Welcome to the site!
A few years ago, I was fortunate to acquire a pile of loose-bound ph
oto books that were discarded by Union Switch & Signal. These contained photos of everything, including interlocking machines, model boards, wayside, cab signal, pipeline, air traffic, and other equipment that Union Switch & Signal made. I scanned every photo and decided to place them online, however my web provider was lacking in space and reliability at the time.
Fast forward to the present – A new provider, unlimited space and bandwidth, and the latest version of Coppermine, and the results can be found HERE. The soft roll-out was earlier in December, and I figured it’d be a nice Christmas present to all to have the first series of “C” books (CTC) uploaded for the Holiday Break.
There are books missing from the “C” books – which is why machines from ACL, B&M, CP, CN, DL&W, GTW, L&N, N&W, and the PRR are missing. Perhaps they will turn up some day? Also, the photos are grouped by the railroad listed on the cover pages. I’m sure there are mistakes and misplaced photos. Most of the captions are taken from the bottom of the photos – however some of those can be pretty far off too.
I just finished uploading all of the “G” books – which feature a few Electric Interlocking and UR (Union Route) Interlocking machines, including the first UR machine installed at Elizabethport, NJ, for the Central Railroad of New Jersey. There is a neat film, produced by US&S, from this same location. My copy is VHS and not very good – perhaps there are better transfers out there?
Next up will be the “B” books – Labeled “Car Retarders”, which feature all sorts of yard, hump, and retarder controls, arranged by yard name. Here’s a couple preview photos:
Conway Yard - P.R.R.
Cedar Hill Yard - New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad
Bensenville Yard - C.M.St. P. & P. R.R.
Thanks and Happy Holidays!
Absolutely fantastic photos from US&S official photos. I wish I had the photos on the 42nd Street Automatic Shuttle in the winter/spring of 2009. I wrote an APTA paper on this subject and a presentation on the same at APTA Rail Conference in Chicago.
I remember some of these NYCTA photos when I worked on NYCTA Contracts in 1986-1987 for US&S.
The Bronx 3rd Avenue El is represented with track indication panels for Gun Hill Road and 179th Street interlockings. There was no 179th Street Yard after 1956. No yard at the time when the photos were taken.
Keep up the good work of saving signal history.
Dave Rosenthal
I would like to thank you for saving the US&S photos. I was looking for photos of the C&O Cabin Creek Board and wow I found them. I am going to build a replica for my O Scale Layout which models Cabin Creek Jct. and the branch. I have a photo of a friend from the C&O Society sitting at the board but the details are not clear.
Bill Ford, Dayton OH