N&W Position Light Signal Restoration Project

[NW Mailing List]

 Good afternoon:

Harrisburg NRHS Rail Review describes its restoration of the US&S position light signal at Harris Tower. Boyce depot has components for two similar signals that were used on the N&W Railway. One has amber lenses while the other was converted to color position lights.
Both Boyce depot signals were said to have been originally sited at Nace, Virginia, on the Shenandoah Division. Each includes a relay case, mast which attaches to the top of the case, spider, pinnacle, lamp housings, lenses, background target, ladder, and platform. These components were purchased almost 20 years ago from Richard Shell and some parts from the Roanoke NRHS. Nathan Simmons arranged for bead-blasting and priming the lamp housings. Boyce depot hopes to erect them behind the depot on RMS Library Foundation land as displays.

There are other related projects: a crossing flasher and a US&S train order signal with a shortened mast. These may be reassembled and placed inside the large waiting room as displays since the masts are shorter.

Anyone interested in supporting the restoration effort with volunteer hours is invited to stop by Boyce and examine the components. As little or as much time that may be available will be appreciated, now or in the future.

Best wishes for July 4th,

Frank Scheer
f_scheer at yahoo.com

(Selected portions of the article appear below.)

HARRIS TOWER’S POSITION LIGHT SIGNAL:
(Fred Wertz, with assistance from Dan Rapak and Andy Ottinger)

...
Now, how to make an exhibit. The Harrisburg Chapter NRHS strives to make exhibits interactive wherever possible. Hands-on exhibits—exhibits where the visitor actually controls the action—are better remembered and make for superior teaching tools. For this reason it was decided that the visitors to Harris Tower Museum should be able to actually control the PL signal. Following visual testing, debate and discussion, the conclusion was reached that the only practical way for visitors to see the PL signal in action would be for the visitors themselves to be outdoors with the signal. The next question was how the visitors could control the signal. After much thought, a unique, new approach was presented to the Curatorial Committee. We would use an outdoor touch screen, but we would have the visitor provide the screen. A system would be developed that would allow visitors to use their mobile devices to both select the aspect the signal is to display and to view the educational information that accompanies that aspect. This approach would completely eliminate any additional outdoor excavation for the control mechanism.

Other than signage marking the exhibit, it eliminates expensive informational placards. It also eliminates any concerns with vandalism or theft of the control mechanism. Here is how it will work.
 Users will connect to the system using their own mobile device.
 They will be able to connect by manually selecting the PL exhibit’s Wi-Fi or by simply scanning a QR code displayed on the exhibit placard.
 They will then be greeted with an opening splash screen.
 There will be no password required.
 Continuing past the splash screen, the visitor will be presented with a screen displaying graphical images of each aspect the signal exhibit is capable of displaying.
 When the user taps on a graphical image, that aspect will be displayed by the PL signal.
 The graphical image screen on the user’s device will then be replaced by an informational screen giving the visitor the rule number, name of the rule and the indication (that is, the actions required by the train crew).
 The visitor will have the option of selecting either the PRR rule or the current day NORAC rule.
 The visitor will also be able to select a glossary defining terminology used in the text of the rules.
 The visitor can return to the graphics screen to select another aspect for display or they may exit.
...

Captions:

Every entomologist knows that spiders have eight legs. Well, one of ours in the PL does too. Mark Eyer, in the photo to the right, shows how they are cleaned and prepped for painting. The two added pipes (black in this photo) will each hold a lamp housing, two more than the original. The new pipes were fabricated by Dan Rapak. The holes in the pipes are there for the wiring coming up the mast to reach the lamp housings. Not shown in either photo are the lamp housings, hoods, connectors and mast platforms. Photo by Andy Ottinger.

Below are shown the two, fully-painted spiders. You can see how they got their name. They are standing on what eventually will be the “targets” or “arms” with the faces pointed to the ground and fastened to the legs, which are vertical in this photo. They will be mounted to the mast with U-bolts around the V-shaped notches shown on the top in this photo. The eight-pipe head is on the left, and the six-pipe head is on the right, with each pipe receiving a lamp housing via a connector. Photo by Andy Ottinger.

Source: Pages 1, 2, and 4 (illustrations), HARRISBURG RAIL REVIEW, VOLUME 65, No. 7, Harrisburg, PA NRHS, JULY 2024.
  
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