pole paint - Painting of Signal Masts and Backgrounds

[NW Mailing List]

Thanks for the scoop Abe.  Glad to hear the RR made use of turnip-tine in
their painting process, no wonder there is such a high demand for your
product :^).
So flat silver and black it shall be.
Jim Cochran

On Wed, Mar 19, 2025 at 2:44 PM NW Mailing List via NW-Mailing-List <
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org> wrote:

> Comrade O’Cochran --
>
> In the malingering Spirit of St. Paddy’s Day, Green Greetings.
>
> Now, I realize that few people who read this list have much interest in
> the primitive days, but here goes with an old-time story about signal paint.
>
> Decades ago, I knew an old Lehigh Valley RR Signal Maintainer who had
> hired about 1930. He was a 50+ year employee and a real treasure, and every
> time I saw him, I stopped and made conversation with him. Once, he took out
> his pencil (yeah, pencil) and drew for me the complete wiring circuits for
> a Semaphore Signal, from track and battery, through the relays, up to the
> signal motor itself… all from memory… and he included the nomenclatures
> (identification lettering) for each of the wires, too! Farmer John, as we
> called him, was a walking encyclopedia.
>
> Farmer John told me that in his earliest time on the railroad, Signal
> Maintainers mixed their own paint, using Linseed Oil and Lamp Black. Into
> this mixture, they threw some Graphite, the purpose of which was to make
> the paint “slick” and easy to spread. Turpentine was the standard clean-up
> fluid back then, but I suspect the Signal Maintainers of Farmer John's era
> used gasoline, as they all had gasoline motor cars.
>
> Another interesting story John told me was that when work was slack, the
> signal supervisors  "made work" for the younger fellows by sending them out
> to "oil the bolts and nuts" on signals and switches.  Remember, this was
> the day before anti-seize compound, and the oiling effort likely had some
> good effect on the threads.
>
> By the time I came around (1964 hire,) the Signalmen were using Rustoleum,
> silver and black. Railroad practice has always been to avoid use a gloss
> paint on signals, account it may induce a reflective glare which could be
> interpreted as part of a signal aspect. And Farmer John told me that silver
> Rustoleum was the last variety of Rustoleum produced, due to some problem
> the maker had with the formulation.
>
> My own experience with paint on my own signals is that flat and semi-gloss
> paints produce a surface which is a bit "porous" (for lack of a better
> word,) and which will not stand up to water for more than a few years. I
> always paint my signals and cast iron signs with gloss Rustoleum, and
> usually those paint jobs will last eight years, sometimes ten years. For
> primer, I use Rustoleum Red Primer… which is what the railroad bridge
> painters use.
>
> Dat all I know.  Perhaps it will somehow help you with your signal angst.
> Take a double dose tonight, and call me if you don't feel better in the
> morning.
>
> -- abram burnett
> Executive Director of the Turnip Patch Spring Planting Commission
> .
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