Julie Johnson sends in the
following 4 photos and tells us a bit about them...
"All five of the wig wags
are fully in operation. The two Magnetic
Flagmen are at Depot Street
south of the station building on the east
leg of the wye, part of
the streetcar loop. The two "banjo" or "harp"
style autoflags are on Central
Ave, also used by the streetcar line.
(One is a WRRS, the other
a Bryant-Zinc). The fifth single wigwag is on
the west leg of the wye
near the ticket booth and tower. This track is
used in some moves, and
traffic into the "L" Station."
Above - 2 Magnetic Signal
Company upper quadrant wigwags.
Julie adds...
"And I might mention that
all wig wags are operated by track circuits,
and operate on a daily basis.
The concrete bases under the M-S are from plans used on the
Chicago South Shore and
South Bend RR in 1925, and the yet to be painted "scare" stripes are cast
in."
According to Julie, one of these signals was built by Bryant-Zinc, the other is WRRS. Both from C&NW. |
 |
This signal originated from
the CB&Q in Missouri.
Above 4 photos - Julie Johnson
2007
| As for the Griswold, I got it 30 years ago from the Chicago South Shore and South Bend interurban. It is mounted on a concrete base from the railroads plans. The South Shore had bought it about 1950 from the Milwaukee Electric lines secondhand. It dates back to 1939, and is 110V AC operated. |  |
| Here are photos of two newly installed units at the
Illinois Railway Museum. Both are all original. The mast of the M-S came from Jerold Crawford from the old N&W, the M-S came from a maintainer in range County CA who had it in his garage for 30 years. And yes, it has an original bent arm UQ banner. All I had to do was reassemble it, paint it and put it into service on a newly poured foundation. |
 |
| This is the only oval shaped "Peach Basket" wigwag I've ever seen a photo of... Thanks to Julie for sending these photos. |  |
Learn more about the IRM at their website.
Photo by Joe Stachler (9/00)
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