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From: roma@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU
Newsgroups: net.railroad
Subject: Re: Pennsy signals are called ...
Message-ID: <16900015@uiucuxc>
Date: Mon, 27-Jan-86 01:27:00 EST
Article-I.D.: uiucuxc.16900015
Posted: Mon Jan 27 01:27:00 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 30-Jan-86 00:39:25 EST
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Nf-From: uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU!roma    Jan 27 00:27:00 1986


> Okay.  My favorite signals were/are on the Chicago and North Western
> railroad.  They used semaphores (with moving parts, unlike the Pennsy
> position signals you describe) with a red, yellow and green lens in
> the moving portion.  The reason I wrote "were/are" in the above sentence
> is that the North Western has replaced their semaphores on the line
> going past my parents' house in Milwaukee with your standard "traffic
> light" type color signal.  But I've continued to see semaphores around
> Chicago.  I imagine it's only a matter of time before all of them are gone.
> 
> Carl Blesch

There are indeed plenty of semaphores on the C&NW in Chicago.  Though they
ripped out one of the three mains between Clybourn and Canal (in Evanston) on
the main line to Milwaukee, I believe they retained the semaphores in the area.
But by far the most abundant supply of semaphores I have ever seen is in the
approach to the Chicago Passenger Terminal.  Sadly, the grand old station was
demolished in 1984; however, the semaphores remain.

No matter how many times I'm there, I never fail to be impressed.  The station
itself has 16 tracks.  Departing movements from the station pass two dwarf
signals which are really semaphores.  They consist of white disks with a
red stripe through the center, giving the impression of a semaphore blade.
This disk is rotated as would a 'real' semaphore to give the appropriate
positional and color indication.  After passing two such dwarf signals,
outbound trains pass two or three regular signal bridges as the throat narrows 
to eight (or is it six?) tracks.  Each track is governed by three-head (!)
semaphores.  And there are more of the same on each track for inbound movements!

Just out of the station, the lead tracks split into two main lines of four
tracks each.  All this takes place on a curve, but is unfortunately relatively
inaccessable because the tracks are elevated at this point.  But it's worth
checking out.  The C&NW's Chicago Terminal is one of my all-time favorite
railroad spots -- because of the multiple iron, dozens of semaphores, the neat
old 1911-era terminal building with its arched and green-tiled ceiling, and
the scores of yellow and green F7's and E8's hauling matching bi-level trains
on short headways during rush hour.  The terminal building is gone along with
the F's and most of the E's and the green- and yellow-painted cars, but the
station is still a busy and interesting place.  This is where I first remember
entering Chicago and I subsequently spent a good portion of my teenage years
there watching trains.  Needless to say, lots of memories....

As an aside, some roads used notched vs. square semaphore blades to
differentiate between block and home signals.  C&NW does so by staggering the
heads of signals (whether semaphore or other) for block signals and aligns
them vertically for home (interlocking) signals.  Thus, when a stop indication
is encountered, it is a 'Stop and Stay' indication if the red lights are in
line with each other or a 'Stop and Proceed' indication if the red lights are
out of line.  (For interlocking signals requiring only one head, a dummy head
consisting of a red signal is posted.)  Also, block signals have number plates,
while interlocking signals do not.  This is fairly standard practice.

Jon Roma
Computing Services Office, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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