Crossing Shanties.

[NW Mailing List]

For a concrete example, the Scioto Division started getting wig-wags in the 1930’s. In Circlevlle, these replaced elevated watchboxes (towers) at some crossings in 1931, and another batch in 1938. The watchmen displaced by the new signals were moved to other matchbox locations to cover second and third shifts.

The last watchman’s tower co-existed with wig-wags for several years until all three shifts of watchmen were retired in 1943. The wig-wags were operated during shifts that didn’t have a watchman and disabled when a watchman was on duty. Once the final watchman was retired in 1943, the tower was removed and the wig-wags were turned on full time.

ROW maps indicate that all of the watchman protected crossings also had gates during and before this timeframe. They appear to have been  activated remotely by the watchman in the elevated watchbox. The last manually triggered gates remained in use into at least the mid-fifties. Dad remembers the operator at the tower alongside US23 would press a button (on the floor, I think) to lower the gates. 

This is specific to Circlevlle, but contemporaneous newspaper articles from other locations in the Scioto Valley suggest similar installations were occurring at other locations. Chillicothe retained it’s elevated watchbox at East Main (a very complex grade crossing) into the 1960’s at least.

Matt Goodman
Columbus, Ohio


> On Apr 11, 2023, at 7:06 AM, NW Mailing List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
> 
> Gary
> 
> There is no absolute date for the transition. Crossing protection was a long sought after issue, that began almost as soon as autos became common. The N&W used flashing lights, wig-wag signals and on the absolute busiest crossings, a watchman who either cranked down or pulled down gates. 
> 
> It was generally after World War II that electrically powered gates began to appear in larger numbers. Even up into the 1960s  and early 1970s however, there were still manned crossings.
> 
> Best
> Ken Miller
> 
>> On Apr 10, 2023, at 4:40 PM, NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:
>> 
>> When did the Norfolk and Western transition from trackside crossing shanties to electric crossing gates?
>> 
>> Gary P. Price
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