Eastern Railroad Discussion > What was the B&O's name for these?

What was B&O\'s official name for the little lights that orbit the main head?

I\'ve heard:

Orbital
Marker
Lunar
Pilot
Lightbulb

etc.

What\'s the official one?

Tony :)
Ster2Block

PS: No BothanSpy, don\'t start. ;)

---

Lunar

There called CPL\'s I believe

Roger that part, I mean the little lights though.

Ster 2

At least as the present day is concerned, they are called "pilot" lights. Lunar is the white-ish light with a blue tint that is used in a "resticting" signal aspect. Pilot lights are usually white lights but are yellow-ish when set up in "slow" speed configurations (i.e. set off to the upper right or lower right of the main signal head). It is possible that they were called lunar lights in B&O days but I don\'t have a B&O era rule book handy at the moment. In any event, I have never heard of them being called that by any current railroad employee.

--jag

Yup that is a lunar light........I have a 1953 B&O operating rules book.That is what it is called in that,:-).

ls wrote:

> Yup that is a lunar light........I have a 1953 B&O operating
> rules book.That is what it is called in that,:-).
>
Thanks for the rulebook info. Actually the photo is of a pilot light. If Ster had a time machine it would apparently be of a lunar light. But since the original question was about the B&O days, I stand corrected. This raises another question. When did they change the official designation? Any signal experts out there?

--jag

Another good question...

Ster 2

Ster2Block wrote:

> What was B&O\'s official name for the little lights that orbit
> the main head?
>
> I\'ve heard:
>
> Orbital
> Marker
> Lunar
> Pilot
> Lightbulb
>
> etc.
>
> What\'s the official one?
>

Marker

Maybe it has changed since, but on the B&O, they weren\'t lunar. Top, top left, bottom, and bottom left were white, not lunar. Top right and bottom right were yellow.

TAW
(ex-B&OCT dispatcher)

Ster2Block wrote:

> What was B&O\'s official name for the little lights that orbit
> the main head?
>
> I\'ve heard:
>
> Orbital
> Marker
> Lunar
> Pilot
> Lightbulb
>
> etc.
>
> What\'s the official one?
>
> Tony :)
> Ster2Block


I have heard the term orbital only once by an old head in Baltimore Terminal. I have NEVER heard them called marker lights. As jag said, lunar usually refers to the bluish/white lights in the 10 and 4 o clock positions for a restricting aspect. Pilot light is the most common name I have heard. White on the left and middle and yellow on the right. That doesn\'t make it right but that\'s the most common name I have heard. I don\'t even think lightbulb is in the running...I would go with pilot light...

Al Moran,
The SD80MACKing

The diagrams I have of CPL signals list all lights above and below the main head as "marker lights". Colors as mentioned were white and yellow depending on their location.

If you need to see the diagrams, take a look:

http://www.dtirr.com/CPLmarkerlightdiagram.htm

CG Tower

I believe that a Lunar Aspect is the term that uses lunar. A searchlight can show a red, yellow, or green aspect. So in this case, apparently a "marker" signal on a CPL can show a "lunar" aspect.

Corey

Corey:

Not necessarily. CPL markers do not have the capability of changing indication. They are fixed in their indication. It is either white or yellow. There are no CPL indications that I am aware of that have the blue/white lunar color on a marker light above or below the main signal head.

CG

harron wrote:

> I believe that a Lunar Aspect is the term that uses lunar. A
> searchlight can show a red, yellow, or green aspect. So in
> this case, apparently a "marker" signal on a CPL can show a
> "lunar" aspect.
>
> Corey
>
> [%sig%]

The whole idea was redundancy.
A burned out bulb would not bring the system to its knees.

For a list of the different signal aspects and rules http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Signal/aspects_us_bo.html

Now that we have CPL Signal Aspect Rules. Does anyone have the \'Seaboard\' Signal Aspect Rules?

Try this:

http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Signal/aspects_us_scl.html