Ham radio universal (such a small area) call (like, helPP ME or like...Chloe, where are you?)
To the subject: our railroad specified distance and whistle posts (or poles)_were planted and grew 1/4 of a mile from the first crossing to be crossed. A bunch of crossings close together got a number posted below our symbol, "X."
I taught that 20 seconds of whistle sound on crossing approach....would absolve from the happening of slaughtering a family wrongly in conflict with your locomotive.
Whistling, extended or repeated, 20 seconds before crossing, no importance to what your approaching speed...4 mph or 79 mph.
WP required their beautifully tuned Nathan M5 horns to be blown for twenty seconds, no distance specified from a crossing.
DA DIT DA DA....DA DA DIT DA
Ham Radio Universal Call
henry6The distance from the grade crossing for the blowing of the horn or whistle is not in feet, yards, or parts of miles but rather base on time from the crossing which is determined, of course, by the speed of the train and thus varies from crossing to crossing.
We still have a number of old concrete whistle posts along the railroad. A number of them are so far from the crossing at our current speeds as to be no more than the artifacts that they are.
But there was a time that the NYC ran 50+ MPH along this line, and the whistle boards are more accurately placed for speeds in that range.
So while the time before reaching the crossing is the determining factor, the railroads made it a little easier by putting the whistle posts where a train travelling at track speed would have to start sounding the whistle/horn to meet the requirement.
NORAC rules call for sounding the horn for a crossing at least 15 seconds, but not more than 20 seconds before reaching the crossing UNLESS the train is travelling at 60+ MPH, in which case the signal must not begin until 1/4 mile before the crossing. So distance can be a factor...
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Your dates are correct sir. However the person who told me this was an expat British trainspotter.
He seemed to think this particular signal as predating any standard booklet of North American Locomotive Whistles.
I put it to our British Rail enthusiasts this question: Can you date the 'dah, dah, dit, dah' signal as a 19th century British engineer on the footplate signal, and secondly does it have anything to do with Queen Victoria; as it is 'Q' in morse code?
Overmod To which I might add that dash dash dot dash appears nowhere in either American or Railroad Morse...
To which I might add that dash dash dot dash appears nowhere in either American or Railroad Morse...
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AgentKid In Railroad Morse Q is dot dot dash dot. V, is in fact, the same in both systems dot dot dot dash.
In Railroad Morse Q is dot dot dash dot. V, is in fact, the same in both systems dot dot dot dash.
Firelock76 ccc it does apear that a Q is the correct simbl, not a V which is three shorts and a long. Absolutely correct, I'm ashamed of myself for not realizing that, and me a military history buff at that. World War Two's "V for Victory", as in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, "Dum-Dum-Dum-Dummmmm...." I'm hangin' my head.. Anyway, I still doubt the "Q" had anything to do with Queen Victoria.
ccc it does apear that a Q is the correct simbl, not a V which is three shorts and a long.
it does apear that a Q is the correct simbl, not a V which is three shorts and a long.
Absolutely correct, I'm ashamed of myself for not realizing that, and me a military history buff at that.
World War Two's "V for Victory", as in Beethoven's Fifth Symphony, "Dum-Dum-Dum-Dummmmm...."
I'm hangin' my head..
Anyway, I still doubt the "Q" had anything to do with Queen Victoria.
Whoa! Everyone chill out.
Both of you gentlemen are referring to International Morse Code. This was not the version used by the railroads. I have seen that version variously called Railroad Morse, American Landline Morse, or as Wikipedia now calls it, American Morse. This is the version used from beginning to the end of railroad telegraphy. Western Union never converted to International Morse code, either. My father never did have to learn International Morse.
Bruce
So shovel the coal, let this rattler roll.
"A Train is a Place Going Somewhere" CP Rail Public Timetable
"O. S. Irricana"
. . . __ . ______
The SP's take on the regulation and state law was that, "start the grade crossing warning: two longs a short and another long sound of the thing that made 85 desibal noise, starting a 1/4 of a mile from the crossing and "prolonging or repeating until the crossing was covered."
Well, that's the way I taught it.
Movin' slow, real slow: !/4 mile post....(Or if you are talkin' southern or midwestern: mile POLE), maybe 2 or three seconds sounding....then near the crossing, 20 seconds or so of a repeated sounding 'til it was covered.
WP's rules, then, said 20 seconds of whistle/horn noise, but no distance requirement...
Whistle signals from my 1953 B&O Rule Book
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Can anyone date the first usage of the "Q" whistle? Was it used in Britain in the 19th century and carried across the Atlantic with the earliest locomotives?
Interesting how some whistle posts have two bars, a dot, and a bar to indicate the grade crossing signal. Up in North Jersey Erie territory they just had a concrete post with a "W" incised on it.
Some of those posts can still be found along the various right-of-ways.
I doubt that "long-long-short-long" as in a Morse code "V" has anything to do with Queen Victoria. She died at the dawn of the 20th Century, 1901 to be exact, and the current grade crossing whistle signal became standard much later. At any rate, she wasn't queen here, even if she did have some admirers.
"Recall" used to be 5 longs and one or two shorts depending on which flagman was called back. Haven't seen that in any GCOR rules exam that I can remember. (railroad specific?)
All I remember from train order days was: that type of flagging was akin to being banished and nerves were on end until recall came.
Two longs are the signal to proceed. Two shorts are an answer to any other signal not provided for.
Both can and have been used (depending on rule book and era) for other purposes beyond the regular purpose. Two longs on Uniform Code roads (RI, MP, MKT, SSW and some others) was also an acknowledgement of a Calling-On train order signal. On the UP when approaching MOW men and equipment we sound a long and a short and then sound two shorts intermittently while passing them.
The GCOR, as used by UP, no longer has whistle signals to call out or call back in flagmen.
Jeff
Read the rules and operating books for the proper signals. Two short is move foward (direction of engine),three is for back up (direction of engine),two longs a short and a long is a highway crossing. I am not sure any of the call in signals (calling flag protection in) are in the books anymore or not.
Two toots is the usual "forward" signal (three to back up).
Two toots can also be used to acknowledge a signal, which we sometimes do to answer a radio call that we're clear of a slow order.
"Forward"? I have known this only as the signal warning the public that a train is approaching a public crossing of the railroad.
Earlier, this signal was two longs and two shorts. Now, the last blast is a long, which is to be held until the train has reached the crossing. I have never known an explanation for the change, but it seems to me that the change was made so that the signal is heard until the train actually reaches the crossing, rather than ending the warning too early.
When I became aware of the signal, I began noticing whistle posts. The Southern had on its whistle posts two bands, a large dot, and a third band, which told the engineer what to blow. But, there was one post in my home town which had a second dot beside the first one, and I wondered why. In time, I was talking with a man who had worked for a road many years earlier, and he told that that had been the signal.
Johnny
I was told that the 'Forward' whistle of 'long, long, short, long' , which is also in Morse Code the letter 'Q' , stands for Queen Victoria.
Can anyone elaborate on this and the other whistles used by engineers?
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