(erielack) Signals

[Wdburt1_@_aol.com]

Comments on several points that have been raised:

I have seen references to a 1.8 mile standard, based on freight and passenger 
train stopping distances in the 1920s and '30s.  There were many variations 
due to curvature, sight distance, and so on.

This standard (really more of a guideline) then fell apart over the years.  
During the signal era the desired freight train length grew from 100 to 150 
cars, braking technology improved, some sidings were lengthened, some sidings 
were retired, and so on.  Often the pre-existing blocks were rearranged in the 
least expensive manner consistent with safety, resulting in some unusual 
situations like having two eastward signals in a block having only one westward 
signal.  These changes accelerated with the retirement of many sidings during the 
1960s and '70s.

Many of the Erie Railroad color light signals were installed in the 1920s and 
1930s, and may have replaced earlier signals about which little information 
exists other than cryptic references on the valuation maps.  On the Allegany 
Division, for instance, the old main line had featured a system of closely 
spaced block towers since 1893.  Most of the towers were retired after the River 
Line opened in 1910.  I believe I have seen references to signals (probably 
lower quadrant semaphores) that were then installed on the old main line.  In 1926 
or so, CB Junction to Salamanca got the US&S triangular pattern color light 
signals that started this discussion.  In 1930, the old main line got US&S 
color light signals of the "traffic light" type, and this is probably when the 
Absolute Permissive Block (APB) system was adopted on this line.  In 1942 the 
River Line finally got automatic block signals  supplementing block towers at 
River Junction, Fillmore, Belfast, and CB Junction.  They were of the US&S 
searchlight type, which it appears that the Erie and many other railroads had 
adopted as a standard for new installations due to its superior visibility at long 
distances.  The system was upgraded to TCS in 1945, resulting in the closure of 
the Fillmore and Belfast towers.

The strategy we can infer is that CB to Salamanca, which had the heaviest 
traffic, got signals first, then the old main line (for passenger safety), and 
finally the hard-working but freight-only River Line.

The 1930 and 1942-45 installations were of standard designs promulgated by 
the joint C&O, Erie, NYC&StL, PM Advisory Committee on Way and Structures.

Regarding signal numbering, my understanding is that:

Signal 277-1 would be the first westward signal between MP 277 and 278.
Signal 277-2 would be the first eastward signal.
Signal 277-1B would be the second westward signal between MP 277 and 278.
Signal 277-2B would be the second eastward signal.

Conrail substituted the PRR (?) system, using 277E and 277W.  I don't know 
what they did if they had a second signal in the same mile.  

While we're on the subject of PRR vs. Erie usages, it appears to me that the 
Erie had no system at all for designating what we would now call a controlled 
point.  Interlockings were often just shown as a station (Waterboro, for 
instance).  There was also no consistency in distinguishing junctions from other 
interlockings.  PRR, conversely, had a system which, it appears, largely served 
as the basis for Conrail's useful conventions for naming these things.

Erie signal numbering continued westward past Salamanca using Jersey City 
based mileages.  For instance, westward signal 444-1 on the east side of 
Jamestown was located just east of MP S 32 (31 miles from the Main Street underpass at 
Salamanca, which was MP JC 412.60).  Offhand, I do not recall what they did 
on the Graham Line, the River Line, or the Columbus & Erie, all of which were 
longer than the original main lines they supplanted.

The old US&S round color light signals should not be confused with the 
Safetran equipment that Conrail installed.

WDB


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