Flanger / Snowplow Wayside Signs

We used to use a sign that had both a parallogram on the post & a "V" centered on top of the post that was located to the right of the running rail. Both indications were made out of sheet metal painted black. One was used to instruct the plowman to pull in a wing on the side of the parallogram, and the other was used to provide warning to raise the plow account flangeboards, switch frogs, & road xings.

What were the meanings of the parallogram and that of the "V"???

The single blade on the field side of the post was the signal to raise the flanger blade (or Jordan Spreader nose.) The V on top of the post was a signal to pull in both wings. There was no distinction between sides on that sign. Even on double track, there could be a bridge girder sticking up between tracks. Flanger signs were posted to the right of the track(s) that they governed, so you didn't take a signal from one to your left.

NYC flangers, at least the ones that were common on Lines East, had small wings on each side that looked like doors, actually four of them, one on each side for each direction. They also had dual flanger blades, one for each direction. The V blades applied to flanger wings as well as to plow wings.

Gordon Davids