RAILFAN GUIDES HOME Signals can be mounted in
a number of ways: Here are examples:
Baltimore MD - Bailey's Wye /
Ridgely St This signal bridge is typical of what
the B&O used when they installed CPL signals over a multitrack mainline.
This particular one is in downtown Baltimore, just west, or south of Bailey's
Wye at Ridgely Street. For more CPL pix:
https://railroadsignals.us/signals/CPL/cpl.htm
Baltimore MD / Landsdowne -
Gable Ave This cantilever signal bridge is
located at the south end of a yard located on the south side of Baltimore....
West Yard on the old B&O, now CSX. Gable Avenue used to cross the
mainline, but not since the late 50's or early 60's. Before they replaced
the CPL signals with color lights back in 2007, it used to be a great place to
take pictures. Pictures by Michael Watnoski. It's on this map, just
to the right of Patapsco Ave:
https://railroadsignals.us/baltimore/map6.htm
Picture taken from the Patapsco Ave overpass.. This track is the old New York Central
mainline that stretches between New York City and Buffalo NY, and was a four
track main for most of the trip in the old days. But as you can clearly
see, down in the Corfu set, only two tracks survive in most places. A cantilever bridge adjacent to CSX's
Frontier yard off Broadway St (NY 130), just west of I90. Corfu NY Near Corfu NY at mp 413 is this bridge, typical of them all
along this line. Depew NY These pictures were taken from the Depew Amtrak station.
1 - 6 are looking east.... the proceed in
pictures 4 & 5 is for the Amtrak train in 3. Picture 6 shows you how the
signals go dark after the train has passed, or is not in the following block,
whether approaching or going away from you. 7 - 9 are looking west, and 10
- 13 are close-ups of the far bridge were looking at in 7-9. Pictures 7 -
8 - 9 show several different aspects before and after an Amtrak train went thru
and the switches got lined up for the next move. This is a very good
railfan spot, and the Amtrak people do not bother you while on the platform as
they do in places (for instance) like on the Northeast Corridor.
This map is from Stephen Titchenal, and is from his website:
http://www.railsandtrails.com/Maps/Buffalo/ I also found this railfan guide to Buffalo, but there
doesn't seem to be much on it:
http://www.buffalotrains.com/ I came across this article dated Sep 5th, 2009:
http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/641363.html The track between Camden and Trenton
New Jersey is used by both CSX and the NJT's River Light Rail line.
Colorlights signals are used exclusively. Here's a few cantilever type
signal bridges south of Bordentown. Some of the shots are at Dulty's Lane,
including the crossing gate. The far signals in the right picture are at
Neck Rd, where CSX has a small yard, shown on the bottom row of pix. Located halfway between Fairfax and
Manassas VA, is this quaint little spot called Clifton - located here is a
double track signal bridge on the former Southern Railway (now NS).
Mike Turner of South Carolina informs me that this signal
bridge was made of
Southern Railway boxcar sills. Of the two construction styles I know
about, mostly welded and mostly riveted, the photos show one mostly riveted. The
mostly welded version has smaller gussets as the diagonal member. The mostly
riveted style has the longer diagonals. Traincat has a model that's a good
starting point for this style bridge. Thanks for the info, that's good
stuff! This classic signal bridge in Gastonia is located just off interstate 85 at exit 19, Ozark Ave. South from 85, Ozark turns into Long,
keep going south to Rhyne St and take a left, and another left at the tracks, go north along the tracks till you can't go 'no further. These signal
bridges are located in Kennesaw GA, off S Main St NW, aka, old Hwy 41..... Main
St splits off from Cobb Parkway, just north of Barrett Parkway. Kennesaw
is next to Marietta, and is also home to the Southern Museum of Civil War and
Locomotive History (it's off Cherokee St NW, just north of this signal
location..... The museum's best exhibit is the Western & Atlantic's
General steam locomotive #3). It is on the old L&N route between Atlanta
and Nashville TN, and is now owned by CSX. This line sees a lot of
traffic. Downtown Marietta is a good place for pix, in both directions,
and between here and downtown Marietta, is the home base for the Georgia
Northeast RR (if you go south on old 41 till it "T's" with Church St Ext NE,
take a right, and in a short distance, take another right onto Loudermilk, then
a left on Marr Ave... the shops will be on your right). These signal bridges protect a crossover, and are of the
cantilever type. The equipment is manufactured by MI in Louisville KY. For more info on the museum:
http://www.southernmuseum.org/
Unrelated, but next to the signal bridge is this sign for
close clearance on the siding. This signal bridge is on the former SR
(now NS) in Manassas VA... guess the sun wasn't in my favor
:-( Here are a few pictures of a couple of colorlight
installations on the UP up in Nebraska. Three are from west North Platte,
the one on the right is in West Hershey. Looks like they use approach
lighting, as only one of the four heads on the cantilever bridges is lit.
Images are copyrighted by Joseph Hoevet, and are used with his permission.....
Many Thanks! North Platte is home to the largest classification rail
yard in the world, and is one of the few places that a railroad has put up a
place to watch the operations, here are just a few of the links I came across: This is a new signal bridge, having
been placed into service after CSX removed several crossovers in front of the
old (closed) HX tower in Halethorpe, extended one of the tracks down to the MARC
station in St Denis. They then subsequently removed two CPL signal bridges
on either side of the crossovers (seen below thru the new bridge). The
upper set is from Washington Blvd looking towards Baltimore with the pix on the
right at the station. Top row of pix are by Michael Watnoski. Here are several signal bridges on
the west side of Union Station. This part of the continent seemed to have
favored GRS searchlights, as the photos from the Buffalo area above can attest
to. Pictures are in no particular order. This set shows you that not every
signal bridge is a railroad structure. These signals are mounted to the
hotel overpass at the Renaissance hotel, off Blue Jay Way. Again, GRS
searchlight signals. New: 10/6/2006
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME
This page is about railroad signal bridges, and pictures of them.
In General
CPL Signal Bridges:
Baltimore MD - Ridgely St
Baltimore MD - Gable Ave
PL Signal Bridges:
Baltimore / Halethorpe MD *
Perryville MD *
Searchlight Signal Bridges:
Batavia to Buffalo NY
Toronto ON
Color Light Signal Bridges:
Bordentown NJ
Clifton VA
Gastonia NC
Kennesaw GA
Manassas VA
North Platte NE
St Denis MD
Locations with an asterisk are on another page
1) Mounted on a piece of pipe, called a mast.
2) Mounted on the ground, as a dwarf signal is.
3) Mounted on a signal bridge, which crosses all of the
tracks and has a support on both sides of the tracks.
4) Mounted on "half of a signal bridge", in what is
called a Cantilever Signal Bridge.
5) Two (maybe three, but not very common) signals
mounted to a single mast, but using a horizontal bar to separate them.
This is called a Bracket Post.
A typical signal bridge over two tracks. There used to
be a 4-track mainline here. This one is on the NYC in upstate New York
near Batavia.
A two-track signal bridge over the former Southern Rwy in
Gastonia NC.
A cantilever signal bridge in Toronto ON.
A classic cantilever signal bridge on the ex C&O Rwy in
Sandston VA, behind the Richmond airport.
A bracket post installation in Doswell VA, protecting the
diamond there. This is on the CSX/former RF&P mainline.
A standard single head installation on a mast, in Spencer NC
on the ex SR (now NS). This signal was replaced by a huge signal bridge in
2011.
Dwarf signal installations, left and middle are in Doswell VA,
the right is on the light rail system in Charlotte NC.
Not all dwarf signal installations are on the ground, the left
picture is a PL dwarf at the Perryville Wye in Perryville MD.
The photo on the right is a B&O dwarf CPL mounted to the
side of a standard signal mast - very unusual - it's in Delaware near the
Wilmington & Western RR.
This bridge is on my Baltimore map at:
https://railroadsignals.us/baltimore/map15.htm
The signal
bridge pictured here is on the east side of Clifton VA, with great morning sun,
as this photo was taken around 9am, I believe this is the eastbound
Crescent.
They even have a
general store still standing and N&W caboose # 518590 sits next to the
tracks.
http://www.visitnorthplatte.com/GoldenSpikeTower.cfm
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/facilities/bailey/index.shtml
http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/facilities/bailey/byhistor.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bailey_Yard
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g45737-d613079-Reviews-Union_Pacific_Railroad_Bailey_Yard-North_Platte_Nebraska.html
http://www.nebraskabeautiful.com/western-nebraska-tourism/41-union-pacific-railroads-bailey-yard-north-platte-nebraska.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om3BrK8fkE8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oEcV3FWWt8
Last
Mod: 12-Dec-2016