i recently discovered today in lima, ohio that there will be some new signals going up soon south of ns tower. the old cpl’s south of the place will likely take the fall. also a new crossover has been laid out next to the main about1/4 mile north of where the new signal tower will go in. should be an exciting but sad thing to watch since there are not too many cpl’s left. anyone with info on the replacement let me know please so i can play hooky to watch them go up. 
Wally
yep the only places on the toledo sub where CPL’s are located is where there is an absolute signal.The intermediate cpl’s are gone.The only way they can get parts for a cpl is if they replace them with a new signal.That is one of the reasons I enjoy going to Deshler because of the CPL signals.The cpl at the interlocking is the only one that will be replaced.But someday CSX will come for the others.
stay safe
Joe
What is a CPL?
The B&O’s Color-Position-Light signals
For some decent photos of both a mast-type and a dwarf type, see -
http://rrsignal.com/railroad/signals.htm
and then click on GRS U CPL and GRS VA CPL, respectively.
A Google Advanced Image Search for ‘‘color position light’’ really didn’t find anything else as good. I believe Amtrak’s NorthEast Corridor operation is the only other major user of CPLs.
- Paul North.
Northeast Corridor signals…as installed by the Pennsylvania Railroad were not CPL’s. They were Position-Light signals, originally all bulb positions had the same colored light (a yellowish off white). Over the years and over the changing managements some of the light positions have been converted to colors.
Paul, delightful! Thank you. Perhaps you should put these on line under “color position lights” so that Google can find them?
Up until I finished college in Bristol (January 1959), the N&W still had position lights. In December of 1959, I saw color position lights (the PRR-style lenses had been replaced with the appropriately colored lenses) in SW Virginia. A disadvantage of the PRR style was that from a great distance all that could be seen was that the signal was yellow; the position of the lights could not be determined. With the color position lights, the colors could be determined at a great distance. The PRR signals could display, in the appropriate places, and “X,” which, as I recall, told the engineer to lower his pantograph.
It is sad to realize that when a cpl needs to be replaced, it cannot be replaced with another cpl.
[edit] correct spelling of “an.”
Concur - though my recollection is that the CPL changeover did not start under Penn Central or ConRail, but when Amtrak finally became the only owner of the Corridor, and then typically mainly when an interlocking or other facility was replaced or upgraded. Here’s a link to photos of both types, at the same location - Perryville, Maryland, which I suspect is well-known to or at least close to you, BaltACD . . .
http://www.railroadsignals.us/baltimore/perry/index.htm
- Paul North.
The Cincinnati Terminal Sub between Hamilton and Cincinnati on the CSX still features mostly CPL’s from Winton Place to New River Junction, including three intermediate signals, one being located at North Bend Road, one at the\ location of the former Wayne Yard, and the third at Lindenwald, on the south side of Hamilton…