Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 221, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 September 1916 — CHANGES IN COLOR SCHEME [ARTICLE]

CHANGES IN COLOR SCHEME

Complete Alteration of Signal Indications Has Taken Place on the Pennsylvania Railroad.

A complete change in the color scheme of signal indications will be effected on the entire-Pennsylvania railroad system, both east and west of Pittsburgh, as soon as the necessary materials can be obtained. Orders for the required material are now being placed.

White lights are to be eliminated altogether as a signal indication. Green will replace white for “clear” or “proceed,” while a bright, distinctive yellow, visible at great distances, will be used for “caution,” Red will continue to mean “stop.” The elimination of white from the signal color scheme has been rendered desirable by the increasing use of w-hite lights of various kinds in buildings, driveways, roads and streets close or adjacent to the railroad’s right of way. The Pennsylvania railroad system, however, was unwilling to proceed with the change until a yellow glass could be obtained for the “caution” signals which would give a bright light at long distances and still would not be liable to be mistaken for white, and so confused with other, lights along the line of the railroad. Progress in the art of coloring glass, after years of experiments, has resulted in the*production of such glass. Adoption of the new signal system will mean the changing of hundreds of thousands of colored glasses and lenses. This will require considerable time for completion, especially as slow deliveries are to be expected owing to industrial conditions resulting from the European war. The proposed signal system has been tried out on the extreme eastern end of the New York division and has been found to work satisfactorily. It is also being adopted in portions of the country off the Pennsylvania railroad lines, so that desirable uniformity will be obtained.

No change is to be made on those short portions of the Pennsylvania railroad lines which are protected by “position light” signals, in which the various indications are given by rows of electric lights showing against a black background in the various positions of the semaphore arms.