Western Railroad Discussion > Communication question

Back in the days before radio how did the conductor communicate with the head end?
Many thanks.

Jack

On freight trains it was hand signals and use of the "conductor valve" on the caboose, the conductor would use the brake pipe for some means of communication to the engineer, and with hand signals the whole crew would pitch in to give hand signals if the guy doing the work could not be easily seen by the engineer. On passenger trains the communication was done by hand or by use of the communication whistle. each passenger car had a pull cord on an air line that would sound a whistle in the cab of the locomotive.

I'm thinking that Santa Fe(at least)equipped their cabooses with a sort of wig-wag semaphore(for lack of proper term)that could be used to send signals to the head end, of course assuming that train length permitted. Maybe somebody can enlighten us further.

Hand signals are still used on passenger trains, such as the LIRR. Don't forget that the conductor uses a flashlight at night.

My late uncle said that they watered all three (head end, mid-train and rear end) SP steam engines at Woodford (Tehachapi,CA grade) by whistle signal. One could also hear the air/see the air gauge change in response to actions by the head end. And now and then, while watering the engines, a Santa Fe freight with FT diesels would pass them! Yeh, they were a little jealous.

mapboy

trainmaster3 Wrote:
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> I'm thinking that Santa Fe(at least)equipped their
> cabooses with a sort of wig-wag semaphore(for lack
> of proper term)that could be used to send signals
> to the head end, of course assuming that train
> length permitted. Maybe somebody can enlighten us
> further.

Here is a link to the Santa Fe waycar "highball" wig-wag signals:

http://www.atsfrr.com/resources/Sandifer/WigWag/Index.htm

Also, here is a brief history on the Santa Fe testing and implementing end-to-end train radio:

http://www.railsandtrails.com/AT&SF/Radio1944/index.html

Bob

ATSF100WEST......Out

I have a movie of an ex-Pacific Electric crew switching the industries near Bassett CA (on the SP line to Yuma, east of El Monte) back around 1967. Because the track goes around a curve, visibility is limited. The movie shows one of the crewmen standing on a pallet braced against a chain link fence, giving signals with a scrap of yellow plastic sheeting. Doesn't get much more basic/low tech than that. If any of those old timers are left, I'll bet they're amazed that their track from Bassett to Baldwin Park now sees 38 Metrolink trains a day.

DNRY122 Wrote:
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> I have a movie of an ex-Pacific Electric crew
> switching the industries near Bassett CA (on the
> SP line to Yuma, east of El Monte) back around
> 1967. Because the track goes around a curve,
> visibility is limited. The movie shows one of the
> crewmen standing on a pallet braced against a
> chain link fence, giving signals with a scrap of
> yellow plastic sheeting. Doesn't get much more
> basic/low tech than that. If any of those old
> timers are left, I'll bet they're amazed that
> their track from Bassett to Baldwin Park now sees
> 38 Metrolink trains a day.


DNRY122....What is the name of the movie? I'd sure love to get a hold of it. I worked out of Baldwin Park in 1967-68 and on the curve you mention, we had a wooden pallet leaning up against a chain link fence as to climb up to pass signals from either the rear brakeman or conductor to the head brakeman on the pallet to the hoghead.

Virlon

SLOCONDR