Whistle signals

There's nothing like the sound of a steam whistle. The familiar sound of two long blasts, a short blast and one final long blast on the whistle for a grade or level crossing is engrained in the sub-conscience of many railfans. We just know that signal means a train is coming and we need to stay out of the way. 

Sound decoders have brought so much life to our models and many include a feature to emulate this distinctive whistle sequence with a single button push if you don't feel like playing the whistle yourself. 

Some time ago I was reading an excellent book on the turn of the 19th-century railroading by an engineer, Joseph Bromley called "Clear the tracks". The book is Bromley's memoir of his career as a railroadman. He started as a wiper in the engine house and worked his way up to his position of a senior engineer on the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad. In one chapter, Bromley recalls a terrible grade crossing accident he was involved in at a crossing with poor visibility. A horse and buggy didn't see his train and the two occupants, and the horses were tragically killed in the accident. 

Bromley was obviously extremely affected by the incident but noted he was convinced he had blown the required whistle signal of two long blasts and two short blasts. The rest of the story is fascinating, including how he was apprehended by the townsfolk, subjected to a mob justice trial and was lucky to escape with his life. However, I was intrigued by Bromley's record of the appropriate whistle signal, which is different from the signal used on American railroads today. I wanted to know if this was just a whistle format peculiar to Bromley's railroad, or if it was widely used. Furthermore, if it was a standard signal, at what point did it change to the format we know today? 

A few years back I asked a question on the Early Rail forum over at the Railroad Line forums and found the community there really helpful. By referring to a variety of railroad rule books from the period, the modellers there determined that Bromley's two long and two short blasts were indeed likely a universal grade crossing signal, at least by the 1880s. Judging by later rule books, it seemed to remain this way until some time during the 1920s, which was later than I expected. 

Other whistle signals appear to have remained the same. However, in days before the widespread use of airbrakes, the one short blast for stopping was used to signal to the brakemen to apply the handbrakes on the cars.

The rule books the forum members posted on the thread make for interesting reading.  If I'm feeling operating authentically, I use the two long and two short blasts for the grade crossings. However, this isn't always the case. I still use the modern signal if I feel like it, it does have that familiarity about it. 

Overall, this was an interesting delve into railroading history. Just another example of why turn-of-the-century railroading can be such a rewarding and fascinating hobby.

Paragraph 349 of the Standard Code of the American Railway Association 1897 contains the required grade crossing whistle signal. Two long, followed by two short blasts. ___ ___ _ _

Turntable build part 3

Next, I laid seven roundhouse tracks. I've only got six locomotives, but you never know. While I don't have the appetite or the budget at the moment for another locomotive, perhaps one day someone will release a really nice turn-of-the-century locomotive (I wouldn't mind an 1870-80s wagon top boiler ten-wheeler with a balloon stack). Truth be told there will be my two-stall enginehouse at the other end of the layout, so in fact there will be storage space for three extra locomotives, but that's academic right now. There's an overhead photo below showing the outline of where the roundhouse walls will go when I get around to building those (planning for a stone roundhouse). 

I've put in an overshoot track so all tracks coming from the yard have something on the other side of the turntable. Since the photos below were taken I've trimmed the overshoot track a little. The overshoot track is also wired with power in case locomotive pickups are on the overshoot.

As the track work was coming together I made a few compromises and changes from the original plan. The photos show the coaling tower closest to the turntable with the MoW track extending behind. In theory, I could spot a coal gondola there to service the tower. However, I've since trimmed the MoW track and placed the water tower closest to the turntable. It feels a little less cluttered and while that means I can't spot a coal gondola behind the tower, I think that will be secondary overall to the general feel of the scene. 

The second compromise was the caboose track. I really didn't want anything in front of the turntable to block the view. But in the end, this was the only space/most logical space I could think of for the cabeese. In reality, there should only be a few cabeese on this track at a time, which shouldn't block the view too much, and may add some foreground interest once the roundhouse is built. I've placed the track heading off the edge of the layout, hopefully giving the impression there is more to the track than is shown on the scene. In theory, it could serve as an attachment point in the future if I ever needed to attach a module there.

Coming up next I'm looking to build my own hand crank mechanism for rotating the turntable without reaching into the scene.

 

The caboose track has a pin to prevent cars from rolling off the layout. But I liked the idea of a track disappearing 'off layout'. 

The red line roughly marks the walls for the roundhouse that will need to be scratchbuilt.

A general view of the yard.

Miniatures

 

If you're familiar with this blog then you will have read of the miniature painting talents of my father who has painted all the figures for the railroad. I wanted to share some photos of other scale figures he painted from the American Civil War and Native American Wars.

I'm always impressed by the level of detail he is able to bring out through his painting methods. In particular, I think the eyes are able to convey so much emotion and drama. 

I hope you enjoy this selection of photos of his miniatures as much as I do.