Signal Tower Internal Lighting

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I need to know if it’s necessary to install lighting in the lower half of a signal tower.

I got an Atlas HO Signal Tower Kit ("Pre Colored! No Painting Necessary!), and after a number of alterations to make it look less plastic, am giving it some lights. I replaced the single plastic piece over the 2nd storey door with a 3V LED fixture (with resistor) from WeHonest & have installed a 1.5VDC grain of wheat bulb inside the top storey. If I put another inside the ground floor, then I can wire the two 1.5V bulbs in series & feed them along with the LED off a 3V line in parallel.

But - since the ground floor is all switchers, did it have a light?

Thanks,

Paul

2

Hi, Paul

You’re right, the lower level usually had batteries and relays, telephone and radio equipment and some had motor-generator sets and I recall a few with gasoline backup generators down there.

In the “armstrong” towers the mechanics of the linkage took up quite a bit of space in there.

I have seen VERY dim lighting, or none at all until a signal maintainer had work to do in there, then—like any room, turn the lights on with the wall switch.

I made a fiber-optic “model board” that turned out pretty neat for one of my towers. Even in the upper floor, the lighting would be very dim, limited to a desk lamp or two so the operator could maintain his or her night vision.

Have fun! Ed

3

I’m sure it would depend on the era/time frame You are Modeling.

Not all switch towers had all that new fangled stuff and LED’s weren’t invented yet! Some guy’s even slepted on the first floor, near the pot-belly stove, that they also used for cooking. LOL.

Take Care! [:D]

Frank

4

Quite true…

But there were model boards with indicator lights that look pretty [8D] when they’re all lit up [Y]

Regards, Ed

5

Hi Paul:

Logic suggests that there must have been some form of lighting in the lower level in case maintenance had to be done at night. The question is would it have been left on all the time? I suspect not. However, if you want to model the switching gear then I would certainly leave the lights on to show the details off. You could even put a figure in there working on the mechanisms.

This is pure speculation, but I don’t think there would have been bright lights on in the upper control room most of the time either. I would think that the need for clear night vision would be paramount. If there were lights on, I suspect they would have been dim, or shaded so as to not shine in the yardmaster’s eyes. However, as I said, I’m guessing at that.

Personally, I really like Ed’s illuminated control panel, but as has been suggested, that may be too new for your era.

I have to add a little anecdote to my post. One of the first things I bought when I got into model railroading was the Atlas tower. To show how clueless I was at the time, I put a picnic table in the lower room thinking that would be an ideal place for everyone in the yard to have lunch![D)][(-D][(-D]

Dave

6

The lunch idea is not so far-fetched; but I’m planning a deck built on the side of an old boxcar mounted on ties, with showers & washrooms…

7

Hi bigpianoguy

It is always necessary to paint a plastic kit way to shiny if not painted, it is more important if you plan on lighting the kit,

Giving the inside a coat of black to stop the light shining through the walls then adding the internal colours once the black is dry best done before assembly.

The ground floor relay or interlocking room is lit so the workers can see, but the light is only on if staff are in there working, so if it’s lit you will need the door open and or a technitians 4WD near by.

So there is no need to light it if you do not want to if it was me building the signal box I would only light the signal man’s floor.

For preferance I would use an LED or LED’s I have had problems in the past with the heat generated by a lamp, something a LED doesn’t do to the cause problem level.

Keep the light level low they are not brightly lit the brightest light is the desk lamp over the train regester.

The main lights are low, depending on which way round the pannel is you may be able to see the pannel lights.

However the panel is normaly set up so the signalman is facing the track so you can’t always see the pannel lights.

regards John

8

Great idea! I hope you won’t mind if I steal it.[bow][swg]

Thanks

Dave

9

John:

Good point. I had planned on mounting my tower in the foreground so it will be ‘pointed’ towards the backdrop. The illuminated panel would work. Can I ask when approximately did the use of lighted panels begin? I’m modeling the late 50s so I’m guessing they would be a safe bet for that era.

Thanks

Dave

10

I don’t find that to be necessarily true in many cases.

I recall being in several towers on the NYC, PRR, B&O and Nickel Plate Road and in my recollection the operator’s back was to the track. Not always but I’d say in more than half the cases the lever machine and model board could be seen IF you were able—as we are on our model RRs—to look into the windows facing the track.

Often, as signal control points were consolidated, or “remoted” the CTC machines were relocated to other towers and it got pretty crowded in there.

ALTO on the Pennsy main in Altoona, PA, had boards from Antis, Homer, Rose, Slope, Works, West Yard and a few others, all remotely controlled.

I was in Rochester tower near Conway, PA and the operator controlled boards from three other towers, then when IT closed, all those machines were moved to West Conway.

HARRIS tower in Harrisburg,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harris_Switch_Tower

Some additional photos here…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centralized_traffic_control

CT tower controlling Cleveland Union Terminal had at one time the largest interlocking machine in the world with 538 levers. The leverman’s back faced the track, the model board could be seen through the windows.

If you browse this site you will find several examples of tower interiors showing the lever machines and the model boards.

http://position-light.blogspot.com/2012/10/photos-metra-tower-2-western-ave-part-2.html

I’ll see if I can

11

Hi hon30critter

Not sure when the first illuminated pannel was used but by the late fifties they where cerainly well and truely in use and the numbers growing many in the remaining control centres are still in use its changing very fast to computerised pannels now.

For late fifties I would paint the panel satin colours full gloss never looks right.

if you still have levers in the cabin a nice touch would be that horrible over shiny brass paint almost (auto crome like) on the hand grips and a piece of rag on one of the levers

The electric track cct came in very early in the piece powered by soda cells that signals staff mixed up the soda solution and changed the plates and terminals in the battery on a regular basis

So from that point on crude pannels that at least showed where the train was where possible.

For a modern setting don’t know who does them Viesmann possibly?? but at least a computor should be in the cabin if lit the illuminated one should be used for extra effect.

Iether that or with centeralization boarded up in generaly very poor condition

regards John

12

A handy little treatise from General Railway Signal:

http://www.alstomsignalingsolutions.com/Data/Documents/History.pdf

In it they make the claim of the first CTC system installed between Stanley and Berwick, Ohio on 25 July, 1927. (pg. 17)

General Railway Signal being based in Rochester, NY was a primary supplier to the New York Central, being an on-line industry.

Union Switch & Signal was founded by George Westinghouse in Wilmerding, Pennsylvania in 1881, and became a favored vendor to the Pennsylvania Railroad. US&S even manufactured M1911A1 pistols for the U.S. Military in 1943.

Here is the USS model board and lever machine at Holmes tower near Philadelphia. It was built in 1937.

The tracks are to the operator’s back.

Hope that helps,

Ed

13

Ed!

Thank you for the wealth of very interesting information! I just finished reading both articles and I discovered that it is 5:00 am! I guess that’s what you call ‘captivating’.

Dave

14

I put lights in the second floor operations room. Left the ground floor dark.