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Thinking about other oddball crossing protection. Did Michigan ever have any of the Griswold flashers that had the rotating STOP sign in the middle?

I know the South Shore had at least one in Michigan City (Willard Ave crossing?) but by the '90s when I first saw it, the STOP sign was gone.

GP30M4216 wrote:Here is my video referenced above of the wig wag in Anaheim, CA on the former SP Costa Mesa branch, doing its thing while a UP local rolls by:



It's not really mounted to that fluted streetlamp post, this was just the only angle I had available for a video shot.

The way out there you can pick out the heritage of some lines is by the wig wags. The Pacific Electric used utility posts to mount their wigwags. There is a wig wag out in California that guards the tracks leading into a yard, which is a grand total of NINE. A "9 Tracks" sign is mounted on one. I love Wig wags but talk about dangerous.

MQT1223 wrote:There is a wig wag out in California that guards the tracks leading into a yard, which is a grand total of NINE. A "9 Tracks" sign is mounted on one. I love Wig wags but talk about dangerous.

That is East 49th Street where it crosses the BNSF Harbor Subdivision just east of Santa Fe Avenue in the Los Angeles suburb of Vernon.

...but the wig wag was preserved and is located on the property of the Indiana Northeastern Railroad division office in Hillsdale. I've never been able to find a photo of this one in-situ at the Long Lake crossing, but I've heard from several people that this is where it came from. I'm not sure who the maker of this installation was.

Upon further research this has been confirmed as a US&S type DW wigwag, a real oddball.

Its just too bad that there is no hope of another Wig Wag in service. The one in Lansing is a close as we can get if JAIL ever decided to repair it, which will never happen.

Dan Cluley wrote: Isbell st looks pretty much the same as it has for years.

This shot was taken in 2004

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Kind of similar to mine, taken back in 2010.

J T wrote:

Dan Cluley wrote: Isbell st looks pretty much the same as it has for years.

This shot was taken in 2004

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Kind of similar to mine, taken back in 2010.

Its odd to me why the bell looks like its so much newer then the rest of the signal. The previous photos show it mounted directly to the mast and not on top.

The south shore car shown at Isabell street are now on the Southern Michgian Railroad.

There used to be one in Wells, in the U ... s removed.


Source: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=238038

I'm assuming the Wells example wasn't the same one as this example C&NW example in Escanaba, but maybe they were similar?

GP30M4216 wrote:There used to be one in Wells, in the U ... s removed.


Source: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=238038

I'm assuming the Wells example wasn't the same one as this example C&NW example in Escanaba, but maybe they were similar?

This may very well be the one I was thinking of. I don't believe there were two different locations.

MP73point4 wrote:

GP30M4216 wrote:There used to be one in Wells, in the U ... s removed.


Source: http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=238038

I'm assuming the Wells example wasn't the same one as this example C&NW example in Escanaba, but maybe they were similar?

This may very well be the one I was thinking of. I don't believe there were two different locations.

No expert here but are those the former N&W high hood Alco's that the C&NW purchased?

Yes, C628s.

I heard the C&NW crews hated them.

MQT1223 wrote:I heard the C&NW crews hated them.

Pretty much the opposite. Other than the lack of visibility due to the high short hood, the stories from the guys who ran them say that the cabs were very comfortable and well insulated both temperature and sound wise, the ride was very good and they could pull better than anything else out there.

Hillsdale Wig wag.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalra ... 591526164/

A few weeks ago, I drove down to better photo document the wig wag remains at Isbell Street in Lansing. No change to the setup in the past several years although new crossbucks were installed a few years ago and the pole is now leaning a bit. A signal box with power hookup still remains at this crossing. I can't verify for sure but I suspect that shiny mechanical bell still does ring when a train passes.

Starting at 1:35 is a video of this wig wag in action:

GTW must have liked wig wags. I believe the one in GH by pm1223 came from the GTW in Spring Lake.

Also, I know that there was one at First St in Coopersville. I don't know when it was removed, but I know it was in when the Heath Mfg building burned.

EWRice wrote:GTW must have liked wig wags. I believe the one in GH by pm1223 came from the GTW in Spring Lake.

Also, I know that there was one at First St in Coopersville. I don't know when it was removed, but I know it was in when the Heath Mfg building burned.

The sign that the signal is displayed with says where it came from, and I think it was the crossing just up the road.

The GTW did like wig wags, but the one in the park in Grand Haven is off the C&O/PM: Summary: Model 5 Autoflag Wig Wag Signal. This signal was installed at the Pennoyer Street crossing in Grand Haven in the 1920s by the Pere Marquette Railroad. It was replaced by more modern signals in 1978. The signal is now electronically activated and operates for one minute on the hour between 9am and 9pm, Memorial Day through Labor Day.

Has anyone ever seen this one-minute activation take place?

I do remember it working on a clock but the last time I saw it working was in the 90's.