Signals and their adjunct equipment are conspicuously missing from The Roadway and Structures Standard Plan book. Even items such as telephone booths, mail cranes, train order racks and the like are missing. There must be a Signal and Communications Standard Plan book out there some place. When I built my Carl Jct. Switching layout, I used Model Masterpieces Ltd part #384, which contains the spectacle, blade, and finial. With brass tubing for the mast, brass wire for the control rods, and a couple of bell cranks, I was able to fashion a working train order board, albeit, a non-illuminated one. A bit of Walthers’ signal ladder stock completed the model. The Model Masterpiece parts were as close to Frisco as I could get with a commercial product. Tomar makes a US&S lower quadrant semaphore that fits the bill nicely for the Frisco modeler. It will require repainting.
Working on fabricating a "good enough" lower-quadrant, semaphore train order board for my 1:87 version of the Olathe, KS depot. Just when I was starting to wonder about the correct color for the semaphore blades, a good photo of the Tuttle, Okla. depot showed up on the Frisco Archive. Just to confirm that I'm getting it right: Blades for oncoming trains: yellow with a black stripe Same blade painted black with white stripe on the opposite side. I don't know that I feel ambitious enough to have mine be operational at this point, but maybe once it is in place...right now my crews are also pretty busy getting line poles in place from north to south. Best Regards,
Jeff Cooney has the real deal in his shop... https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=579860502162630&set=pcb.515318511977945&type=3&theater
So, more random thoughts on train order boards. Seems the Frisco was exclusively a lower-quandrant railroad. But, I've noticed that some locations had train order signals where the two boards were staggered, such as noted in this "Frisco Archive" photo at St. Marys, MO: http://frisco.org/mainline/2016/07/24/st-marys-missouri-depot/ On the other hand, there are those where the two boards are "back-to-back" as illustrated here at Potts Camp, MS: Potts Camp, MS Any rhyme or reason to the differences, or can it simply be attributed to whimsy? Best Regards,
I believe the staggered height would have been to allow visibility over some obstruction from the north which was not needed from the south.
I created several 3D models of train order and semaphore spectacle/blade assemblies in S, O and HO scales and have them available in my Shapeways store. All of the models have 60" blades, but they can easily be cut down to 42" if your prototype requires that length. I will make 42" versions of each style in the future, but I just haven't found the time to do it yet. The spectacle/blade that appears closest to the style shown in the depot photo is this Boston and Maine train order style: http://shpws.me/M3of I offer each style in pointed and fishtail blades (besides the usual square). Here are some examples of another style printed in HO scale:
I got 42" blade versions done in HO scale last night: http://shpws.me/MuuV http://shpws.me/MuuW http://shpws.me/MuuX Still working on uploading the O and S scale versions (they are all modeled and exported, just not uploaded to Shapeways yet).
Good looking products, Ryan. Is there any detail on the "backside?" They almost look like one would have to flip them to work as a Frisco lower-quadrant signal? Best Regards,
Detail on the back? Not really. The ones in the photo are GRS Type A, so they aren't a match for the style used by Frisco. The ones I linked in the post from 7-29 @805pm are much closer to the style used on the depots at St. Mary's, MO and Potts Camp, MS. I used a Boston and Maine prototype to make the 3D model. Here's Shapeways' rendering of the model with 42" fishtail blades:
