I am a regular visitor to New Mexico and have seen and photographed/ videoed all the remaining semaphores. Last time I counted there was 43 active semaphores all between Colmor and Los Cerrillos. Five are owned by the State of New Mexico and the rest are owned by BNSF. Currently there is no plans to remove the semaphores as there is only two Amtrak trains daily. Amtrak has been pressuring Congress and the BNSF for line upgrades which would include the signaling upgrades as well as the removal of jointed rail. However neither feel it is necessary. The last time I saw any signals removed was about 4 years ago when they removed 12 semaphores.

I found a fixed semaphore in downtown Webster City, Iowa about two months ago. Non operational but still lit.

That wig wag is still in service and it is at Delhi, Colorado.

Tom -

I had wondered how many were still in place on that old AT&SF line. Thanks very much for that information! One thing I noticed from some of the photos I have seen is that some of the blades look in less than pristine condition. The wood cracked and on one particular blade, half of it was missing! I know that BNSF crews have to do the maintenance, but I wonder if replacement wood blades might be made for those crews to install when other maintenance is required. If the dimensions were furnished, perhaps some of us with at least rough carpentry skills, might be able to help out?

Perhaps a stupid idea.

Les

I talked to one of the signal crews a while back and asked them how they get replacement parts. He said "we don't". He said for the last 20 years all they have been doing is inspecting them. He said they were so well built that they just keep going with out any problems. I suspect the ones the removed years ago may have been needed for a new parts source. I have never seen any problems with them in the last 10 or so years I have been going there. They did have some copper thieves about 5 years ago that caused a lot of problems and had to run sections of the semaphores on portable generators chained to the telegraph poles.

I agree with those wood blades many of them are desperate need of paint. I remember on one trip I saw a semaphore with only a sliver of wood still attached. It had cracked in half and the wind blew most of it off. I did see a few that looked like they got a nice layer of black spray paint recently so someone is doing a little bit of work. They do have some back up parts including blades now sitting in Las Vegas. I know the crew comes from Trinidad so how much work they get done in one day is probably not a lot. Majority of those old signals have huge banks of batteries stored underground. I know that takes a lot of time checking those out.

Hopefully they can wrap up the Santa Fe 2926 soon so we can get some photos of it going through the semaphores. The line from Dodge city, Kansas to Santa Fe really is stuck in a time warp. Mostly jointed rail, telegraph poles, semaphores, old stations, etc. Pretty fun trip to ride on as well.

Here's blade specs, per Les' idea (which is not stupid).

Semaphores in service as of yesterday, by a fellow forum member:

https://www.facebook.com/jeff.lisowski/ ... 1629550369

Just West of Chatsworth, IL. on the Toledo, Peoria and Western there is one, I have no clue if the TPW uses it but there is a light on and it does have power to it.

Connor - I've seen that signal and believe it is a fixed blade approach signal. I believe that most surviving semaphores on common carrier railroads today are of that non-operational type. The exceptions are the ex-AT&SF signals discussed here previously and working semaphores at some museums such as those at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois and the Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum in North Judson, Indiana.

Les

Wasn't there one on the Hoosier / State Cardinal Route? It may have been replaced by now but for some reason I'm remembering seeing one from the IPH dome when I rode the Hoosier state.

C-Z:

There WERE a number of former Monon semaphores on the Hoosier State/Cardinal route but I had thought that CSX had removed all of them. Would be nice to know if one is still standing (and operational). Perhaps someone from the Monon Railroad Historical-Technical Society could advise.

Les

Is there any left in Canada? I remember reading about one operational one in the Vancouver, BC area. I believe it was on the Southern?

Is there any reason to replaced a fixed semaphore (such as those in advance of a crossing where one must always be prepared to stop)? Put an LED bulb in it and move on!

There was one in Urbana, IL east of CN/IC on the--hmm--I presume it's NS now. This view is from July 2016. I was just near there yesterday and neglected to see the current status.

I recently read that Congress passed Amtrak's budget for 2019. One of the requirements of the budget would make it mandatory for Amtrak to spend at least 50 million on the Raton pass route. You can be assured millions will go to semaphore replacement. So that is bad news. The good news is the last time they removed some semaphores, it took them over a year to get the job done. I doubt they will all be removed but if you are putting this on your bucket list I would get there this year. I also hope the Santa Fe 2926 will be done soon so we can get some pictures with the semaphores.

Tom F -

Good to know that monies will be allocated to the Raton Pass route. However, I wonder if replacing the semaphores makes good sense for a portion of those funds? You mentioned earlier that the signal crews state that they "were just so well built that they just keep going". For the infrequency of the trains (lately just the two Amtrak trains), that replacement makes no real sense. Even if AT&SF 2926 starts running on occasion over the route, there still would not be much additional signal use. I wonder if perhaps a campaign by rail preservationists to add those signals to the National Register might not be in order? Perhaps even some thought to starting a fund for their continued use? Maybe this is a hair-brained idea, but signals too, are railroad preservation after all.


Les