I am in the way to put a signal system on my Maclau River in Nscale.
Because I am a Belgian I didn’t have any background to know which signals I need; more precisely which type of signals; I mean target’s one or kind of searchlight including bridges signals of any type…
My expand Maclau River is running in the Appalachian between the years 1935-1945 and is an heavy coal line.
So if anyone could help me and give me some link including historical one.
A small list of manufacturers which produce the kind of signals I need in Nscale is also welcome.
Hi, while I really do not know all that much about the signals I am modeling the C&O New River subdivision (in West Virginia US) setting in 1943. So I am in the area you are intersted in. What I have learnt about this is that each railroad did thier own thing. So being a freelance (at least I am not familur with the railroad if it is a prototype) you can do what you want but… I would suggest that you find a railroad that you like the look of the signals on and use thier system. For instance the C&O liked to use those cantilever signals all over the place (something I love the look of) so if you are intersted in that go with the C&O. Once you have a railroad you like the signals on contact the lists and forums about that railroad (C&O has two good yahoo groups for instance with a lot of the people that worked the trains and took the photos and wrote the books about the C&O as members) other railroads have simular groups
For instance with the C&O we have a guy that is really into signals that is part of the Yahoo Group (in fact I think he sells CTC related things) And he did a great group of articals for the C&O historical Sociaty Mag a while back (You can buy this on CD from the C&O Histroical Sociaty web site). It was C&O spicific but a lot of it is generally the same from rail road to rail road. So you could look into that if you like the C&O.
Not sure if thier is a generic signal book or anything available, as like I said these kinds of things where really railroad spicific back in the day. That is the one advantage of the spicific groups you can find out a lot of info about that ONE topic. You may want to see if thier is a Signal Yahoo group (I do not know) also.
Hope that gives you an idea of how to find more info.
Doug Meyer, Modeling the C&O New River Sub in 1943
One thing to remember is that unlike in Europe, where countries (or perhaps the continent as a whole?) came up with standardized signals, in the US it was/is up to the railroad to choose what to use. Railroads started in the East with ball signals, then went to semaphores (upper and lower quadrant) then to various type of electric light signals. However, as new signals came along, the old ones weren’t always eliminated, so it wouldn’t be unusual for a train on a particular railroad to go by both electric target signals and semaphores as it rolled along.
While remembering that, its also useful to remember that while many roads had different signals, there were a lot of individual railroads that had as much signalled track as some entire countries. Also up until the megamergers starting in the 1970’s it was relatively uncommon for trains of one railroad to operate on the tracks of another railroad so crews only encountered one set of signals in one rule book.
Well, yes and no. Trains didn’t “run through” the way they do now, but there were few railroads that didn’t have a trackage rights agreement with another railroad, even if only for a few miles to reach a station for example. Plus as I noted, a particular railroad didn’t necessarily use just one type of signal. For example, if a remote semaphore block signal got the job done, it might last into the 1970’s or later. However the same line might have color light target signals at an interlocking plant not far away.
Generally there would be some standardization, like using only upper-quadrant semaphores and target light signals, but you could find exceptions I’m sure - maybe a branch line using lower-quadrant semaphores because it had been built that way by another railroad that became part of the current railroad decades earlier.
We’ve published a couple of articles you’d probably find useful, both as general introductions and as nuts-and-bolts how-to advice. I wrote “Understanding railroad signals” for the December 2002 Model Railroader, page 104. Also very helpful is “Where to place trackside signals,” by professional signal engineer Mike Burgett, on page 52 of our first How To Build Realistic Layouts special issue, Model the Trackside Scene. Both can be ordered online on this Web site, or by e-mail to customerservice@kalmbach.com.