Eastern Railroad Discussion > MGA Heritage on NS 776 in Crestline, OH

With much thanks to Forever-Railfan-45 and RockIsland4310 I was able to sneak over to Crestline this afternoon to catch some shots of the MGA unit leading the 776. The first shot was after it had crept up to E. Crest and had to wait for an eastbound. That wait nearly cost me any other well lit shots but fortunately after about 45 min they got the eastbound by them and on the move again. The next two shots show the train slinking through CP E. Crest and rolling towards the CSX diamonds. A sharp eye can spot some fans who got their shots at the signals. Thanks again guys!

Michael

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By time the train got to North Robinson, the sun was done but I caught this sequence of shots when the signal went up from dark to lit as the head end of the train passed.

Regards,
Michael

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Very nice work MDH!

Chris

Nice pictures! And good to see Crestline still has some of the PRR-era signals -- I haven't made it there for years, so wasn't sure... Speaking of which, just curious: How's Crest Tower looking these days?

Also showing my ignorance, but the last signal shown: Is it just an optical illusion or the photo sequence, but it really looks like it's changing from a colorized PL to a PL? And, could someone help me out as to why it shows restricting rather than full stop? Thanks!

robbie Wrote:
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> Nice pictures! And good to see Crestline still has
> some of the PRR-era signals -- I haven't made it
> there for years, so wasn't sure... Speaking of
> which, just curious: How's Crest Tower looking
> these days?
>
> Also showing my ignorance, but the last signal
> shown: Is it just an optical illusion or the photo
> sequence, but it really looks like it's changing
> from a colorized PL to a PL? And, could someone
> help me out as to why it shows restricting rather
> than full stop? Thanks!

I noticed that effect, too -- before looking at the last picture, I said to myself, "When did CSX/CF&E change those to N&W aspects?". I suspect the outer lights simply lit up before the center lights on each head did, Mike caught it during the instant in between, and the redness is an illusion.

The signals at North Rob are intermediates, so it's rational for them to show Restricting under these circumstances, but I don't know why they are wired to display that when the number plate on the signal makes it essentially the same rule. Those signals have displayed that way since Conrail days.

Oh, and here's Crest Tower, from when the "Southern" unit led a #776 by it on the 14th:

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Thanks for the information! Guess I've only railfanned at the junction itself where I remember the home signals, so hadn't seen those...

And oh, how sad Crest is looking... I'd thought that either MoW or signal maintainers had been using it, as at least it used to still seem in pretty good shape. The roof is looking horrible, and sad to see the Conrail-era sign almost faded away. Hope it doesn't meet the same fate as the roundhouse, but now not very optimistic... I believe I've seen the CTC board at Marion, so I'm guessing any other pieces of the interlock machine are no longer in there? Even so, would be sad to lose -- especially after seeing in Trains magazine that NS may be demolishing the tower at Bellevue at some point...

Nice stuff Mr Ding.

I like the effect of the signals at North Robinson.

Glad I could help out. I really like pictures #2 and #4; great work...

Outstanding MDH, outstanding!

RAD

Posted from Android

I was not aware that the North Robinson signal went to that aspect as a train goes by....curious if it goes to approach after the tail end clears the block....


CG Tower

Very well done. I like your shots of the signals.
John

Fantastic Series, great location shots.
alan

toledopatch Wrote:
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> the redness is an illusion.

This was really weird, because in person it looked red and on my camera LCD it looks very distinctly red compared to the yellow pair below it but then after about a second or two it comes up to the three across yellow. On the computer it's not as distinct though and I wouldn't quite say for sure they were red until they went yellow because it doesn't make any sense to me. I'm assuming it was probably an optical illusion of some sort but I don't know, which is why I'm not making any public claim one way or the other on that.

MDH Wrote:
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> toledopatch Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > the redness is an illusion.
>
> This was really weird, because in person it looked
> red and on my camera LCD it looks very distinctly
> red compared to the yellow pair below it but then
> after about a second or two it comes up to the
> three across yellow. On the computer it's not as
> distinct though and I wouldn't quite say for sure
> they were red until they went yellow because it
> doesn't make any sense to me. I'm assuming it was
> probably an optical illusion of some sort but I
> don't know, which is why I'm not making any public
> claim one way or the other on that.

My surmise is that during the brief "turn-on" phase, the two "red" lights are not fully powered and thus are dimmer, giving them the reddish appearance. The only other explanation would be different-color LEDs inside the lamps, and there's no reason for that.

LED's? Those are not LED signals, the only LED's are at East Colsan...none of the rest of the PL's east of East Colsan are LED's.

CG Tower


toledopatch Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> MDH Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > toledopatch Wrote:
> >
> --------------------------------------------------
>
> > -----
> > > the redness is an illusion.
> >
> > This was really weird, because in person it
> looked
> > red and on my camera LCD it looks very
> distinctly
> > red compared to the yellow pair below it but
> then
> > after about a second or two it comes up to the
> > three across yellow. On the computer it's not
> as
> > distinct though and I wouldn't quite say for
> sure
> > they were red until they went yellow because it
> > doesn't make any sense to me. I'm assuming it
> was
> > probably an optical illusion of some sort but I
> > don't know, which is why I'm not making any
> public
> > claim one way or the other on that.
>
> My surmise is that during the brief "turn-on"
> phase, the two "red" lights are not fully powered
> and thus are dimmer, giving them the reddish
> appearance. The only other explanation would be
> different-color LEDs inside the lamps, and there's
> no reason for that.

I can explain the first shot at North Robinson. It is simply an optical illusion caused by the shutter going off at the exact moment the bulbs on the signal are lighting. People forget that the bulbs are incandescent. Incandescent light produces a red/yellow light temperature. The upper lights may look red, but this is due to the filaments heating up. This happens so quickly to the normal eye, a person will not notice the change in temperature of the light, normally. Also, with the yellow color of the PL lenses, the perceived red may be amplified with the heating of the filaments.

In the picture above, you see the results of the filaments heating up and cooling. This signal changed from Clear to Stop with the Approach aspect lighting briefly.

To answer the reason for the Restricting indication, it is to keep trains moving. The next signal ahead (eastbound) is West Yard. If a train is going into the yard, it would get a Restricting indication at West Yard. This would make the train move slow. If another train is following the train at West Yard, it would have to Stop and Proceed before passing the signal at North Robinson if the signal did not have a Restricting indication available. Also, there maybe a grade between North Robinson and West Yard. (I have not verified how steep.) You would not want a heavy train to stop and not get started again due to the grade.


Cass Telles
"Slow-Approach-Slow" - 'Go by way of the B&O'
Railroads of NW Ohio
http://www.trainweb.org/rrnwoh
My photostream on Flickr - http://www.flickr.com/photos/ctelles/

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Nice job, MDH.

Would rather have had him run through N Robinson in daylight, but your shot offered a perspective with more punch than with full sun. And another advantage of digital...I don't think my film camera would have even offered me a hope of getting that shot.

Just another great MDH shot that we all expect from the pro he is
dj