First new project. Signals

[Railroad Pony]

Something I noticed as a kid was that most of the accessories for Lionel trains were WAY overscale. It occured to me they looked more like G scale items. Many started out as standard gauge accessories. The 151 semaphore signal is one of them. I bought one and started doing a little investigating. Turns out that they are a very close fit to G scale.
I ended up buying several lots of them on ePay. I'm the proud owner of 32 of them. That makes 16 signal locations. They are in all different states of disrepair. First order of business was disassembly and inspection. Oh, I should mention I am a retired railroad signal maintainer. Can't get away from it. Sorting and taking an inventory was next. I've repaired all that I can salvage, tested all the solenoids, and just ordered replacement parts. Cheaper in bulk it seems. Now, I'm waiting for the parts to arrive so I can get the assembly line started.

 

[Railroad Pony]

Just received the first batch of parts. Not enough to get started yet, so no progress.

 

[Railroad Pony]

Since I'm waiting, I got to thinking about how I was going to paint the signals. The red ladder is right out. It's going to be black. Signals seem to come in all black or silver and black. I'm leaning on how my employer painted theirs. Silver to the bottom of the lowest signal head then black from there up. The 'cast iron' signal case on these signals is already black and the mast silver. I believe I'll leave the base black and make the top of the signal black, too. Some of the masts have a bit of rust on them. I think I'll just leave it. Free weathering!

 

[Railroad Pony]

Quite a few(?) parts arrived today. One is a bag of 50 (yes, 50) arms for the semaphores. I need 32, so this will give me a plethora of spares. They are reproductions, but are very close. The originals were more rounded on the spectacle end and the repops are a bit flatter. The back of the arm on the originals was recessed which made it thinner and susceptible to warping and breaking. The repops are flat on the back, so thicker.
Next step will be cleaning them then painting the top 3" black. Typically, the black starts at a platform or the bottom of the lowest signal head. The case at the bottom may get a light touch up. The oval base will be getting a concrete colour.
I don't know if I stated this, but I'm not doing a restoration to Lionel specs. These are for my railroad and are being built to their specs.

 

[Railroad Pony]

The first 10 heads are done. A bit tedious with all the cleaning that needs done. Taking a break since my fingers got sore. There's five parts to each assembly.

 

[Railroad Pony]

Well, I got 16 mechs. done and decided to put together a test signal to gauge my progress. Got it painted and assembled then found out it wouldn't budge. Turns out the gear on the signal arm reproductions doesn't have the valley between the teeth made deep enough. I took another arm and used the gear teeth on a spare drive rod to scrape the plastic arm grooves deeper. Now it works. Bad news, I have to disassemble the 16 I already did to correct them.
But, here are some pics of the new signal.
First: Comparison of stock and painted.
Second: Green signal.
Third: Red signal.
Fourth: Black ladder.

 

[Railroad Pony]

Well, I seem to have run into an unexpected snag. One thing I overlooked was the duty cycle of the Lionel solenoids. Their original duty cycle was the three to five seconds the signal was red while the train was on the trigger contact then it released. My duty cycle could be just a few minutes to to hours depending on what's going on in the block. I tested a signal to see how it reacted to a lengthy activation. It didn't like it. It was getting hot then a little smoke issued forth. That was about three minutes. So, this little project is on permanent suspension. Im going to finish rebuilding the signals, but to Lionel specs. so I can sell them.
I do have a plan B. They made a 153 light signal. Lights have an almost infinate duty cycle. Only problem is they only have two bulbs. I have an ambitious plan to have some three light signal heads made.

 

[Railroad Pony]

Well, I just saved myself some extra work. Lionel made a three light signal #99. I lucked out and found a head for a dismembered signal on ePay. The detail on the face of the signal is remarkable for a die cast toy signal. It's also deep enough to hide the signal bulbs so they don't stick out of the signal like a desocketed eyeball.

 

[Railroad Pony]

 

[Railroad Pony]

Well, it looks like this project might go back to active status. What put it in hiatus was the short duty cycle the original Lionel solenoids had. I had an epifininy when I was looking at some Tortoise switch motors. I can mount the switch motor under the layout and use it to lower the signal arm. I have designed a circuit that will allow the solenoid to provide additional boost in lowering the arm, then cut out allowing the switch machine to hold it in place. To return the signal to green, the switch machine reverses, lowers the solenoid slug, and the existing spring in the mast helps return it to clear.

Fortunately, I don't have to buy all those switch machines. I was building my own from common parts for use on a N scale railroad that never materialized. I still have a ton of parts to make more with. I'm going to make a test mule out of the signal I finished and one of the switch machines to test concept. I hope this works because I like watching the semaphores work with the trains passing them.

I have a plan B in case it doesn't involving colour light signals made from inexpensive toy traffic signals. They have a rather accurate appearance more like railroad signals than traffic lights.

Stand by.

 

[Smudge617]

Well, it looks like this project might go back to active status. What put it in hiatus was the short duty cycle the original Lionel solenoids had. I had an epifininy when I was looking at some Tortoise switch motors. I can mount the switch motor under the layout and use it to lower the signal arm. I have designed a circuit that will allow the solenoid to provide additional boost in lowering the arm, then cut out allowing the switch machine to hold it in place. To return the signal to green, the switch machine reverses, lowers the solenoid slug, and the existing spring in the mast helps return it to clear.

Fortunately, I don't have to buy all those switch machines. I was building my own from common parts for use on a N scale railroad that never materialized. I still have a ton of parts to make more with. I'm going to make a test mule out of the signal I finished and one of the switch machines to test concept. I hope this works because I like watching the semaphores work with the trains passing them.

I have a plan B in case it doesn't involving colour light signals made from inexpensive toy traffic signals. They have a rather accurate appearance more like railroad signals than traffic lights.

Stand by.

I'll be interested to see how this all works out.