Give me a sign

[Murphy Siding]

Questions about the meanings of some railroad signs I’ve seen lately, what do they mean?

1) “R 1 mile”. (about a mile from town, where the main rail line comes in the city)

2) A vertical, red rectangle with a black outline of a rectangle inside it (at a crossing through a residential neighborhood on a little industrial branch)

3) “Stop wait 28 seconds” (where 4 or 5 tracks from a storage yard cross a semi-busy side street)

4) “Shunt” (Written vertically on a little, metal T-post between some of those storage tracks)

[mudchicken]

(1) Restricted limits one mile. Whose Railroad

(2) Whose railroad/rulebook? (Description a little fuzzy, my initial reaction was a Form B approach board.)

(3) Little used rail in crossing corrodes and scales up. Train needs to effectively activate the gate circuit to keep it going as the train passes.

(4) Physical location of the signal cable track shunts attached to the rail. Beyond that, you need to know the type of crossing protection to read into it.

[Murphy Siding]

BNSF rail lines to industrial customers in a warehouse district.

1) What does restricted mean in this context?

2) Sign is about 18" wide 30" high. It's painted bright red. The black rectangle is set in about 2" from the edges. It's approx. 1" wide. The sign has 2 pointed legs on it and a place to put your foot on it to plant it in the ground, kind of like a realtor sign.

[mudchicken]

(1) "restricted" means you are at restricted speed [ABSOLUTE]. Something similar to yard limits without all the caveats that come with it that allow you to speed up or ignore YL altogether under signal rules.

(2) Sounds like a red board or form "B" board set by the track department  (Would need to see it to understand what it is) (operating can't go beyond that point, operating and mechanical probably did not set it ... could it be the roadmaster took something out of service until the track owner (Industrial Park Cheapo Irresponsible Developer who won't pay for normal inspection or maintenance) fixes the problem until it meets Class 1 minimum or files for excepted track?)

[jeffhergert]

The description of the red sign kind of sounds like a regular BNSF (from ones I've seen) red board to me.  I tried finding Jovet's signal/sign charts on the web.  He's recently updated his BNSF chart and the pdf is just blank on my computer.

If it was placed to the side the track, I would guess there is someone working on or near the track.  Before passing the sign, the foreman in charge of the work would need to be contacted.  It might also be placed with instructions (either in daily bulletins or a general order) that trains at this location must stop and have a crewmember flag the crossing from the ground.  (UP's Stop and Protect crossing sign is a square red board with a white X on it.  Used on other than main track crossings where protection is needed without bulletin protection.)  

If it was placed between the rails, then the track itself beyond the sign would be out of service. 

Restricted Limits is a form of main track authority.  Within the limits, every train or engine moves at restricted speed.  Even if within signalled territory (which I don't believe applies to Murphy's situation) and signals are more favorable than an approach.  Eventually it will probably replace Yard Limits on GCOR roads.  (Yard Limits when operating on favorable signals allows speeds greater than restricted speed.)

Jeff 

[samfp1943]

Here may be the link being referenced:

@http://signals.jovet.net/rules/BNSF%20Signal%20Rules.pdf

Came from this linked site @http://signals.jovet.net/rules/index.html

                                  "SIGNAL ASPECT CHARTS"

           (for assorted railroads—past, present, and fictional)

                                 Site carries this warning:

   "These charts are for entertainment purposes only. They are not authored or endorsed by any of the named railroads, past or present. They are absolutely not for use by railroad employees who are on duty, and are not a substitute for official railroad rules, instructions, timetables, or other applicable publications."

[dpeltier]

Murphy Siding

Questions about the meanings of some railroad signs I’ve seen lately, what do they mean?

1) “R 1 mile”. (about a mile from town, where the main rail line comes in the city)

2) A vertical, red rectangle with a black outline of a rectangle inside it (at a crossing through a residential neighborhood on a little industrial branch)

3) “Stop wait 28 seconds” (where 4 or 5 tracks from a storage yard cross a semi-busy side street)

4) “Shunt” (Written vertically on a little, metal T-post between some of those storage tracks)

 

 

3.) The circuit that activates the flashing lights / gates at the crossing does not have approach circuits - probably so that switching operations on the tracks don't trigger the signals unnecessarily, or because there are switches or other complications nearby that would have increased the complexity or cost of the circuits. The crossing signals don't activate until a train gets up close to the crossing. But the regulations require that the signals activate a certain amount of time before the train occupies the crossing. The sign is basically telling trains to pull up into the crossing circuit, wait for the required warning time to pass, and then enter the crossing.

Dan

[Murphy Siding]

     It looks like 2) is probably a BNSF red board, or however it’s phrased.  The track is owned by BNSF and the sign is between the rails. Locomotives pull cars through a switch heading southeast a couple blocks beyond the switch then back through the switch heading northwest to the industries. A little further observation shows there is some washed out ballast and subgrade a block further up the pike. The sign must be to warn the switch engine crew.

[mudchicken]

The sign there basically says " Hit this sign and win an unpaid vacation".

 

No touchee! / Don't go 'dere! (or else!)

 

Foreman/Track supervisor/roadmaster took the track out of service. Better be looking at your track condition bulletins and somebody (railroad or industry, who ever actually owns and is contractually is obligated to maintain it.) has to remediate the problem and reinspect before it's placed back into service. Any in service track gets inspected at least once a month and there has to be a paper trail saying it was, defects noted and remedial actions taken. Nothing goes past that sign without the permission of the track department qualified personnel that placed the sign.

[Murphy Siding]

5) "Begin AAR 70"  On a BNSF mainline in Minnesota. This is a freight road where I'm sure nothing travels at 70 mph.

[BaltACD]

Murphy Siding

5) "Begin AAR 70"  On a BNSF mainline in Minnesota. This is a freight road where I'm sure nothing travels at 70 mph.

Suspect - that may be a point where the Road Radio Channel becomes AAR 70, as opposed to some other AAR Channel on the other side of the sign.

[jeffhergert]

BaltACD

 

 

Murphy Siding

5) "Begin AAR 70"  On a BNSF mainline in Minnesota. This is a freight road where I'm sure nothing travels at 70 mph.

 

 

Suspect - that may be a point where the Road Radio Channel becomes AAR 70, as opposed to some other AAR Channel on the other side of the sign.

 

UP has the same thing, but the signs actually say radio channel on them.  As in Radio Channel 42-42.  The double number comes from the way the modern radios display channels.  One side is for transmitting, the other side for receiving.

Jeff

[mudchicken]

to the above .... There needs to be a standard "stupid zone" sign for entering the corporate limits of certain burgs. I've been dealing with one of those outfits that just won't consult the AREMA manual all week. Their guessing and blundering along, making their own rules, is going to have awful consequences if I ever run out of red ink to bleed all over their 24" x 36" cartoons.

It started with concrete steps in the trainmen's walkway and spiralled down from there. (a 34 degree curve in a relocated wye track was also interesting with a 4-story building corner 7 feet from centerline )