Distant signals

After getting the Interlocking signals installed and working, I ordered a couple of new signals from Custom Signal Systems.com.  When they arrived I went to work on them.

I made a larger base for them, I added a "D" plaque and got them weathered up a bit.  Then got them installed and wired up.  These are powered from the same ISE IIAB board that controls the interlocking signals at Ruston.  They have a 5v output that can power these signals or any other signal you wish.

While in proto practice, I'm pretty sure that they would turn to red once a train passes them, but that would require more circuitry of which I don't want to mess with, so these will just show a constant YELLOW aspect.

I placed these about 3' from the interlocking signals.

 

They are not super bright but that's OK, at least anything rolling past them won't be glowing yellow.

Here's a shot from close to viewing distance.

In the last image I still have no scenery in place.  This is the south end of Dubach, I still have plans to rip up and redo the majority of the tracks in this town.  The loco is sitting on the southmost turnout, this needs to be removed and moved to the left at least a foot or more.  But I will not touch this until sometime after the OS Omaha weekend this October. 

 

Installing the Interlocking signals

I started installing the signals for the Iowa Scaled Engineering  IIAB (Interlocking in a Box) today.

The holes for the signal wires needed to be a bit bigger to allow for the plug on the Atlas Type G signals.  The bases of the signals are not very wide and did not quite cover up the holes, so a friend told me to add a piece of thin styrene under the bases to hold the signals and cover the holes.  

After sizing the styrene a bit bigger than needed,  I drilled a hole for the wires and cut a slit so I could slide it under the base.  I then glued it to the bottom of the signal base with MEK.  I also decided to drill four holes, one in each corner to allow for Atlas track nails, these will hold the base in place, but lose enough that if I bump them, there will be some give.

I think they are a little taller, but not by much. 

I placed them about 10" from the diamond, the one on the left kind of set the placement due to the house track siding, but I think this will still be ok.

Next I'll paint them a dark green and cover them with some ground foam to hide the styrene bases.   

High Greens at Fordyce

The last post I got out and tested the signal for the ripped out crossing between Fordyce and Haskell.  I worked all week getting them prepped for installation and finished them up last night.

As the story goes on my layout, there was a short line that crossed the Rock near Fordyce.  It ran through Haskell and on the west.  The short line shut down and Gavilon Fertilizer swayed the Rock to add a connection at Haskell so they could still rely on rail service.

After making this happen, the Rock tore out the crossing near Fordyce, but left the signals in place for now, leaving them green for their mainline and red for the short line.  As I was told, they would need to request permission to completely remove the signals from the FRA.  The request is pending... 

For those of you who are unfamiliar with this section of the layout, I've taken some pics to help you follow along.

Here's the track plan for that area.  There are two green dots where the signals are located on the Rock and a red dot where the one stands on the defunct short line.

The following images show an overview of the locations, followed by shots of the signals.

Looking North from Fordyce.  The building in the upper left hand is Gavilon in Haskell.  The signal is next to the loco.

Looking down the short line, the removed crossing can be seen in the middle near the backdrop.

Looking South from Haskell.  You can see both signals, the green on the left behind Gavilon's building and the red to the right of the unloading shed.

The south signal

The North signal

The Short line signal

Signals at Fordyce

In 2019 I ordered some signals from CSS (Custom Signal Systems) out of Utah.  There is a spot near Fordyce (on my layout) where a fictional short line crossed the Rock Island, just to the north of where the current Whitewater bridge is standing today. 

In my world, the short line is now abandoned, the Rock Island tore out the diamond, but they left the signals intact and lit.  The signals will have a constant GREEN signal displaying for the Rock Island and RED for the short line.  Part of the short line is now operated by the Rock Island with a connection at Haskell, AR.

This is one of the small projects that I want to get done before October.