While viewing the CSX (old B&O) just west of Cumberland, MD I saw an installation labeled (I think) CCTC on track. It looked like a camera and a bunch of lights - as a train passed the lights went on and lit up the side of cars. It was only on one side of the double track main.
What is this and what’s it used for?
Thanks
Was this installation close to a yard (most likely a hump yard)? If so I suspect it used to verify the order of cars in a train as they arrive/depart the yard so that switch lists can be made in advance. Sounds similar to an installation the BNSF used to have here in Tulsa. I think newer technology is replacing the camera type system. I just noticed the other day that most railcars now have a transponder on them. Works the same as the electronic passes for driving on some toll roads.
what you said is exatly what it is…its a camera for reading the cars on the train coming in and out of cumberland yard… yes the yard is a hump yard… and i use to make faces at is when i would go by…