Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 15 February 1916 — LATE SIGNAL SYSTEM [ARTICLE]

LATE SIGNAL SYSTEM

METHOD DOES AWAY WITH USE OF THE SEMAPHORE. White Electric Lights on a Black Background Are Being Used by a Prominent Eastern Railroad — Said to Work Well. Semaphores are done away with and the standard semaphore indications are given by white electric lights mounted on a black background in a new system of block signals now being installed on an eastern railroad. The lights are so arranged on the board that the three positions of a semaphore arm, horizontal, diagonal, and vertical, are Imitated by the rows of lights, and these signals are used by day as well as by night. Two boards, corresponding to two semaphore arms, are used for each track, the upper board constituting the stop signal and the lower board the cautionary signal. When a train enters the block the horizontal row of lights on each board is lighted, giving the -stop signal to any following train. When the train passes out of the block, which is 3,500 feet long, the horizontal row on the upper board is lighted, while the lights on the lower board remain horizontal! This is the cautionary signal, meaning “Proceed, prepared to stop at next signal.” After the train reaches the third block ahead, the lower board. If no other train has entered the block in the meantime, also changes to the diagonal row of lights, Indicating that the track is clear for three block ahead. — Popular Mechanics Magazine.