Basket signal
Basket signals consisted of a gallows-shaped frame on which balloon-like baskets and later also discs or boards were raised. Such signals were first used in America in 1832 on the New Castle and Frenchtown Railroad.
Use as optical telegraph lines
Basket signals (also optical line signals or figure telegraphs) were a communication device of the early railways, in which messages were transmitted through the namesake baskets or movable arms or discs. Despite the name, it was originally not a question of railway signals in the present-day sense, which were used for communication between train attendants and drivers, but rather optical telegraphs for the transmission of messages between the train attendants.
The cage signals were set up along the railway line so that they could be seen by the neighboring station guards in order to be able to pass the message on. Since each mast had to be operated by a railway attendant, the system was very labor-intensive and required a disproportionate number of guard houses along the route.
With the introduction of night trains on the Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nordbahn in 1845, the basket signals were continuously introduced and illuminated by lanterns in the dark. A principle of the signaling regulation of the Nordbahn was that messages were not exchanged via normal train traffic, but only unusual occurrences, such as traffic on the wrong track or the calling of an auxiliary locomotive.
Basket signals as block protection
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The General Inspector Eichler von Eichkron caused the optical line signals to be used as block signals on some sections of the Kaiser-Ferdinands-Nordbahn. As soon as a train passed a block post, the position of the baskets was changed to "route occupied". After the closest marshals had also put their signal into the occupied position, the basket was pulled halfway up (half-top), signaling that a stop should be made at the next signal. Only after the closest signal also showed half-top could the travel signal be set again.
Use as a railway signal
Basket signals later served as exit signals and were widely used as no maneuvering signals . In 1895 a basket signal was set up as a shunting signal with a blue and white disc in Zurich Oerlikon .
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hans G. Wägli: Levers, bolts and signals . Diplory Verlag, Grafenried 2018, ISBN 978-3-03306410-2 , p. 51 .
- ↑ a b Ludwig Kohlfürst: signal and telegraph system . In: Strach (Hrsg.): History of the railways of Austria-Hungary. Monarchy . tape 3 . Vienna, S. 85 .
- ↑ Albert Fink: Figurentelegraph . In: Victor von Röll (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . tape 5 , p. 76 .
- ^ Gustav Gerstl: Mechanics of the train traffic . In: Strach (Hrsg.): History of the railways of Austria-Hungary. Monarchy . tape 3 , p. 39 .