(erielack) droping signals in front of trains

["Philip Martin" <martinpl3_@_earthlink.net>]

If you had a mechanical interlocking machine, like the one at Denville for instance, when you put the signal lever back, and it didn't go all the way, it was an indication that the train wasn't by it yet.  Then you'd snap the lever back up, and hope you'd get away with it.  If the engineer reported the signal flip, the maintainer would have to try to find the cause, unless you were man enough to admit you did it.
In the days before we had radios, if you had a train standing at your signal, and you wanted him to come on the phone, you'd flip the signal up and down several times, to get his attention.  Good idea to have the railroad lined up first, or you'd have to run the signal before you could put in your route.
Road foremen of engines sometimes drop signals in front of trains to test the reaction of engineers, believe it or not.
Philip Martin

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