Has anyone installed Tell-tails on their layout? If so, what did you use for the hanging pieces?
Tichy offers tell-tales in styrene.
They weren’t available when I needed several, so I made my own, using styrene rod and tubing and various strip styrene. The “ropes” are blackened brass wire:
Wayne
I’ve heard of these before, but I really don’t know what they are for. I assume they are an overhead warning of some sort?
I just used the Tichy plastic ones… Jim
You know how the two guys fighting on top of a train in the movies have to hit the deck because they saw a tunnel? Well, they should have felt the gentle caress of the tell tales before they got that close.
Before air brakes were on rail road cars, the brakeman had to run from car to car applying and releasing the brakes with the brake wheel. That’s why there is a walkway on top of older cars. The tell-tails were placed before bridges and tunnels to warn the brakeman.
The caboose was where the brakemen would ride. Some steam engines had a small ‘out house’ on the rear of the tender for the brakemen to ride in.
I believe that the more common term was ‘dog house’, although there certainly was no reason why the seat in the ‘dog house’ couldn’t have a hole in it![swg][(-D][(-D][(-D][:o)]
Sorry, couldn’t resist. No offense intended.
Dave
It just dawned on me that passenger didn’t have walk ways on the roofs. Did the brakemen walk through the cars?
Telltales were also used at industrial sidings where some obstruction, such as the roof of a covered loading dock, would have knocked down a man on the roof. Those telltales were considerably closer to the obstruction than the ones on a main line where to a tunnel or low bridge clearance.
And yes the brakeman would walk through the passenger cars if need be.
Dave Nelson