Medford Railroad Park, located in Medford, Oregon, has
one Griswold rotating banner signal,
one wigwag, two Style B semaphores, one US&S
searchlight signal, a few motor car indicators,
and other stuff on display that came from
Espee's Siskiyou Line. The following info is from member Tony Johnson:
| Here's the story behind the wigwag and Griswold signals
that I published in last month's chapter newsletter (4/05). I've edited
it down a bit. - Tony J.
Nudge says the wigwag came off the Southern Pacific’s
Coast Line, just south of San Luis Obispo at Biddle Ranch Road. That road,
along with Edna Road crossing, was closed when the State built the overpass.
The story behind the Griswold is also interesting. Nudge says the 1926 Griswold also came from Southern Pacific’s Coast Line in California. It was located at the crossing in Camp Roberts at McKay (a siding where SP interchanged cars with Camp Roberts). According to Nudge, “The switch into Camp Roberts from No. 2 siding was taken out in the early 70s, with all cars going to ‘East Garrison’, just north of the Salinas River Bridge. Well, the Griswolds were mothballed and then some time later, disappeared. Around 1980, I got a call from my ‘Supplier’ and he told me he had just received a call from CalTrans, telling him they had two crossing signals that belonged to the SP. It turned out one of their employees had sticky fingers and was taking stuff home. When he was caught, along with streetlights, etc., here were two signals. “Well, my ‘supplier’ called the ‘glass house’ [SP Signal Dept in Oakland] and asked what they wanted to do with these signals. He was told to get rid of them because they didn’t have parts and this type of signal had both high and low voltage in the small case and that was a hazard. Well, I got one and a buddy in Arroyo Grande/Oceano, CA got the other. You will notice the stop sign still had glass beads in it. It was short on lights and those I received from the Burlington Northern when they took one of theirs out of service on the High Line.” |
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This US&S searchlight signal came from Medford. It
was installed in April, 2005.
| This is how the Griswold appeared in 1999, thanks to
Larry Tuttle for the photo. He gives us more info on the club...
The Medford Railroad Park is located near (northwest of) the north Medford I-5 interchange about a third of a mile north on Tablerock Road. Turn right on Berrydale. It's open to the public on the second and forth Sundays of the month from April through October. Features include live steam train rides on nearly a mile of track, a large HO scale operating model railroad, static exhibits of full sized railroad rolling stock and the Morse Telegraphers. Admission is free to all exhibits and the train rides but donations are appreciated. |
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updated 8/05
