Good morning–
I believe that an outfit out of Pittsburgh, Union Switch and Signal, was the one primarily responsible for making the lower-quadrant semaphores. Are semaphores another disappearing trend, or is there any place in the US that still uses them, some out-of-the-way granger or branch line?
Riprap
There were two principal signal manufacturers in North America, Union Switch & Signal and General Railway Signal. Early manufacturers such as Hall and Federal were merged into US&S and GRS by the 1920s. Between them US&S and GRS usually split the orders 50-50. Most roads were either a US&S road or a GRS road with a few that bought from both. A major decline in business beginning in the 1950s led to significant retrenchment by both businesses and the signaling business they once virtually owned has gone to new competitors such as Safetrans and Raco. GRS was purchased by Alstom and US&S by Ansaldo.
Both US&S and GRS manufactured upper-quadrant and lower-quadrant semaphores. US&S is commonly associated with lower-quadrant semaphores by railfans because some of them lasted relatively late on Southern Pacific, that’s all.
There are very few semaphores remaining in the U.S. Branch lines were very rarely signaled as they did not have the traffic levels necessary to justify signaling. Some former main lines equipped with semaphores that were spun off to short lines still had semaphores at the time of the spinoff, such as Central Oregon & Pacific. It’s difficult to deactivate signaling because it requires approval of the federal government, but the expense of maintaining signals provides considerable incentive.
For a complete list of surviving semaphores in North America go to http://www.semaphores.com
S. Hadid
Thanks for your reply Mr. Hadid, interesting info.