Talk:Railway signal

message: I've never seen a British signal, and the article makes me quite curious.  Pictures would be great.  Stargoat 20:10, 1 Sep 2004 (UTC)
thread_title: Untitled

message: According to other online sources and information out there, this African-American inventor was the one who invented the railroad semaphore in 1906 not that James fellow. I believe this page along with many others needs some dire re-visioning soon. Once again, African Americans who have contributed something to U.S society is left out again. 
source: http://www.blackinventor.com/pages/richardspikes.html  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Dew3 (talk • contribs) 20:49, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Railway semaphores existed long before 1906 - the one invented by Mr Spikes must have been one of many variants on the original concepts - further research would be required on what exactly, the link isn't specific enough. Wongm (talk) 22:24, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: One can see an illustration from 1888 of a semaphore here. I did a google patent search on Spikes, and while plenty of other stuff that he invented shows up, there's no patent for a railroad signal, no matter what the year. As far as I can tell, this claim is puffery. Mangoe (talk) 22:27, 26 February 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Richard Spikes

message: There is significant overlap of content and subject matter in Railway signal and Railway signalling and I propose the content from Railway signal be merged to Railway signalling, which is a more appropriately-named article.
* Support. — JonRoma 21:26, 4 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I sure don't see a formal proposal or consensus from that discussion (in November 2005). Anyone is entitled to their opinion, of course, but I fail to see the value of two distinct articles that treat nearly the same subject matter. Both treat the fundamental subject of signalling practice rather than one discussing signaling devices and the other discussing the philosophy behind signalling.  Perhaps someone can explain the benefit of having such similar material divided between two articles.  Regards.  — JonRoma 06:19, 6 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Proposed merge 

message: I've almost totally rewritten this article, partly to filter out the general signalling discussion, but mostly to discuss the great variation in North American practice. At this point I don't think there's cause to merge this into railway signalling anymore.
As I've made such extensive changes, the article needs considerable review. See the "tasks" list for more info. Mangoe 19:22, 28 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Major Rewrite 

message: I have posted my thoughts on the organisation and coverage of signals and signalling articles in Talk:Railway signalling#Safeworking/signalling topic organisation.  Philip J. Rayment 11:22, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Safeworking/signalling topic organisation 

message: This part seems extremely dubious. At least in US practice there is important detail about batteries and such. The variation in line current supply is really of no importance. Mangoe (talk) 22:55, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Signalling power supplies is a topic for the Railway signalling article, not this one. I'm struggling to find any of this worth keeping here. Signalhead (talk) 23:07, 27 December 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Signal power section 

message: The following paragraph from the article - 
"Furthermore, the Long Island Rail Road adopted position lights after it was bought outright by the PRR. After the Penn Central merger, the former all-amber position lights were modified with twin red lenses in the upper horizontal position for enhanced recognizability of Stop signals at interlockings."
- is incorrect from what I've seen.  I have never noted twin red lenses above any amber position lights, and I've been riding the LIRR for years (and paying attention to such things).  The LIRR's use of all-amber position lights is correct, however, although I can't speak to the history of when and why they were adopted.
I'd be interested to see if someone could confirm my assertion before I go and edit the article.
-_Scott
BTW - I'm writing this message whilst on my way home from work on an LIRR train.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Scott.m.rosenberg (talk • contribs) 00:08, 2 April 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possible false information Re: Long Island Rail Road 

message: I've undone some recent changes, and particular checking reveals that "gantry" and "signal bridge" are essentially synonyms. Mangoe (talk) 20:52, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: One might mention that whereas a signal bridge has two posts, a bracketed signal has just one.    Tabletop (talk) 23:32, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Gantry vs. signal bridge 

message: I came to this article trying to decode a common sign I see on CN railways, two white diamonds side-by-side on a black background on an oval plate. This article covers only signals that can change, and I don't see any for fixed signage. Can someone point me in the right direction? Maury Markowitz (talk) 11:57, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  What about signs? 

message: An image used in this article, File:CSX color position light Savage MD.jpg, has been nominated for speedy deletion for the following reason: All Wikipedia files with unknown copyright status 
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thread_title: File:CSX color position light Savage MD.jpg Nominated for speedy Deletion

message: The right edge of this article is overrun by a series of images which tend not to correspond to the paragraphs they go with. Can we do something about this? Mangoe (talk) 21:52, 20 November 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Need to clean up images 

message: This is certainly something that must be explained. --User:Haraldmmueller 15:00, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: I believe that the intention is to discussion the theory of signalling at the article railway signalling (see railway signalling#Route signalling and speed signalling), and the physical hardware and signals themselves in this article (railway signal)—though obviously there will necessarily be some overlap between the two articles.  TenOfAllTrades(talk) 15:27, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
replies: text:  That sounds reasonable. However, indicating that, in contrast to signals for speed signalling, signals for route signalling do not need more than one indication (but maybe route indicators); and give an explicit link to railway signalling#Route signalling and speed signalling would be nice. Maybe I'll add a sentence or two ... --User:Haraldmmueller 15:35, 19 December 2015 (UTC)
replies: text: Definitely! TenOfAllTrades(talk) 02:17, 20 December 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  No explanation of the fundamental difference between route signalling and speed signalling 

message: The above sentence (in "Mechanical signals") is 
# unclear or misleading: Of course they are always cleared by the signalman. What the sentence wants to say is, probably, that the wire for clearing the signal is pulled (and not released) to prevent a clear signal in case of a failure. If this is the intended meaning, it should say so, especially without using quotes;
# wrong, as can be seen at Italian semaphores, where the signal wire is (was) released - see this picture of a signal lever and this picture of the corresponding wire extension compensator (both taken in 1990), which reverses the direction of the wire travel - so, actually, part of the wire is released (the third between the lever and the compensator), whereas two thirds are pulled (the two thirds from the compensator to the signal). A "mechanical failure" between the lever and the compensator will, therefore, clear the signal. I do not know why the Italians accepted that possibility (but the English accepted other possible problems, which e.g. the Austrians did not accept, which led them to the introduction of the "Drahtnachzughebel" or "wire pulling levers" ... which I will explain here later).
--User:Haraldmmueller 08:24, 14 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Semaphore signals are always "pulled off" (i.e. clear[ed]) by the signalman so that any mechanical failure will return them to danger. " 

message: The articles are merely collection of information from various sources and presenting them in a form of article. While reading all articles relating to railway working like single line working, railway platforms or railway signals i found they are full of errors and give misleading information. This is because they are written by people who are not through enough in the subject. Its like person who is not a surgeon and writing about patient's operation. The articles are landing nowhere. Worst of all if a knowledgeable person tries to point out errors he is not welcomed and person controlling it are rude in communicating and reluctant to changes by giving illogical replies.If you are unable to communicate properly or convince others properly what you expect from others? So why should we contrbute?  Just for social cause but that ends in bad reply from your side. Then why to waste the valuable time of others? You can stick to your artcle which has body but no soul in it. After all its your artcle and not mine.  Firozpur (talk) 15:49, 26 November 2018 (UTC)
replies: text: Happy sulking - and yes, WP is a sort of social media, as also your outpour shows. --User:Haraldmmueller 18:39, 26 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why should one contribute?