Western Railroad Discussion > Rio Grande Signals being replaced east of Green River.

I often find myself around Green River. and always take the opportunity to get out to some of the more remote portions of the line. In early 2020 I noticed that the Rio Grande era signals west of Green River were being replaced, and it seems since then work has moved (very) slowly in the area. I snapped a few photos yesterday of a couple signals near Floy where new sets have been installed for some time but not yet put in service. The old signals seem to run on the power lines next to the track while the new ones seem to run on an underground cable, in areas where the new signals are functional the power lines are abandoned and dropping those precious Hemingray insulators everywhere. Near these new signals I could hear power buzzing in the electrical boxes powering the new equipment, so it's got pixies in the wire. Some of these signals have been installed months without being put in service.

Final note, as seen in the pictures the "new" signals look kind of rough in some places (picture 2). Does anyone know if these were stored outside for a while or re purposed from another line? I can't imagine a few months in the desert leads to paint peeling this bad.

Got some great views of the cliffs which is great because the only trains all day were #5 and #6, not much to see freight wise.

---

---

---

Also worthy of note are the seemingly recently parked lumber cars which seem to be in decent condition. Hopefullt just here for the winter. They are running out of places to pass with all the sidings being blocked up.

---

Paniolo_man Wrote:

> Final note, as seen in the pictures the "new" signals look kind of rough in some places (picture 2). Does anyone know if these were stored outside for a while or re purposed from another line?

Interesting.  The base and masts look like new hardware, but the heads appear to be old, reused US&S R2's.  I'm sure the guts have been updated, but the cases and shields may well be older than the signals they are replacing (GRS Type D's, maybe?) 

In the 2nd to last photo, the newer signal heads appear to be smaller than the older ones.  Makes them harder to see, unless they're using LED lights.

 

Hmm, I make at least two trips a year out to Grand Junction from CA to visit relatives, As near as I recall those 'new' signals have been out there for a lot longer than a few months, more like a year or more. I was out that way in July and September last year and I was surprised after all this time that they were in place but not in service.

cg

coach Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> In the 2nd to last photo, the newer signal heads
> appear to be smaller than the older ones.  Makes
> them harder to see, unless they're using LED
> lights.
>
>  

Trust me they have LEDs. They are the standard these days. Much lower power consumption and they last longer too.

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Trust me they have LEDs. They are the standard
> these days. Much lower power consumption and they
> last longer too.

All of the new signals being installed for the new second main track projects on BNSF are most certainly NOT LEDs

Milw_E70 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> PHall Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Trust me they have LEDs. They are the standard
> > these days. Much lower power consumption and
> they
> > last longer too.
>
> All of the new signals being installed for the new
> second main track projects on BNSF are most
> certainly NOT LEDs

That's interesting, since all of the signal replacements I have seen here in Southern California have replaced incandescent lights with LED lights.

I read that one surprise problem they found with LED's is in cold weather areas snow and ice can bulid up on the signal blocking the light.  The old incandencent lights were warm enough to melt the snow and ice away.  No-one thought about that ahead of time.  So possibly the selection of type of light is based on what type of environment it will have to deal with.

wingomann Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I read that one surprise problem they found with
> LED's is in cold weather areas snow and ice can
> bulid up on the signal blocking the light.  The
> old incandencent lights were warm enough to melt
> the snow and ice away.  No-one thought about that
> ahead of time.  So possibly the selection of type
> of light is based on what type of environment it
> will have to deal with.

Incandecent signals have the same problem where the signals are only on when a train is in the block approaching the signal.  (Approach lit)  The snow builds up when the signals are dark.  They aren't on long enough to burn through heavier accumulations. 

Is it possible to make an LED that emits infrared along with its visible color? That would solve the problem.

Posted from Android

57A26 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> wingomann Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I read that one surprise problem they found
> with
> > LED's is in cold weather areas snow and ice can
> > bulid up on the signal blocking the light. 
> The
> > old incandencent lights were warm enough to
> melt
> > the snow and ice away.  No-one thought about
> that
> > ahead of time.  So possibly the selection of
> type
> > of light is based on what type of environment
> it
> > will have to deal with.
>
> Incandecent signals have the same problem where
> the signals are only on when a train is in the
> block approaching the signal.  (Approach lit) 
> The snow builds up when the signals are dark. 
> They aren't on long enough to burn through heavier
> accumulations. 

Thus the "Darth Vader" snow hoods on the new signals.

Maybe they are just recycled signals and associated shed from another line somewhere else because they were not that old and the other line received an upgrade.  Those sheds combined with signal heads seem like a natural for relocation because there isn't a lot involved with moving and dropping them somewhere else. In the past you were running cabling through ground conduit from the shed to the signal mast and head.  

 

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com