During the installation of new signals for a two-tracking project, someone apparently realized the railroad had put up a nonconforming two-headed signal arrangement. So, when the signal became functional and in use, the sideways facing lower head was never pointed forward. That was fifteen years ago! Unbelievably, the signal head remains turned aside to this very day!
Technical details:
The railroad is Union Pacific, and the location is Mira Loma, California, by the intersection of Etiwanda Ave. and Mission Blvd. / Van Buren Blvd., on the old Los Angeles & Salt Lake line. The control point is C046.
The first photo’s control point is in the far background of the second photo (near the distant freeway overpass). The single-crossover in the second photo is of a 40 M.P.H. type, and when in crossover mode with an eastbound (toward to the camera) movement lined up, would set the signal at Etiwanda Ave. to flashing yellow, NOT yellow over yellow as with 30 and 50 M.P.H. turnouts. The second photo was taken from the Bellegrave Ave. grade crossing
…I like the long tangent shots that shows track almost to infinity. Especially in mostly flat country. I think that always shows railroad track at it’s best. Must be a pleasure {relative}, for engineers to op on track like that.
Come up and ride with us sometime. Most of our tangent can be measured in feet, and you won’t need much more than three figures even then. Most of the time you’re either going up or down, too. Not much flatland here in the Adirondacks.
The whole “disappearing into infinity” thing is kind of cool, though.
I’m actually surprised that, if this was indeed a blunder, something wasn’t done about it to fix the situation–either remove the offending head or alter the aspects.
Is it possible that future trackwork here will require the use of that lower head in some way, shape, or form?
We had a location where a new signal mast was erected next to an existing signal, the mast stood there for six or seven years, I wish I knew exactly how long, then the carrier moved the signal to a different location, taking down both the existing signal and the never-used mast.
Tree, about that ride? I can’t take riders but I’ll bet you’d like to go once. Might be a little straighter than your railroad and I’m sure it’d be a lot faster.
“During the installation of new signals for a two-tracking project, someone apparently realized the railroad had put up a nonconforming two-headed signal arrangement. So, when the signal became functional and in use, the sideways facing lower head was never pointed forward. That was fifteen years ago! Unbelievably, the signal head remains turned aside to this very day!”
I think “blunder” is probably the wrong word. Having some experience with signal engineering I think I would have used “darn good planning.”
It helps to know a little bit about how signal engineering, construction, and maintenance works. Signal projects are very expensive. A project as simple as an end-of-siding control point is approximately $600,000, not including any interfaces between new and old signal equipment. If later it’s decided that instead of a single turnout in that control point, it’s now necessary to put in two turnouts, almost all of that $600,000 is sunk and recoverable only as scrap or spares. Accordingly, if you EVER think that a control point MIGHT be modified sometime during the next 10 years, you plan ahead. You design and build the instrument house to allow for the additional turnouts, you build the signal masts and buildings accordingly, and you put up the right heads. That way if you later do go ahead and modify the CP, all you have to do is turn the heads and activate the right cards, and you’re not throwing away $600,000 or a million dollars or more. The downside is that sometimes for various reasons the new turnout is never added, and you’ve spent $10,000 that is not used.
So what do you think? Is it worthwhile to place a $10,000 hedge against a $600,000 outcome? That’s cheap insurance in my book, especially since if my crystal ball was perfect I would give up the railroad work and spend $1 to buy one lottery ticket on tomorrow’s drawing.
