"Pole and Paddle" semaphores

[NW Mailing List]

*Ed:**
**
**Thanks.  I am referring to the 2-arm semaphore as in the p. 32 photo 
in your**_N&W in the Appalachians_**. I do not know the correct 
nomenclature for this device, which is why I put "pole and paddle" 
within quotation marks.  Can you tell me the correct designation?**
**
**In N&W literature I find this top-of-the-pole, 2-arm (paddle) device 
commonly pictured outside telegraph offices--at interlocking towers and 
many (not all) stations.  I believe I have read that they were integral 
to the telegraph block system predating the automatic block system.**
**
**So you are saying, I think, that the p. 32 devices, erected before 
ABS, were not deactivated with the coming of ABS, but in fact soldiered 
on even with ABS.

**I am modeling Boaz-to-Bedford, and photos verify the Villamont 
interlocking tower and all stations (except the Bedford freight house) 
with devices as on your p. 32.  Not static at all, I believe you are 
saying, but operating still mid-century in connection with telegraph 
offices.**
**
**Rail signaling strikes me, not a student of the field, as rather 
bewildering**, so here's a salute to you and others who can unscramble 
the field for **the untutored.
**
**Frank**
**
*
On 8/5/2013 5:28 AM, NW Mailing List wrote:

> Frank -

> I never heard the term "pole and paddle".   To what, exactly, do you 

> refer?  Do you mean the bi-directional signals seen at interlocking 

> towers and some stations?

> N&W adopted the automatic block signals three or four decades before 

> your modeling era, and originally used lower quadrant semaphores and 

> then upper quadrant semaphores which in turn were supplanted by 

> position-light signals.

> If you refer to the train order signals used at stations and towers, 

> they didn't have anything to do with automatic block signals.  They 

> were not preserved to salute railroading in years gone by -- they had 

> a different purpose entirely, which was to let trains know to pick up 

> train orders at that particular point.  In years before ABS, they were 

> used to block trains.

> EdKing

> *From:* NW Mailing List <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> *Sent:* Sunday, August 04, 2013 11:38 PM

> *To:* NW Mailing List <mailto:nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org>

> *Subject:* "Pole and Paddle" semaphores

> *I model N&W c. 1950 and plan to install 2-arm "Pole and Paddle" 

> semaphores which I believe were rendered obsolete wit*h *N&W's 

> adoption of the Automatic Block Signal system.*

>

> *Is it true that the "pole and paddle" devices were deactivated upon 

> the introduction of ABS, yet preserved as static salutes to 

> railroading in years gone by at N&W interlocking towers and stations 

> where telegraph offices were located?

>

> When, roughly, did N&W adopt ABS?

>

> Thanks.  Frank Gibson

> *

>

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