Does anyone know why, when, and by whom the Morse Code letter "Q" (dash, dash, dot, dash) was chosen for grade crossing warnings?
maybe this will help: http://askville.amazon.com/locomoti...r-crossings/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=4254107 Further research seems to reinforce the answer.
two longs a short and a loooooooong whistle blast was the warning for a crossing at grade or for persons or livestock on or near the tracks long before there was even the word "radio". The railroad morse code for "Q" is actually the Internation Morse signal for "F" ( dot,dot,dash,dot). The Czech railroad used to broadcast train orders via radio using International Morse years ago, in the early 1960s. For practice, I would copy it sometimes. I dont speak,read or understand Czech, but I could make out the word for "locomotive". Charlie
Interesting post. Good stuff. But, in fairness, telegraph operators were using Morse long before radio was a gleam in Marconi's eye, too. There's a reason the code is named for the inventor of the telegraph, and not Marconi... I suspect this form was used for crossings because it does get your attention, and for the same reason it's used for the least common letter in the alphabet--it takes a while to complete it. If you used the Morse for 'S' you'd either be through before you got anywhere near the crossing or you'd have to start when you were already there!
My Two Cents The last loooooong was to carry through the at-grade crossing and could last a long time. :tb-biggrin:
Thank you for all your replies. I believe the practice of steam engineers to play with their engine's whistle cords to create wailing or warbling tones was called "Quilling".
