Nostalgia & History > Wigwag Demonstration Video

Although probably not as interesting as the semaphore video that Todd shared with us (less moving parts), here is a video of the inner workings of a Magnetic Flagman (manufactured during the early '20's)...

I acquired this signal in 1999 and was told that it came from the AT&SF somewhere around Orange, Ca. - probably retired during the late 80's or early 90's. I restored it the same year and documented the restoration of this signal in the technical section of my website -

http://www.trainweb.org/dansrailpix/project.htm

First shot shows the exterior of the signal with a short clip of it running with the bell activated. The following scenes show the inside of the motor box and the movable finger contact making contact with the stationary contacts. Final scene shows power being cut and the brake shoe stopping the armature. Notice the large black magnets at the top of the motor box. This is what pulls the armature from side to side. The movable finger contact is what switches the power from one set of magnets to the other. Once it gets going, move of the power is by gravity. Pretty simple!

I never really realized how noisy the mechanism is on these until I got this one.

It is powered by a US&S "Union Rectifier" that puts out 9V/4A.

And yes, this is my favorite piece of furniture inside my apartment!
http://www.trainorders.com//avshare/thumbnails//2099-medium.jpg

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I just love these old mechanical railroad contraptions. It is incredible to see what they came up with back in the early part of the 20th century. Wig wags are especially neat to watch. Question, where is the bell on your wig wag?

Here is a link to a wig wag video I took about 12 years ago on the Coast Line at Sea Cliff:

http://www.trainorders.com/avshare/detail.php?id=1477&adodb_next_page=1

Todd Clark
Canyon Country, CA
Trainorders.com

Great video Dan. I bet that baby wakes the neighbors up in the morning. :-)

I keep the bells "muted" on my wigwags because I'm sure everyone in the building would complain about the noise (not that I actually run them that often). There are a few ways to do this. One by turning the bell (located on the back of the motor box) until the 2 hammers can no longer reach the gong (the mounting hole on the bell is drilled slightly off center for adjusting). On the wigwag that is in this video, I removed the pin that is attached to the armature that trips the hammers.

It was very interesting. It is surprising how many things we've seen so often in our
lives, often everyday, and we've never really "seen" them. And this goes for the semaphore
in Todd's post.

Stuff like that is fascinating to see because they had to build it not too expensively yet make them as durable as possible, and as easy to maintain as possible, too. Quite often they end up with an elegant simple design.

There are a surprisingly number of things like that around and it is not confined to just railroads.

You are right, one doesn't often realize how loud some of those devices can be. But they didn't
care, they were outside and a dozen of more feet up.

I wonder if they ever built a wig-wag with a counter in it to record the number of swings?
Some of those counts would be beyond belief.

And, thanks for posting it. Have fun with it. I hope yu can incorporate it into something
in your home or yard. It would be quite a novelty.