to power the signal motor? I did not see a battery so it must be a power supply?
There is a 12v power supply in the bottom cabinet.
Why did two-position signals have three spectacles?
Scott Melton the spectacle unit is a cast piece and could be used on a three position signal, (universal). This one of course is not so the middle is filled with the upper quadrant color. When restoring the signal the middle lens was plastic and faded didn’t match the railroad didn’t care and fixed it at one time with whatever they had.
@@Eriks191 To the best of my understanding, about these two position US&S "Style B" semaphore signals, the main reason for using the three spectacles, albeit, being only a two position semaphore head, was so that as the semaphore head was returning, from its DANGER/STOP position to its CLEAR position, was so that the light would not be "shadowed out" until the head fully returned to the Green light position. Hence, the spectacles were in either order: R-R-G or, Y-Y-G.
That plastic "filler" lens,you make mention of, is quite interesting, though.
I'd really like to know more about the smartphone interface. I have a pair of GRS SA-1 searchlights from the former ATSF transcon (Chicago-Oakland) set up at the end of my 500 foot driveway in a stacked dwarf configuration. Right now they are just cycling through a two hour program of aspects changing every 15 minutes or so. I've been looking for a good bluetooth interface and don't look forward to reinventing the wheel..
Frank Roberts, The system I use works really well. You can set up to 12 different on/off periods. You download a free app from the Avi-on company. You can buy the timer for like $25 on Amazon it is made by GE Bluetooth timer. There is also an option where you can manually turn on or off the timer. Mine is set up as you can see, when the timer is on the semaphore is at green and when the timer turns off it fails to a red or yellow aspect. You can see in the video I hardwired the timers into the circuitry that feeds the main panel and distributes the power into the motor.
I have to ask a question here about a "train order signal," assuming it uses the same, or similar, roundels in it as those used in any US&S Style B semaphore signals.
In Troy, NH, at the depot (now a railroad museum) its Train Order Signal is illuminated, red in one direction and (supposedly) green for the other direction.
While the red aspect displays a pure red color the green light appears to be an almost white color! Do you know why this migh be the case? Do you think that the lighr in it used (maybe be an L.E.D.) is supposedly "too bright" to be used in any such signal head? Does your US&S Style B semaphore signal display a "more green" color than this Train Order Board signal at the depot? (There is no question about the Red aspect output. It clearly shows a red color. I have yet to see this Board set for a yellow display, most likely for nighttime viewing.)
If they are using an LED bulb, then there may not be enough yellow light in the bulb. Back then incandescent bulbs gave off a lot of yellow light so the lenses were actually a bluish green when an incandescent bulbs shines through it. It creates a green light. With an LED that is a daylight bulb, you do not have that wavelength.
@@Eriks191 Yes! I am able to understand your reply here!
1) I have watched your video, to include you opening up the light housing on your restored Style B signal.
2) Also viewed another restored one head Style B "stubby" semaphore signal (one that has a shorter height, whereby an upcoming bridge would block viewing that signal from the train). IT DID HAVE a more greenish light output than that Troy, NH Train Order Board, supposedly being lit with an L.E.D. bulb. (It MUST be!) It is a 34 second video by a Ty Henshaw.
3) As you mentioned that "green" DOES have a slightly bluish tint to it. I can see it in the lense.
4) I had read somewhere that in order for an L.E.D. to put out white light it requires something like: "1Red; 1Green; & 2Blues." I have only a vague idea what this means.