Starting during 1909 and completed during 1910, US&S Type S semaphores were placed between Monett and St. Louis. The territory was a mix of OBS and APB. During January 1944, CTC with Type SA search light signals was placed into operation between Swedenborg and Dillion.
There was a pretty good E. S. Dellinger short fiction story about a signal installer on the Eastern Division. It's included in one of the FMIG Lines issues - 105 or 106, I think. You can down load the story from this site. FMIG Lines 104 has another of his fiction stories about the Eastern Division between Springfield (fictional Stringfield) and Newberg (fictional Oldberg). The title was BALLAST SCORCHER.
OBS or Overlapping Block Signals and APBS or Absolute Permissive Block Signals were forms of Automatic Block Signals used by the Frisco. The attached ETT shows the Rolla Sub with the APBS and the OBS systems, and the "recent" addition of CTC.
I have the issue of Railroad in which that Dellinger story appeared. The mag is disintegrating, but I got a decent photocopy before it got too bad. As I understand, the there is a sequel to that story, but I haven't been able to identify or locate it.
Creeping a bit off-topic, but regarding the CTC section from Newburg to Rolla, from where was this CTC controlled? St. Louis? Springfield? Newburg? Best Regards,
Chris, Look at page 232 of Joe's book Frisco Power. This is the pic of the brand new Meteor consist on a publicity run up to St Louis in April, 1948, taken at a stop at Newburg, MP 119.1. The Newburg CTC building is visible just above the lead E7, SLSF 2005. Don Wirth made a terrific model of the building for his Newburg-based layout. Ken
Richard Grayson gave me an interview years ago. Part of it is included in FMIG LINES issue 116. He dispatched from that building during WWII. 12-hour shifts. No bathroom breaks. Peed into a jar. Went on to become SL-SF and BN presidents.
Thar she blows. I've looked at that one several times but apparently not close enough. I need to go back and look at the photos of Newburg in HO-Scale that Don has posted. Talk about working your way up the ladder. I can't imagine getting through two hours of work without getting up and stretching the legs. Guess I would have been better B&B or Section Gang material. Best Regards,
Karl, Do you know if that OBS system was like the one Carsten Lundsten describes here: http://www.lundsten.dk/us_signaling/abs_atsfsiding/siding_2nddist.html Paul
Paul, Indeed, the basic system described at this web site is OBS. Unlike the ATSF, the Frisco did not use leave siding signals as described in this piece. It was more typical for the Frisco to use block indicators at each end of a passing track. In later years, the Frisco placed dwarf signals or pots in some locations. One of the problems with OBS was that during certain “symmetrical” opposing movements, it was possible for a train to come upon a red board without receiving a yellow signal. The railroads countered this problem by adding an additional yellow signal in advance of the occupied block. When everybody was paying attention to the timetable and his train orders, OBS did its job. However, when inferior trains occupy the main line on a superior train’s time, bad things can happen. Such was the case on July 12, 1942 when number 4 and a passenger extra (troop train) collided at Granby, MO. The ICC Accident Report provides an interesting discussion about an “inadequate” signal system, which played a part in this fatal accident. http://specialcollection.dotlibrary.dot.gov/Document?db=DOT-RAILROAD&query=(select+2646)
