CPL signals and how they operate

NW Mailing List nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org
Wed Feb 5 19:34:30 EST 2020


As a Planning Department employee for a major passenger railroad I have to
say my favorite signals are NORAC Rule 562 Cab No Wayside Signaling.
Especially with Go No Go signaling at Interlockings.  Yes it is boring for
train fans and has a heavy requirement for functioning cab signal equipment
but the level of flexibility it gives to signal design and ease of creating
huge capacity with short signal blocks is tremendous.  Long live pulse
coded track circuits.

John Rhodes

On Wed, Feb 5, 2020, 7:14 PM NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

>
>
>
>
>
> One additional observation.  In the early days, Distant Signals were first
> used in NON-Automatic Block territory.
> ____________________________________________________________________
>
> Into the 1970s, this practice continued on the former VGN and in two
> sections of the
> Nickel Plate between Frankfort and East St. Louis.  At the west end of
> most VGN
> passing sidings, there was a spring switch allowing trains to leave the
> siding without
> having to stop to let the crew on the caboose line the switch for main
> track movement.
> The turnout was supposed to reline after the train left the siding.  The
> distant signal
> for eastbounds displayed "clear" if the turnout was lined for main track
> movement.
> It offered NO block signal protection. Remember that after the 1959
> merger, VGN
> was still  a timetable and train order operation Virso to Norfolk Terminal.
>
> Same applied on NKP,  Except for a small amount of ABS territory, it was a
> timetable and train order operation west of Frankfort.  W. E. Ruby was an
> NKP
> official (and later Supt. - Pittsburgh Div.)  This is how he conducted signal
> tests--
> he'd consult with the dispatcher to determine meeting points. On arrival
> at the meeting
> point, he'd get his crow bar and hide in the bushes.  After the train
> left the siding, he'd
> rush from the bushes, put the crow bar against the main track rail so that
> the
> switch point wouldn't close after the train cleared.  If the crew of the
> departing train
> failed to look back to see that the distant signal had cleared, they were
> in trouble for
> not notifying that the signal had malfunctioned OR that the spring switch
> had failed to
> realign.                                                        Harry Bundy
>
> P. S. When moving from signaled to non-signaled territory, what is the
> aspect
>         displayed on the last signal ?
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