Project plans: Build a crossing guard’s shanty

Crossingguardshantyplans

Click on the image to download the plans. Before the invention of automatic crossing gates, railroad crossing guards protected grade crossings. Usually holding a flag, lantern, or stop sign or operating a manual crossing gate, the crossing guard would warn motorists of an approaching train. A simple wooden shanty provided shelter for the crossing guard. […]

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Dallas interlocking tower

20151222

An interior view at Tower 19 near Dallas (Texas) Union Terminal shows the track diagram (“model board”) of the territory controlled by the tower and some of the levers that controlled the switches and signals. This is an electro-pneumatic interlocking, in which switches are operated by compressed air. Historic American Engineering Record photo […]

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Water standpipe

20151019

This is a typical standpipe (also called water crane, water column, or water plug) used to fill steam locomotive tenders with water, which is supplied by pipe from a tank. A single tank might supply several standpipes. When not in use, they were swung away from the track. The bucket-like object between the end of […]

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