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RE: (erielack) Ray Ruff

Phillip and listers,
   
  I know on the EL the clock release was not known as a Slow Release.  The time to GRIND off the release of the signal was to prevent immediate movement of any switches involved in a lined movement.  Depending on where the signal was physically located in the field and what it actually controlled determined the GRIND off time.  Some clocks were as short as 30 seconds.  Most were 2 to 4 1/2 minutes depending on the track speed approaching the interlocking route you were trying to change.  And believe me that was the longest 2 to 4 minutes you ever sweated out.  You just knew there was going to be a delay to some train.
   
  Once the timer ran down, a buzzer sounded to let the operator know he could set the signal back to the stop position.  The minute the operator or towerman dropped a signal (to show red in the field) the lever would not go back to it's original position until the clock timer mechanism ran out.  The only other way you could restore a signal to STOP or red was to have a train pass the signal after it was set for movement or drop the signal to stop before a train actually was on an approach circuit.  
   
  Dover for example when signal 38 was set for an Eastbound move on track 2 (this would be the Eastbound signal at Orchard Street) you could clear the signal to green from red any time you wanted until a train hit the approach circuit which was around the water works west of Dover.  Once that happened, if you tried to get the signal back to STOP to re-line for a different movement, you would need to Grind off the signal.  But, and here is the big BUT, by rule you could not take a signal away from a train that was on an approach unless you had some kind of communication with the crew, either by radio or wayside telephone.  Without communication you couldn't be sure the engineer could stop the train before passing the STOP signal.  
   
  Rich Pennisi  

Philip Martin <martinpl3_@_earthlink.net> wrote:
  Michael DeCarlo is asking what those things on the shelf above the levers
are. He may be refering to the slow releases. When you pull up a signal,
and a train hits the approch, the company doesn't want you to slam the
signal back and line up a conflicting move right away. You can always slam
a signal back in an engineer's face, especially if you get careless, but
the interlocking prevents you from getting the signal lever all the way
back, without running the slow release; so the route stays locked out until
you do. You can't rearrange the switches, or pull up an opposing signal. 
We had a true confession, a few weeks ago, from a lister who did that once
at Summit. But the maintainer had to pick the signal levers back for him
to do it. The slow release enables you to get the signal lever all the way
back, after an interval of from thirty seconds to several minutes,
depending on track speed and other safety factors, so you can rearrange
your routes. Those glass bell shaped objects in the photo, are slow
releases, and are attached to the model board. Each one has a wheel-like
handle sticking out of it, which is part of a clock type mechanism. To
actuate that kind of slow release, you give the handle a twist, to get it
off center; the signal drops, and the clock mechanism winds down. When it
is wound down, two contacts meet, and the mechanical interlocking mechanism
releases the signal lever, so you can get it all the way back, and then
take out your route. Don't forget to wind the slow release back up, after
you've gotten your lever back. There have been plenty of stopped trains
because operators didn't remember. 
There are various types of slow relases. They have different ways, of
doing the same thing. 
When I worked the North East Corridor in the early 70ies, and they got
really high speed trains, they changed the slow releases so you had to run
them down any time you pulled the signal up, whether there was a train on
the approch or not. Of course, when the circuit behind the signal is
actuated, as for instance, when a train passes it, the signal lever goes
right back, but you dan't rearrange the switches while the train is on
their circuits.
One question I have is how come all those white levers on the machine? At
most towers I worked at, painting a lever white indicated that it was out
of service. 
It is good to see Ray again. I e-mailed the picture to the dispatchers
office, where there are guys who knew him. 
Philip Martin 




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