switch targets

[Anonymous]

As many of you know most switch targets in yards were always lit either by a kerosene or a electric battery but today most of them are just a metal plate with a reflector tape on them,the yard were i work got rid of the older types in the 80's because of maintance cost's are there any yards in the usa that still use the old adlake kerosene types or the western electric type.? I am not a expert on railroad cost cutting but it seems to me that they could now have all those swtich targets lit again with todays tecnology,all they would have to do is run some small wires undergroung to each switch target that would be lit with a led they could run 2000 of them with a transformer the size of a cigar box those led's usualy last for a good 10 yrs or more draw very little current i think it's in the milli amps and led's don't have a filament so the banging of cars and engines would not have any effect on them,only a deraied car falling on the target itself would cause it to malfuction,does this make any sence?

[Overmod]

In order to get this to work the way you describe, you would need 'high-brightness' LEDs or multiple diodes in a single lens casting (cf. a smaller version of what's used in LED traffic lights). You'd need more than a few milliamps, but not nearly as much as a typical hot-filament bulb.

Of course, I think the system would work better if you used solar cells and batteries rather than all those wires (and a low-voltage transformer just begging to be the cause of a common-mode failure) and used a wireless network to control the aspect, etc.

Keep in mind that you can modulate these LEDs at fairly high rate, meaning that you can transmit information or metadata from them (to an appropriate receiver, which need not be in direct line-of-sight). This gives some rather interesting possibilities...

IN THEORY, a properly designed PTC system could handle all the necessary switch activity, and render appropriate indications on an 'augmented-reality' screen on the locomotive or handheld controller. This would make switch plates somewhat redundant, and switch lanterns even more so. (That is, until the fancy system develops problems!) In practice, it might be sensible to retain some means of positive ID of switch positions as set manually.

[csxengineer98]

it is still cost prohibitive....the cost to by the new equimpment..the cost to have someone come and isntall it..the cost to have someone come out and maintain it if and when problems happen....when the refective tape works fine....the headlights light up a switch target just fine ..so why spend the money for a system that is only going to be affective for about 12 hours out of a day ...at the most..... when you can spend 1/5th on some sheet metal with a little bit of refective tape works just fine
csx engineer

[tree68]

Lighted switch targets date from the day when headlights were no where near as bright as they are today. While I don't doubt for a second that there may be applications where a lighted target might be useful and LED technology would be the obvious choice, as CSX Engineer says, it's just something else to break.

[edblysard]

K.I.S.S
I can light up the reflective target from several 100 yards, with my switchman lantern...
Why add something that will break, need maintainance, beyond what a guy with a crescent wrench can do?

Besides, if you count on the target, with out looking at the switch points, at some point in time, your gonna be chasing a car down a clear track!

Ed

[robscaboose]

I have a trains magazine from the late 50's or early 60's that predicted by the turn of the centrury switch targets would be "Atomic Powered"

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by robscaboose

I have a trains magazine from the late 50's or early 60's that predicted by the turn of the centrury switch targets would be "Atomic Powered"

Ironic how they aren't powered at all anymore. [:D]

It's funny how technology has actually made some things more simple than before.

[mvlandsw]

QUOTE: Originally posted by robscaboose

I have a trains magazine from the late 50's or early 60's that predicted by the turn of the centrury switch targets would be "Atomic Powered"

There was an atomic powered switch lamp available. It was sold by the U.S. Radium Corp. of Bloomburg, Pa. It was lighted by a krypton gas unit that took the place of the kerosene or electric unit. Judging from its appearance and the the base used to mount the lamp to the switch I'd guess that the lamp housing was made by Adlake. It was similiar to another lamp in the Adlake catalog. The lamp had a plate that warned "Do not remain within 12 inches of this lamp".