The classic Pennsylvania Railroad Position Light signals are disappearing. In "They All Fall Down," Mike Froio writes about the history of these signals and documents their place in the PRR landscape with two dozen evocative B&W photographs.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/201 ... ll-down-2/

Thanks
Edd Fuller

Some PRR CPL's still exist of course, at museums. Pictured herein is our example at the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum. The signal head is controlled by the museums track circuits with the lower signal being used when the switch shown is thrown for the storage track. Perhaps not exactly what the Pennsy had in mind, but it works well for HVRM.


Les

I would say if you ever had thoughts of acquiring a signal for your driveway or yard, or just to annoy the neighbors, this would be the time to grab a classic. I am told the maintainers drop them and simply consign them for scrap.

Richard -

I'd like to get a couple of additional ones for HVRM, but this is exactly one of the problems. You don't want the maintainers to just "drop them" which can cause damage, but instead, to lower them gently to the ground.

Les

Supposedly--and no one's going to confirm it, obviously--in MANY cases in Pennsylvania, knowledgeable folks have approached the crews, bribed them an appropriate amount of money/booze/whatever, and the now-carefully-removed signal mysteriously "falls off" the truck at the end of the driveway or whatever while being transported. In other places, folks have supposedly raided the signal dump piles, with permission or without.

The reality is that these signals are composed of a medley of lamps, pipe frames, brackets, and sheet metal almost reminiscent of an Ikea kit, and if one isn't hell-bent on a very specific signal for sentimental or historic reasons, the easiest way to get one of these is to dismantle several at the dump pile (with permission, as this will take a while), pick all the best pieces, and reassemble it after cleaning and repainting the various pieces so it lasts another century. And be sure to grab one or more of the hardest-to-replace pieces, the cast-iron finials that sat atop the masts. And find or fabricate a wiring diagram while you're at it.

Please don't ask how I know all this.

We've gotten our signals just for the asking. Don't forget a couple spare lenses when you're looking for the other bits. The conical lenses don't seem to fair well in the scrap piles.

Edd,

Thank you for posting Mike's history. Interesting thread as well.

My (7) lamp PL3 build continues......a process taking many years.

The PRR PL to me represents a historical zenith of eastern railroading and very good memories of my younger years.

Sincerely.

Randy

Still in use on the north side of Chicagop Union Station

One of the survivors - and not particularly threatened - is the ex-PRR now Allegheny & Eastern (G&W/B&P) at Corry, PA - the home signals at the diamond crossing with WNYP (ex-EL, Erie) on the ex-PRR side. The two position lights at the diamond are 'first-in, first-out' auto controlled without an operator or dispatcher. Since neither line is PTC, they may still hang in there for quite a while.

G&W/A&E only makes about 3 round trips to Erie a week, so getting them in a photo as 'props' is more than a challenge.