Great topic

Out-of-commission TO signals were a common sight in the 50's and 60's as railroads reduced operator positions, expanded CTC etc.  A nice photo of a semaphore-style TO signal with blades removed can be found at http://www.gn-npjointarchive.org/GNCascadeDivision- scroll down to GN_1953_CabRide and see slide 14 at Winton, WA.

Concrete base

Hey Tom:

Great article, so nice to see this kind of articles!

Whats the dimensions of the concrete base? I need to figure out how to make them for my signals.

How did you weather the concrete?

Re: Concrete Base

Randy-

Thanks for the comments. The dimensions of the bases vary from a scale 3' x 3' to almost 4' x 4'. This is because I'm using the C.C. Crow bridge piers and I cut them from top to bottom. I can get 2- maybe 3 bases from each casting, depending upon the length of each one, I usually have the top of the base level with the top of the rail. Depending upon the location, the height of the base has varied from a little over 1' to just over 4'. 

For weathering, I first apply a wash of India ink and 70% rubbing alcohol (one drop of ink in a film canister of alcohol). I then apply burnt umber, raw sienna and ivory black artist's acrylics to finish the process.

Tom 

Great Detail

Another well executed submission from Tom. It's little details like this that really make a layout come to life and gives your railroad a sense of history. Nicely done!

Train Order Signal

Most excellent article!

I am going to give this a try for my layout. Thank you for sharing this with me.

Dan Harriman