Anyone got any ideal on how old this arm is? Found a picture of a semaphore siganl in one of my reference books which is dated in the 20's . but alot of times they use older photos when publishing books. thanks for any help. Indy
semaphore signal arm help
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IndianaSmith
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- kuchnie-na-wymiar.wroclaw.pl
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semaphore signal arm help
Hi
Anyone got any ideal on how old this arm is? Found a picture of a semaphore siganl in one of my reference books which is dated in the 20's . but alot of times they use older photos when publishing books. thanks for any help. Indy
Anyone got any ideal on how old this arm is? Found a picture of a semaphore siganl in one of my reference books which is dated in the 20's . but alot of times they use older photos when publishing books. thanks for any help. Indy
Re: semaphore signal arm help
The notch cut into the arm (called a fish tail or a swallow tail) indicated this was a distant or "approach" signal. It showed the engineer the status of the next signal, and allowed the extra reaction time to bring poorly braked trains to a stop. That type of signal went into operation in the late 1870's as increasing train speeds called for more sophisticated signaling. The "approach" signal is still in use today.
My guess from the lens positions is that this was an upper-quadrant arm.
The best way to possibly date that arm would have the glass lenses checked for type. Of course, those may not be the original lenses.
My guess from the lens positions is that this was an upper-quadrant arm.
The best way to possibly date that arm would have the glass lenses checked for type. Of course, those may not be the original lenses.