Hi all, I was just at an auction where this guy collected trains and train stuff. No, not Lionel. I'm talking full size passenger and freight rail. This guy had a full central track switch in his BASEMENT. It was about 40 feet long, 6 feet wide and reportedly took him two weeks to just bring the thing down. Anyways, I purchased this very cool unit (as well as some other stuff) and I was wondering if you can tell me about it. It looks to me like a DC motor with a power distribution unit attached. I'd love to find out what it was used for and what power I might be able to give it to make it run. No, there is no plate on the motor that tells me anything. Pictures are attached. Thanks! John
A small start - L.S. Brach shows up as a manufacturer of telegraph and RR communications from 1908 into the 20's. A very slightly educated guess from the multiple posts in pic 3 makes me think some kind of switchboard or equivelant.
The device mentioned in this patent seems to resemble part of what's in my pictures. What do you think? patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/pdfs/US1232888.pdf
I enlarged the pictures as big as I could. It looks like a light controller of some sort. Looking at the two terminals on the left would be the connections to the motor. Probably DC since it has a commutator. I can see the nomenclature of the remaining terminals as LIGHT 1, LIGHT 2 etc. The shape of the nuts on the terminals looks like the nuts on relays and terminal boards of the signal system that I worked on. If the motor turns the dial on the right to make up what looks like contacts, it would seem to me that it is a sort of chase light arrangement. In my electrician days I have seen chase light systems similar to this device before electronic modules were developed. But what a railroad would need a chase light device for with the exception of crossing flashers is unknown to me.
I doubt it is anything model railroad related. It certainly looks like a perfect fit for that time period Eagle2 has outlined.
I believe that the patent at the link I pasted in above was for a crossing flasher system. Any ideas on how I could determine the voltage required to make it run?
How many lights? I can't think of anything more than crossbuck alternating two light systems. Some also had a rotating stop sign, or a bell, or both.
You could start with a 12 volt car battery to see if the motor will turn, then add another in series for more power. I have gotten 120 volt DC motors to turn with several 6 volt spring top batteries in series. Can you read the embossed letters at the 3 terminals on the right end? I enlarged the lettering to 800% but couldn't read it. If the unit was indeed used for a RR crossing it would have flashed the lights on the gates in sequence (if crossing gates had them). There would have been a brass plate attached to the motor with the data stamped on it as to operating voltage, RPM's, duty status, serial number and model number. Maybe it is on the underside?
I remember seeing lights sequencing across the top of a crossing gate sometime in the late 1930s or 1940s, around WW-II. It would have been on the New York Central Harlem Division somewhere between White Plains and Brewster, NY. I don't remember it being a common sight, but it did get my attention as something different and flashy.
It's from before my time but I will give it my best guess. The motor and contacts are to sequentially energize the arched light board. This would make it to appear as if some one was waving a lantern back and forth to stop traffic.
This would have been before my time, too. I am not picturing it in mind. Do you know of a picture anywhere?
Well, I tried a 12 volt car battery. I have a 12,000 volt transformer that I use for neon signs, but I'm hesitant to throw that much juice at it. What I think I need, but don't have atm, is a rheostat that I can turn up slowly and observe. Is there any "standard" voltage that would have been used at RR crossings in the 1920?
Old stuff like this used to really fascinate me, when I was a youth. So my curiosity level is up, to learn what the heck this is/was, and how it was used.
With no Spec plate on the motor it would be difficult to determine what voltage to apply to it. Signal equipment was not standard between railroads and the equipment operated on many different voltages. Sorry I can't help you any further along, but I still believe it controls the lights at RR crossings.
I don't have any pictures. I looks some what like a device used to operate lights that surrounded and old advertising sign from that period. It had a motor that moved a pointer over individual contacts that illuminated the light bulbs in a chasing sequence around the perimeter of the sign. I visualize this motor moving the point half way around and then reversing the direction of the contacts. On the drawing there is an arch of lights. Imagine starting at the right most the light is turned on and off and then the one next to it and then the next to that one until the sequence reaches the left side light on the arch. At the time the motor reverses and illuminates the lights in the opposite direction thru the arch. This, from a distance, would appear to be a signal mans red lantern swinging in a arch to signal you to stop. It may also have a gong at each end of the arch. I believe this could be done with either AC or DC current. I hope I made it more clear.
I have a friend who has a lot of Hawkins Electrical Guide books from 1915. I sent him the pictures and he will see what he can find out.
