Signal help for the newbie

[scottso]

Greetings all.  I just pulled my father's 70+ year old standard gauge lionels out of my mother's attic for my kids to enjoy - as I did when I was a kid.  He always used to hook up a signal which would stop, and then ultimately release the train.

Problem is, my  father died a couple of years ago.  And while I still have the signal - he took the knowledge as to how it gets hooked up with him.  From what I can see it is referred to as a #78 block signal - it has a green and red light like a traffic light - and a three wire track connector.    I know the trick is insulating the track - but I can't remember how it is done.  Does anyone have any knowledge of this accessory and how it operates?

Thanks for any help to the new guy!

[wjstix]

Sounds interesting !! I would swing over to Kalmbach's "Classic Toy Trains" forum (click on "Trains.com Forums" and it should be the first or second one down) and ask there, I'm sure they'd be able to help.

One nice thing about Lionel from that era is most everything had a plate with the piece's ID number on them. I would make a list of what you have and try to track down some info on value...I suspect the trains will be worth a lot more than you would expect.