Wig-wags

[Acela026]

What happened to all the wig-wag signals? They were a classic railroad icon, but I have never seen one besides in a museum.  Were they hard to maintain or have mechanical flaws?

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

An oversupply of moving parts made them expensive to maintain. 

[cx500]

 The current standard pair of flashing lights are simpler to maintain, and give a stronger light.  There are probably a handful of wig-wags still operating in normal service.  On minor crossings, if they haven't broken down and there has been no history of car/train collisions, there will have been no trigger to spend money to upgrade. 

Another form of crossing warning system was a box the size of a rural mailbox, and a flashing light inside would illuminate the word "danger"  I saw one of the last remaining ones in Canada in the late 1980s, but no train came by during our time there so I don't know how visible it would be in daytime.  I was aware of a couple of others, which I think survived into the 21st century.

John

[SFbrkmn]

As a young crum cruncher growing up in Wichita, I remember the overhead wigwag Santa Fe used at the 13th st crossing. This was replaced by the standard lights, bells & gates probably around 1970. Mopac was the final carrier in town to use wigwags,  at a few crossings north of downtown that may have lasted as late as the early 80's.

[Southwest Chief]

Here's a link to a really good website about some of the late surviving wig wags on the Santa Fe and Southern Pacific:

Wig Wags

[wjstix]

They were popular for a while, but it pretty soon became clear that you could have two lights flashing alternately and re-create the effect of the wig-wag without all the moving parts.

My own favorite RR traffic signal is the local (Minneapolis) Griswold signal, which had flashers and a yellow and black STOP sign that turned to face the oncoming traffic when the lights were flashing, then turned 90 degrees sideways when the tracks were clear. 

[West Coast S]

There are two extent in Gardena, Ca on the former Pacific Electric. Not too many years ago they were common at just about every grade crossing on this line, Union Pacific is gradually replacing them with simple cross bucks or gates.

Dave

[Bob-Fryml]

At the Durham Museum of Western History (nee Omaha Union Station) in the downstairs exhibit hall is a restored wig-wag signal.  On many of my visits to this facility I've seen its pendulum swing back-and-forth with an accompanying clang of its bell.  They're pretty neat to watch.

I seem to recall that two California-based railroad museums, one at Rio Vista Junction and one at Perris, have operating wig-wags as well.

QUESTION:  Does the Illinois Railway Museum have any operating wig-wags?

[Sagelake]

Thanks for a great site, there are a lot of really good pictures! Excellent reference!

Chuck

[DrJohn]

In Wisconsin, there are still a few wig wags in service in Wisconsin. But again on little used lines these days.  The are located in Kansasville, on the former MILW Stuartevant, WI -Savanna Ill line.  In Dane WI i=on the former CNW Madison - Wyeville line. And in Plymouth WI on MILW former Green Bay line.  No trains came through on the days that I saw them.  The National Train museum in Union Ill is supposed to have several. And I know a fellow here in Milwaukee who has one in his back yard and is wired to run.

[bigduke76]

the last wigwags i saw in use were on an abandoned SP branch from portland, ore, to lake oswego, taken over by a volunteer group to run streetcars on.   (they used a tagalong with a buick motor and a trolleybus motor converted to a generator - no overhead.)   the route still had two functioning wigwags when it started up; it's been a LONG time since i rode it however.  the Cal. State RR Museum has one outside its front door in Sacramento, hooked up to a timer so it runs about every 15 minutes. -big duke

[You ran out of film again?]

1 - Will the RailRoads sell the retired wigwags to us?

2 - The only wig-wag I ever saw outside a museum, was near Wilton New Hampshire, this was in the early to late 60's.  I never did see it work, my father would not stop and wait all day for the freight to return, and I was only about ten years old, so camping out by myself, was out of the question.  I was serious about taking the Kodak Super-8 camera and hanging out by myself for as long as it took, but that never happened.

3 - Might make for an interesting trip, just to video tape some of the last ones that are working.