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July 26, 2016 at 1:49 am #5791princessclyne69Participant
I’m looking for advice on the signal arrangement at Durand. The track arrangement has the Osawatomie-Coffeyville main line crossing the Ft. Scott – Wichita line (which was there first). Predominant traffic would be north-south and, at the time I’m modeling. branching to the west for Wichita. Essentially, the Wichita branch ended at Durand with interchange tracks to the north and south, after the diamond was taken out. This was between MP 383 and 384 on the Wichita division, and between MP 398 and 399 on the Kansas division. The north-south line has a main and a siding, which is also the approach to the yard located south of the former diamond. Yard and siding are on the west side of the main line, so the Wichita division tracks actually come off this siding. I’m not modeling all that, just the interchange from the north curving to the west to head for Wichita.
Signal arrangements, as I see them in the Condensed Profile from some time in the sixties, are: coming from the north, there are signals in both directions at the north entrance to the siding, then a what appears to be a crossover from the main, with a signal probably mounted on a cantilever for the interchange track to Wichita (by this time, there is a gate across this track). From the south, there are signals in both directions at the entrance to the siding, 5400′ south of the yard. There is a northbound signal on the main halfway through the yard.
These appear to be designated as color-light signals. So my first question is what exactly would these signals have been, searchlight or the MoPac three-light triangular head? They’re all the hooded three-light vertical head now.
Before the Ft. Scott line was cut and the diamond taken out, would there have been signals on both lines? For at least a period of time, there would have been some through movement from Osawatomie toward Wichita and vice versa, rather than exchanging cars in the Durand yard.
Anything else I might not know about?
Ron Merrick
November 7, 2016 at 7:02 pm #8132clemmie_doris12ParticipantRon, I saw this post a few weeks ago and I have been trying to decide how to reply. I have worked in and around Durand many times since my railroad career started in 1978. The Coffeyville Subdiv. (north-south) was ABS until 1978/1979 when it was changed over to CTC. That creates a few differences in signal arrangement when you compare one to another. In other words, what you see today will not be like what it was in the ’60s or early ’70s.
I think you have the signal configuration down pretty close. In ABS, the signals governing the entrance to the siding will be “paired up” and placed just ahead of the switch points at a standard switch. A spring switch would more than likely be different, but there was no such switch in use at this location. The two signals you note on the main, on either side of the diamond are wired to the gate and were there to protect the crossing. The east-west route, I don’t have a TT handy to check the subdiv. name, was not signaled. The normal position of the gate was against movement on this track, so you had to approach the crossing prepared to stop. I can confirm this, as I saw the cast iron crossing warning sign when I was on the track one mile east of where the diamond used to be on a cold winter’s night in December 1978.
The crossover that you mentioned probably did not have any signals associated with it. The signals at either end of the siding would have offered adequate protection and efficiency at this location. The MP was a big user of GRS signal equipment and preferred three color type signals over searchlights. I could not say for sure what type of three color signal it was. It could have been vertical or the triangle configuration.
As for traffic to and from Wichita, I think quite a bit of it went through to Rich Hill and then up to Pleasant Hill on the Carthage Subdiv. I know for a fact that there was a regular through freight between Wichita and St. Louis during WWII. It’s flip-flopped now, but the main track portion of the wye at Pleasant Hill was originally the east leg which supported the traffic patterns prior to the 1950s.
Is there anyway that you can post a scan of the condensed profile for this location? I might be able to offer more/better info if I could view it.
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