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Jimmy Fiedler posted
John LaRochelle I understand switches and derails. What are "locks?" If I see semaphores in a picture, I assume they were also "armstrong" controlled.
Dennis DeBruler : 'Locks' where the blue colored pipe-connected levers that mechanically insured, thru a plunger at the switch or derail, that the switch or derail points where properly aligned for safe movement thru the switch or derail. In a pinch, a good tower operator would go down to the out of alignment switch/derail, and could use a spike puller as a fulcrum to move the point enough for the plunger to slide in, and then would be able to return to the tower to pull the signal lever. In a completely mechanical interlocking red colored levers were pipe connected. In an electro-mechanical interlocking the red levers activated relays to electrically power the signal. Large terminals and multiple track (3, 4, ,5, 6, etc., tracks sometimes utilized electro-pneumatic pistol grip interlocking. Switches and derails went over with a 'WHOOSH TICK". Sorry , I misspelled 'compensators', devices used to change the pipelines direction and force. Freezing rain wasn't much of a problem, but snow was definitely a pain the rear. Chicago Ridge used the old method, smudge pots to keep the switches and derails clear. Today, at manned/remotely controlled interlocking propane/natural gas burners are used. |
I had been calling the long things on the right that help connect the levers in the tower to the devices being controlled "signalling pipes." Then I saw a posting that indicated they were "rods" instead of "pipes." So I changed all of my postings that had "signalling pipes" to "signalling rods." When I saw a comment by someone who obviously had worked in a tower, I asked if they were pipes (hollow inside) or rods. John LaRochelle explained in the above posting that they were pipes and that the signal maintainers and other railroaders called them pipelines. Since a search for "pipeline" would trigger posts dealing with oil and other subjects, I'll use "signalling pipeline" for the first usage in a posting so that I can get more accurate search results.
Another example of a tower that controlled a large number of pipelines.
The device used to change the direction of a control line was called a 'compensator.' Below is a closeup of the one at the end of a pipeline from Tower NJ.
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| Excerpt from below |
Unfortunately, I can't go on a field trip and take a better picture of a compensator because most towers were converted from pipelines to electric and/or pneumatic control. And now even those towers are gone. Almost everything now is either controlled by a remote dispatcher setting at a computer or the conductor has to get out and throw the switches, derails, etc. themselves.
Update: Here is an array of compensators at the
Englewood Tower to control devices along the Rock Island tracks south of the tower.
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Most pictures from a tower are of a train, not the complexity of the infrastructure in the "armstrong" days. This would be looking westish across the RI and along the Pennsy. In the background are the bridge girders for 63rd Street. Imagine the labor it took to keep all of those pipelines clean and properly greased so that the leverman would be able to move all of that pipe and the turnout, signal, lock, etc at the end of the pipeline.
Richard Fiedler Our friend the late Rod Irwin worked second shift at Chicago Ridge and he was quite disgusted at the lack of proper care of the linkage and rollers. Seemed lubrication was a constant issue as well as alignment.
Dennis DeBruler Most photos from a tower are of the a train. I love this photo of the infrastructure that gives us some insight into the complexity (and maintenance headache) of the "armstrong" days.
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Below, I highlighted a couple of rows of brackets. In a Facebook comment, Richard Fiedler confirmed that the brackets held a roller under each pipeline to support it. He further explained that "bellcranks were used where the pipe changed directions."
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| Jerry J Johnston with highlights |
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HAER CONN,6-LYME,5--10
10. DETAIL OF PIPEWORK FOR OPERATION OF BRIDGE LOCKING SYSTEM - New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, Niantic Bridge, Spanning Niantic River between East Lyme & Waterford, Old Lyme, New London County, CT |
The bridge interlocking and signaling system, installed in November 1907, is
also of historical interest. Interlocking systems were devised to prevent the
throwing of switches or displaying of signals in such a manner as to allow
trains to collide or be derailed. At points where control of switches and
signals might be unsafe, unless limited in some manner, it became the practice
to interlock operating devices, switches and signals, so that their movements
must succeed each other in a predetermined order.The mechanical interlocking machine at Niantic is a Saxby and Farmer type,
dating to 1907. There are two dwarf signals, also Saxby and Farmer, located
between the two sets of tracks approximately 300 feet on either side of the
bridge. Twelve sets of this type of signal exist in the New Haven to Boston
communication system. The mechanical bridge locking mechanism includes
George T. Styles-type couplers and piping. Track circuit couplers are located
in boxes in the center of each set of tracks and are operated by the pipe-work
located along one side of the bridge.
I think this device reverses the direction of the movement of the pipeline.
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Richar S Eule posted
Grasselli Tower interlocking mechanism for the East Chicago belt switch. 08/95 |
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Jeff Picka posted
At the base of the interlocking tower located at Lydiard and Ararat Sts just outside of Ballarat Station, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. |
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