Custom Right of Way Signs

[santaferailroad]

I recently purchesed some signs that say Begin C.T.C. and End C.T.C. my question is what do they mean and where would you place them on your layout . Any and all answers would be greatly appriceated. Thanks from Santaferailroad. BNSF ALL THE WAY.

[cmurray]

These signs denote the start and end of a "Centralized Traffic Control" region of a railroad. In this region, all traffic movement is governed from a central office, usually in some division headquarters. Other regions of the railroad may be under ABS (automatic block system), or a manual train order system. (This is my belief, anyway).

[nbrodar]

That is correct. However, with the wide spread use of CTC, I think Begin/End CTC signs are a thing of the past. I've worked in and out of dark (non-signaled) territory, onto CTC and have never seen them.

Nick

[dehusman]

The begin and end CTC signs are NOT obsolete.

CTC is a system where the trains are authorized to occupy the main track on signal indication (or by verbal authority of the dispatcher or control operator). A proceed signal authorizes a train to enter a block and proscibes how it should move through the block.

There are about a dozen other ways authority can be conveyed to occupy the main track. CTC is just one. CTC is very common now, but there are still large stretches of main track with ABS (automatic block signals) where the signals indicate if the block ahead is occupied but don't authorize the train to occupy the main track (the authority is granted by track warrants, DTC authority or Form D's or yard limits or a couple other methods).

Dave H.