The Premise

SASME has a double ended yard that is effectively split in the middle to model both ends of a larger railroad system.  Effectively, everything leaving the half of the yards "not modeled" is going off layout, so we put the system split down the middle.  In the west we have Friberg and in the East we have Indian Springs.

My adventure began when I found this little cantilever signal bridge at the trainshow in an odds box. Turns out, it works - save for the one head that has been trounced.  But a little work and I determined it would be perfect, particularly as it bore a "West Yard" label and indeed, we'd be entering Indian Springs yard from the west.

Recently we added a Phone system to the railroad, which is still gaining use.  But I got to thinking; if I ask the yard master for permission to enter the yard, and he has a bunch of chores to finish before he lets me in, he's not going to sit there on the phone with me nor is he going to call be back.  He can't holler, either.  Worse, perhaps he mumbles something into the phone and I misinterpret his commands - it'd be may day! 

But now if he had the means to call the yard tower and give me visual permission to enter his yard, he'd have it made!

So I set about designing a signal system to protect the yard - or rather yards, as my plan soon expanded to encompass the East entrance to Friberg yard as well.

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Teaser Suspended in lieu of the Full Monty!

So I started with the easy part: the cantilever signal tower.  If anybody can Identify who made this and what they called it, I'd appreciate the information so I can find more!

The Yard effectively "begins" under the overpass, whereas there are dual passing sidings right before this point, in front of the station.

Hence, this signal is right at home.

Now my initial thought is I'd simply pass the wires along the deck to a plug under the shack, but as I got to thinking about it, I've since changed my plan.  For one, my plan to make a removable base foundation has worked perfectly, hence the signal is easy to remove but it's stiff enough that it doesn't fall over in the wind

I then went back and took a closer look at the LED, whereas I was expecting they were all dead. Imagine my surprise when 5 out of 6 still work, and the 6th is just a wire short!!!  But my victory was short lived, as the 5th was bundled with the 6th, and the bad wire was not going to be fixable.  So I opened up a bag of LEDs I had sitting around and rebuilt the lights.

Once i had the upstairs done, I used some pin connectors from Litchfield station to build the plug and socket for the base.  This enables easy removal should the signal need to be removed for painting, weathering, or other such maintenance.  I painted one side orange to remind myself which side carries the wire that connects to the red side of the LED assembly, the orange wires.

I went back to the layout and put up a power supply [a bachmann wall wart] and tested my unit post operation: it works!

Now this covers Indian Springs, but I still have Friberg to contend with.  I don't have a second cantilever signal, but I do have a Bachmann double track signal bridge here.  But I only need it for a single track...

A quick set of cuts here and there...

...and I have a single track bridge!!

I then set about retrofitting my LEDs to the signal heads.  My LEDs are a little smaller in diameter, but I made a collar out of styrene.  It will work for now.

The beauty of this structure is that it's entirely discardable.  A new Bachmann signal bridge is a dime a dozen, while the LEDs/signal heads can all be redone with ease.  No headaches here!

That accomplishes the easy stuff up on the surface...

Underground...

So, I don't yet have a picture of what's underground, but I drew up this handy schematic of my wiring to illustrate what exactly will be going on done there when I'm done.

I am using spades and barrier strips at all key points, hence if I wanted to I could remove any one component and any time for upgrades.  This is key because the signal system may change in the future.

The single most important detail in this picture is the positive and negative side of my power supply.

Note also that my circuit is essentially three parallel sets of two diodes in series.  Hence, I'll throw a resister in there, once i figure out how big I need it to be, and if it's the wrong size [aka I need more or less resistance] I can simply change it out for a bigger one!  the nice thing is, I have a tolerance of about 100% before the diodes blow [the system is happy right now with the power pack set to 1 volt], and as I turn the voltage up, the green LEDs turn orange.  Hence, I have a visual indication that I'm getting too hot, before the LED blows!

Symbologywise, the D stands for Dispatcher - He's the owner of the Railroad, so if that signal is red, the railroad shuts down. The Y and M are controlled by the Yardmaster, hence he can display a signal providing permission to enter the yard, and he also has the ability to allow "through" trains [staging passing on to Friberg] to pass by on the Main, hence if he wishes to foul the main, he can display that intent.

Perhaps all signals should be controlled by the dispatcher, but I felt my Yard Nazis would really appreciate retaining at least SOME control now that we have this newfangled Dispatcher running the phone system!

I will say I prefer MS 2000 Powerpoint to MS 2007 Powerpoint, but I think it came out just fine.

Another Gift from the Lasercutter

So now I set down to make my panels, and to make them I simply drew them up in Sketchup, to scale, and used my software to export them.  The big discovery last night is I finally figured out why my text was not exporting correctly when I used FlightofIdeas to export my Sketchup selections into Inkscape.  now that i have the gremlin beat, Gremilins Beware!!!

I then cut them out...all three took maybe 5 minutes, max, after I burned about a test panel and realized I forgot to draft the holes for the screws that hold in the DPDT switches.  These switches may be overkill now, but they allow for ample expansion/upgrades in the future, depending on where this goes.  But once the file was fixed, the cutting was over before I knew it.

I then went and assembled the final product - it took all of a minute to get them done!

These panels are only temporary, so I needed some clamps to hold them onto the layout...tada, clothespins!

Here's the Indian springs panel in place on the layout.  The permanent panel would ideally be located up in the fascia, but for now, this panel provides all the feedback I need for testing and for planing the permanent panels.

So with my panels assembled,

So with my panels assembled, I though I'd throw them up and put power to the wire and see what I have!

Here's Indian Springs, all ready to go...

And here's Frieburg...I need to go back and check the spelling, me thinks!!

Indian Springs, up close and personal. The little holes are perfectly boared firmly hold the Indication LEDs, hence no adhesives will be needed to hold them in.

I then threw the master switch...

IT WORKS!!!!

Oh, but we all knew that it would...

Up next, the Tower on the East end of Friburg...which will have to wait perhaps a little bit, while I procure the proper ROW...this side is easy, seeing as how I can remove everything with no effort at all. The other end, that will be a little more obvious...

Works, but...

It doesn't make any sense.

Not the least of which is you've got a double track signal bridge with two signals for a single track. So in that last photo, the existing track has a red Stop signal, and the green Clear signal would apply to a track that doesn't exist...

Seems like a fun project, but

Seems like a fun project, but as mentioned... why the double track signal for the single track?

Re: Chris

I was wondering if it was just me.  The non-standard nature of this makes the head placement confusing.  This isn't to say the prototype doesn't do some funky things for signalling approaches to yards.  The WP yard at Oroville, CA had this thing known as the "Christmas Tree" which had several searchlight signal heads, one at the top of the mast and others along the sides which were used to designate track assignments.

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You guys have skipped right over the explanation for each light.  And indeed, there will be three light sets when it's done, not just the two displayed.

The track diverges just beyond the bridge, with one track entering the yard and one track taking the main.  I placed this signal where it can be seen from the passing siding just before the bridge, seeing as how it'd be too late for inbound trains to clear the main once they are under the bridge, if the yard is indeed sending something unscheduled [like a local] out of the yard.

The light to the left is the Main.  The light in the middle is the Yard.  These two are controlled by the Yard Nazi, seeing as how he's intent on controlling his yard and he's liable to use the main now and then when his yard gets too busy.  The Light on the Right will be managed by Dispatch. 

A green light on the Dispatch signal essentially means one may proceed on the railroad, while a red light means one must stay put, even if the main or the yard are displaying green signals.  Dispatch may leave his light green at all times, or he may turn this light red after each passing train, turning it green only after the train has OSed,

The main purpose for turning it red, through, would be in the event of a large wreck or other calamity further up stream.  Another option is that he may use this local signal to halt a train if there's something more coming down the pipes ahead [such as a hot express, a wreck train, or any unscheduled train not on the schedule] and thus use this signal to interrupt the regularly scheduled routes.  Ideally, he'd have one of these signals at every passing siding throughout the route, but that is beyond the scope of this project at the moment.

Hence, as the signal currently displays, the main is clear but inbound trains do not have permission to enter the yard.  Further, the Dispatch signal has been removed for maintenance, hence one would have to refer to their local orders to ensure they have permission to proceed [they must contact the Dispatcher at the OS station].

Incidentally enough, with the Main and Dispatch signals being on the outboard positions, it would not matter if you as the engineer knew right off if the green or red light was Main or Dispatch.  If Dispatch displays Red but the Main displays green, and the engineer reads it in reverse [Main as Red, Dispatch as Green], he stops; if he reads it as Main displays Green and Dispatch displays Red, he still has to stop because Dispatch has not given him permission to run further along the route. 

The center Yard light will always display Red until the Yard Nazi determines the inbound train may enter his yard, but even if he leaves it green the inbound train must stop and OS Dispatch and then notify the yard operator that he is coming into the yard, per operating rules.  Further, since the yard master has control of the main signal, the engineer can always ask to verify that the signal reads as he thinks it read ["the main is red?"].  If the yard master tells him "no, the main is green," then the engineer knows the red signal belongs to dispatch and he has to clear it before he can move.

Hence, as an operator you really don't need to know if the main is on the left or if the yard is on the right, the yard is always in the middle and to use the main, both ends have to be green.

So that's how I set up the signal.  It's logical enough even a caveman could understand it...

Didn't skip anything...

No, I saw that, it's just that the non-standard head arrangement is just odd to make sense of at a glance if you're used to typical CTC or ABS practices.  Like I said above, it's not as if the prototype doesn't have some strange signals here and there.  They're usually pretty obviously non-standard to prevent confusion though, and usually aren't combined with something like a dispatcher controlled absolute hold signal or other standard signal type - those would typically be kept on their own masts in clearly separate locations. 

Throw some clear signage on this one so there's no confusing it with a normal arrangement and that should help the crews.  If the dispatcher controlled head represents some kind of hold signal, it would probably have to display a letter A to indicate "absolute" so nobody could pass unless authority to do so was specifically granted.

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There will likely be a sign under each light for labeling purposes, but I have to repaint it first - hence they aren't hung yet! 

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Benny has used "modelers license" to control the railroad, not prototypical standards. Beats shouting the order across the room. I think he also said the operators know what the signals stand for in their rule book. Am I right Benny?

Bernd

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Indeed, there'll be sufficient information for engineers to read the signals.

The prototype may use lots of distance between dispatcher lights and track lights, but here's where a little selective compression neatly puts it all on one mast.  And while there are prototypes, the prototype had a wide and diverse array of arrangements.  The most important part of any signaling system is that it fills the requirements of the local route in a logical manner that remains consistent across the road.  The "System" itself would be ideal for single signals for the dispatcher. whereas in those locations he's also the rule over the main.

The phone system is far better than shouting across the room, and I feel the signal system is better than sitting on the phone with the dispatcher/yard nazis, or then shouting across the room to come into the yard. 

I also feel the signal system gives the operator a greater sense of purpose on the model railroad, hence without him on the panel, trains will not run [if he returns the signals to red after each passing train].  Finally, it gives operators on the road something visual to verify when and where they can run - which alleviates issues for everybody.

Signals

Benny

You can still achieve what you want and have a prototypical look by simply stacking one set of signals on top of the other.  Its your road so do as you please.

To give you and others some ideas on what the prototype did and currently does here are some sites I found by simply doing a Google search by typing in the road name with railroad signals  Here are some of the sites I found.

http://www.angelfire.com/nj3/njrail/dlwsignals.html      Lackawanna Railroad

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_vogel/sets/72157605030524207/  Erie Railroad

http://www.railroadsignals.us/rulebooks/icg85/index.htm  Illinois Central Gulf Railroad

http://www.lundsten.dk/us_signaling/aspects_up1988/  Union Pacific

http://www.railroadsignals.us/rulebooks/co58/co58.htm C&O Railroad

Useful Prototypes?

Since this is a non-standard type of installation, typical prototype practices for those won't necessarily illustrate how this might work.  The example I gave earlier of the WP's signals at the west end of Oroville is the one case I can think of for a one-off that shows something like this.

Photo credit Tim Repp, Rail Pctures.net.  Click on the image for the original host site.

Here's the west entrance to the controlled siding (i.e. dispatcher controlled trackage) at Oroville.  The signal at right is the absolute signal (hence the letter A plate) governing authority to use the siding - it would be controlled by the dispatcher via the CTC system (WP called it TCS for Traffic Control System).  The funky thing at left is the "Christmas Tree" which was used to show crews what track to use when entering the yard. It doesn't conform to any sort of standard installation so it's kept separate.  There's no milepost or letter A plate, plus it's on the "wrong" side of the main in the era before railroads were allowed to place signals on the left from the direction of approach.  The arrangement makes it clear the Christmas Tree isn't there to confer any authority.

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Thank you Rob, that example is most useful!  I'll be sure to get the A plate [or 'Dispatch" sign] under the Dispatch signal set!  It does help!

Don, I would stack signals if they were stacked.  However, this is what my shop foreman found and at a terrific rate, and they only have three sets of two lights each - and the lights are only one color.  So stacking is simply out of the question, and while it would be nice if they were Red-Green-White LEDs, they are single colors, so that is what we have.  As it is, as they are set it really simplifies the wiring nicely!!

My experience looking at prototype shows that each railroad used their lights/signals as they needed to use them to accomplish the job.  Here's the beauty of freelancing: there's no set reason to do something just because "those people over there" do it that way.

As it is, what I have done here is selectively compress the signals on this line into one bridge and place it in a position that is governed more by practicality than by form:  any other position along this line, for the full two train lengths back, is real estate where there is a high volume of foot traffic, aka anything in this area will experience a high level of abuse from people walking by the layout or placing things on the layout.  Hence, it's right next to the road bridge as it is, the effective "yard limit," almost within the protection of the plexiglass.

It'll work well, I do believe.  Tonight we had an ops session, but we were unfortunately short operators so we didn't have the full effect as we did a couple weeks ago when the Desert Ops function rolled through town. 

A better way

Benny,

To make it more prototypical, simply put the yard lead control signal head under the main signal .....  so for the main line you would have a green over red ..... for the yard, red over green (though red over yellow would be better in this case....) 

But, as mentioned, it's your railroad. 

Skip (retired railroader) 

My thoughts exactly: stack 'em

That was my first thought, too. The way it's laid out, it's more automobile signal practice than train signal practice.

Stacking the signal heads with the main on top and the yard on the bottom suddenly makes a lot of sense out of something that otherwise doesn't feel railroady.

While there is always the "prototype for everything" excuse, I feel you generally get a lot more bang for your buck on your layout if you try to model the more typical than to have a layout full of exceptions. So if I can figure out a more typical approach, I will generally opt for it than the "prototype for everything" cop out.

A better way