Included in this last update is a category called “Shop Photos”, which includes photos of equipment in and around the Union Switch property.

This  “Model 31 & 32 Car Retarder exhibit in Sale Promotion Center”.   would make an interesting paper- weight – providing your desk was big enough to support it!  🙂    I wonder if its still around somewhere?

There’s also outside photos, showing various car retarders being installed and tested in the US&S yard – this one caught my eye because it also shows a whole row of relay cases, and even a classic Ford pickup truck.     Enjoy!

Two more Hump & Retarder books online, two more to go…

There’s some photos from DL&W’s Hampton Yard (Near Scranton, PA), including a few night photos, dated from 1937.

And some construction photos like this one, which answer the age-old question of how many cranes it took to install a car retarder – at  L&N’s Hills Park/Tilford Yard.  🙂

You’ll also find this photo of Illinois Central’s Markham Yard machine being tested in Dept. 58 at Swissvale, along with other shots of the machine and test racks:

And finally, lots and lots of photos of the Velac equipment drawers, circuit boards, and RF units from Canadian National’s Montreal Yard.  RF units like these were used to transmit a radar frequency and to detect the difference (Doppler) frequency between the transmitted and received signals to detect the speed of the rolling cars.  Further reading about the Velac VR-1 system can be found here.

R thru U coming soon.  Enjoy!

Three books of hump yards and car retarders online, four more to go.  Unlike the CTC machine photos – a lot of these capture action on the railroad:  cars being humped,  operators at their control panels, maintainers pulling out equipment racks.  There’s even a few night shots which are pretty cool:

Enola Yard, Harrisburg, PA (PRR) - 4-29-38

I didn’t think the Conway (PRR) group would ever end.   Of all the yards, it has the most photos – 190 in all.   There’s some neat photos of the VELAC Automatic Classification System equipment racks.   And there’s also duplicate photos.   I’ll sort thru them a little later and remove the smaller duplicates – but at least everything is posted.

As you’ve probably noticed, none of these photos are cropped – every photo is the complete scan of the 8-1/2″ x 11″ page, including the two punched holes.    If I had to crop and trim every photo, I’d need to check into a padded cell.   The captions are never at the same spot – some photos run into the holes.   No two images would be the same size.

Sometimes just rotating photos becomes a challenge.  Luckily someone at US&S had a good eye and included a hand-written note, because I would have missed this one:

And then there’s this photo – no matter which way its rotated, it still does not look right.   I gave up and just went with the same direction as the text:

(Did I make you turn your head on its side to have a look?  🙂

‘H thru Z’ Yards coming soon….

Welcome to the site!

A few years ago, I was fortunate to acquire a pile of loose-bound photo 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!