Looking carefully at your pix, was there a lower
blade on that mast?
Railroad Forums
The last semaphore
- Discussion relating to the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western, the Erie, and the resulting 1960 merger creating the Erie Lackawanna. Visit the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society at http://www.erielackhs.org/.
Moderator: blockline4180
That box on the mast just above the number plate on Signal 224-2 was part of the mechanism for a lower arm. In 1954, EQ crossover in Endicott was not interlocked, but was the site of eastward and westward telephone train order signals.
Sometime earlier (someone with an earlier, like 1930, timetable, please check this out) EQ was doubtless a tower controlling an interlocking around milepost 221 or 222. If that was the case, then an approach signal to EQ would probably have had two arms, and that signal was probably 224-2.
One other point, though, is that an intermediate signal governing the approach to an interlocking would have its two arms closer together, and the lamp on the lower arm would have been on the track side of the mast. It appears that the lower lamp bracket is on the field side of this mast.
This signal looks more like one of the characteristic Erie interlocking home signals with a space where the middle arm would have been located. If that was the case, then it might at one time been a home signal at an interlocked crossover with no provision for a medium-speed aspect.
Someone please check an old timetable and see if there was a manned or remote interlocking at MP 224. If so, that would explain that additional mechanism on the mast. Otherwise, the mast and base could have been moved there from somewhere else.
Sometime earlier (someone with an earlier, like 1930, timetable, please check this out) EQ was doubtless a tower controlling an interlocking around milepost 221 or 222. If that was the case, then an approach signal to EQ would probably have had two arms, and that signal was probably 224-2.
One other point, though, is that an intermediate signal governing the approach to an interlocking would have its two arms closer together, and the lamp on the lower arm would have been on the track side of the mast. It appears that the lower lamp bracket is on the field side of this mast.
This signal looks more like one of the characteristic Erie interlocking home signals with a space where the middle arm would have been located. If that was the case, then it might at one time been a home signal at an interlocked crossover with no provision for a medium-speed aspect.
Someone please check an old timetable and see if there was a manned or remote interlocking at MP 224. If so, that would explain that additional mechanism on the mast. Otherwise, the mast and base could have been moved there from somewhere else.
From analysis of several old lists of telegraph call signs and a circa-1960 track chart, it appears that this was the eastward home signal for Union Tower (call sign "KZ"), which--best guess based on the track chart--once controlled the west end of eastward and westward sidings that extended east to the Endicott depot located just east of Nanticoke Avenue.
Local residents will recognize the familiar phrase "the Union district" of Endicott. Before the 1920s or so, Union--essentially the area south of where Nanticoke Avenue passes under the Erie--was the core community of the area. The Erie had a station at Union (call sign "Z"), which was located at MP 224, right where the railroad crossed the main road to Campville and Owego, which of course is Route 17C today. In 1903, this station was distinct from the Endicott station (call sign "EQ") located near Nanticoke Avenue.
Visualize a typically ugly Erie Railroad Victorian-era brick depot located a short distance east of a gingerbread block station tower. The tower may have pre-dated the semaphore signal. Many of them were erected in the 1890s--the Erie made a big push to complete "the block system" before the 1893 World's Fair and subsequently boasted that its hauled thousands of passengers without killing a single one. That was when advertising communicated information you really needed to know.
If anyone has further information or corrections, I'd welcome knowing more.
Thanks to Chief Troll for exhanging a couple of off-list emails with me on this subject.
WDB
Local residents will recognize the familiar phrase "the Union district" of Endicott. Before the 1920s or so, Union--essentially the area south of where Nanticoke Avenue passes under the Erie--was the core community of the area. The Erie had a station at Union (call sign "Z"), which was located at MP 224, right where the railroad crossed the main road to Campville and Owego, which of course is Route 17C today. In 1903, this station was distinct from the Endicott station (call sign "EQ") located near Nanticoke Avenue.
Visualize a typically ugly Erie Railroad Victorian-era brick depot located a short distance east of a gingerbread block station tower. The tower may have pre-dated the semaphore signal. Many of them were erected in the 1890s--the Erie made a big push to complete "the block system" before the 1893 World's Fair and subsequently boasted that its hauled thousands of passengers without killing a single one. That was when advertising communicated information you really needed to know.
If anyone has further information or corrections, I'd welcome knowing more.
Thanks to Chief Troll for exhanging a couple of off-list emails with me on this subject.
WDB
this could have been an approach signal to a home signal after the tower was gone and only the crossovers were left at Clark Street. The next signal east then was at the Nanticoke Ave (Rt 26) overpass which would have been the block signal for the xover. Closer look at signal the last few times I have passed however, does not reveal the box stated which would make it a home signal. It is merely a block signal...but still the last semaphore!
...about two miles from where you are is the Endicott Library with some very nice people who can show you the books they have that have the answers to all your questions. Look in the card catalogue (computerized) under : subject: trains or subject: history, Endicott or history Broome County. They have about 200 books on these subjects alone.
