Train Order Boards

[NW Mailing List]

I don't think that ABS (Automatic Block System) was in service when this picture was made of Rileyville station on the Shenandoah Division's Hagerstown District.  The picture is from the N&W's Valuation files (see footnote) in the N&WHS Archives, and the inventory of Rileyville station was done Dec. 11, 1916, followed by the cost estimate on Jun. 21, 1917.  The photo accompanied the inventory and estimate in the file, so it is almost certainly from that era. But, Mason Cooper's book on the Shenandoah Division states that the manual block system on the Hagerstown District was not replaced by an automatic block signal system until Nov. 10, 1924, when the automatic train control (ATC) system was activated.

So, the two top semaphore arms in the picture were manual block signals obviously operated by the operator from within the station, and the two bottom arms were train order signals likewise operated by the operator (see the attached diagrams from an N&W operating rule book effective Apr. 1, 1917, in N&WHS Archives, particularly the bottom left of Page 180).

Gordon Hamilton

Footnote:  The congressional Railroad Valuation Act of March 1, 1913, required the railroads to inventory and place a value on each piece of property that a railroad owned because the Interstate Commerce Commission set rates based on a "reasonable" return on the value of a railroad's property, and some people thought that the railroads inflated the value of their property in order get higher rates approved by the ICC.

 Most of the inventorying was done between 1915 and 1920.  The railroads had to inventory everything, e.g., the volume of cuts and fills on the their rights of way, the number of joint bars in the tracks, shop machinery, office equipment, etc.  In the case of the Rileyville station, the inventory included such items as:
    1 Water bucket        3 gal        $0.26
    2 Chairs, std.                             1.22 ea.
    1 Cuspidor                                0.36
    1 Seth Thomas clock                12.50 (Would be a bargain today)
    2 Coal hods                                0.35 ea.
    1 Dipper                                     0.10
    Etc.
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: NW Mailing List 
  To: 'NW Mailing List' 
  Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 4:22 PM
  Subject: RE: Train Order Boards


  No, look in your old rule books to see the standard aspects used for train order boards.  This aspect is for ABS.  Rolih 

   

  From: nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org [mailto:nw-mailing-list-bounces at nwhs.org] On Behalf Of NW Mailing List
  Sent: Monday, September 20, 2010 4:19 PM
  To: NW Mailing List
  Subject: Re: Train Order Boards

   

   

  To answer the question from Jimmy Lisle last week:
  Train order board blades had two end styles; concave for Automatic Block territory and square for Manual Block territory.
  Gary Rolih 

  So Gary, are you trying to say that in the photo in question, that there are both types on the same pole?

  Jimmy

  http://www.nwhs.org/archivesdb/thumbsSmall/photos/NW04769.jpg



------------------------------------------------------------------------------


  ________________________________________
  NW-Mailing-List at nwhs.org
  To change your subscription go to
  http://list.nwhs.org/mailman/options/nw-mailing-list
  Browse the NW-Mailing-List archives at
  http://list.nwhs.org/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/ 


------------------------------------------------------------------------------



  No virus found in this incoming message.
  Checked by AVG - www.avg.com 
  Version: 9.0.851 / Virus Database: 271.1.1/3146 - Release Date: 09/19/10 14:34:00
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20100922/b6de1575/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1917RuleBook02.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 25078 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20100922/b6de1575/attachment-0002.jpg>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 1917RuleBook01.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 39208 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20100922/b6de1575/attachment-0003.jpg>