Old and New

Over the past few years Norfolk Southern and CSX have been replacing block signals that have stood for several decades with modern signals that all look alike.

Many of these older signals featured designs that associated them with a previous owner/operator of the rail line in question.

For example, the Pennsylvania Railroad and Baltimore & Ohio each had distinctive position light signals that immediately said “Pennsy” or “B&O” on their respective territories.

The Type G signal head was not necessarily unique to the New York Central, but it was commonly used by the Central in the Midwest on numerous routes.

NS has replaced most of the Type G signal heads on its Chicago Line so I was a little surprised to recently find a set of them still in use.

Shown is CP 232 in Huron, where the new signals are poised to be placed in service.

I made this image on the Akron Railroad Club’s Vermilion outing on Aug. 25 and the news signals may be in service by now and the old signals have fallen.

There were a number of NS vehicles at the scene, which suggested the cutover was imminent.

Got There at the Right Time

I didn’t journey to North East, Ohio, last spring for the express purpose of photographing the signal bridge at CP 73, which is located east of the Lake Shore Railway Museum.

But since I was there and I noticed that the CSX signal department was out in force putting in new signals, I decided I better get an image of the old signals.

The top and middle images were made on May 23. Note the new signals at the far left of both images are ready to be placed into service.

The bottom image was made eight days later and features Q020 charging eastbound on Track No. 2 of the Erie West Subdivision.

It was a good thing I made this photo because the following week these signals fell. There are only a handful of the old-style Type G signal heads mounted on their original masts or signal bridges left on CSX between Cleveland and Buffalo, New York.

Changing Times at Oak Harbor

One in a period series of images I made last summer

I don’t get to Oak Harbor that often. It is just far enough away to discourage a day trip there.

But I did get there last summer during an all-day outing that focused primarily on the Chicago Line of Norfolk Southern.

At the far west end of Oak Harbor just east of North Benton Street is a set of intermediate signals.

I remembered photographing NS trains passing those signals during my first visit to Oak Harbor about 10 years ago.

In particular, I set my camera’s shutter speed to 30th of a second so I could create a blur as the train whizzed by with the blur making it seem as though the train was going 500 miles an hour.

During last summer’s visit to Oak Harbor those old type G signals were still in place, but newer signals were standing next to them waiting to be activated.

Given how little I get to Oak Harbor this was likely going to be the last time I’d photograph those old signals.

So I waited for an intermodal train to come, set the shutter speed of 30th of a second and recreated something I had made years earlier on slide film.

Article and Photographs by Craig Sanders

Norfolk Southern Begins Berea Signal Installation

An eastbound NS train passes by as a boom truck prepares to lift the new signal heads up so they can be fastened to the mast.

The signals are off the ground and being lifted toward attachment to the mast, located on the south side of the tracks. Note that that there is a signal head for westbound trains headed onto the 4 Lakefront track.

The signals have been attached to the mast and now crews must complete electrical work before the signals can be swung out over the tracks and placed into service. (Photographs by Dan Davidson)

Norfolk Southern crews begin installing new signals in Berea on Monday (June 22) to serve westbound trains on its busy Chicago line. This is the former New York Central mainline between Chicago and New York.

The new signals are located just a few yards west of BE tower and will replace two existing signal masts that have been around since the days of steam. These are located in approximately the same location as the new signals, which are mounted on a cantilever structure.

It took several hours to get things properly installed. The main challenge was that the signal structure did not face in the proper direction for the crews to attach it to the upright mast. After turning it 180 degrees, the crews were able to raise it and put it into place. Now comes all the electrical work and testing before the signals will be turned 90 degrees over the tracks and placed into service.

The two old signals will be coming down soon. Eventually, NS is expected to replace the signals used by eastbound trains at Berea at the west edge of the interlocking plant. Signals at milepost 192 are also expected to remain in place. NS has already installed new signals at CP Max (formerly CP 190).

Some information in this post was provided by Dan Davidson.

Nofolk Southern to Install New Berea Signals

Norfolk Southern was expected early this week to begin setting up new westbound signals on its Chicago line at Berea. The cantilever-style signals had been placed on the ground next just west of the former BE tower. Installation and cut-in could be done on Monday (June 22), which is a light traffic day for NS.

Preliminary work in preparation for installation of the signals got underway last week. Crews poured a concrete pad that will serve as the base for the signal mast.

The new signals will replace the New York Central-style signals that have stood guard at Berea for several decades. Currently, there are two sets of signals for westbound traffic at Berea, which is known on the railroad as CP194.

One set of signals stands on the north side of Track No. 1 while a cantilever set of signals stands on the south side and slightly to the west that serve Track No. 2 and the Four Lakefront track.

The new signals, like the existing ones, will have three heads.