1962 Uniform Code of Operating Rules – Train Signals

TRAIN SIGNALS

17. The headlight must be displayed to the front of every train by day and by night. It must be extinguished when a train turns out to meet another and has stopped clear of the main track, or is standing to meet trains at the end of two or more tracks, or at junctions with switches properly lined for the approaching train. It should be left extinguished until the rear of the expected train has passed.

17A. On engines so equipped, the headlight will be dimmed:

  • When standing on yard tracks
  • When standing on the main track at meeting points after the switch has been lined for the siding
  • Approaching stations where trains are receiving or discharging passengers
  • Approaching stations where train orders or clearances are to be picked up
  • Approaching meeting and passing points, junctions, end of two or more tracks where trains or engines are clear, to assist in train identification by train and engine crews
  • On two or more tracks when approaching trains and when trains are approaching in the opposite direction

Except that the full power of the headlight must used approaching all public crossings at grade and until such crossings are reached regardless of their location.

17B. Engine used in road service which are regularly required to run backward for any portion of the trip, except to pick up a detached portion of a train or in making terminal movements, shall have a headlight on the rear.

Under under conditions requiring an engine to run backward at night, a white light must be displayed on the leading end.

17C. Should the headlight fail while the train is en route at night, repairs must be made as quickly as possible. If repairs cannot be made, such lights as are available will be displayed and train may then proceed to the first point where repairs can be made, passing over all public crossings at grade not specially protected by watchman, gates or automatic crossing signal with care and at a speed not exceeding twenty miles per hour.

Train dispatcher must be advised from first open train order office when a train is running with defective headlight, and he will, when possible, notify other trains concerned.

17D. On engines so equipped, oscillating white headlight must be displayed to the front by day and by night. It must be extinguished when the headlight is dimmed or extinguished.

Oscillating white headlight should be used in a stationary position as a subsitute headlight in case of failure of the headlight.

17E. Yard engines will display a headlight to the front and rear by night.

Under conditions not requiring display of markers, other engines without cars will display a white light to the front and rear by night.

Note: headlight on end coupled to cars may be extinguished subject to requirements of last paragraph of Rule 17A.

19. MARKERS – the following signals will be displayed to the rear of every train to indicate the rear of the train.

  1. By day – markers not lighted.
  2. By Night:On single track and when running with the current of traffic on two tracks, markers lighted displaying red to the rear.On two tracks, when standing or running against current of traffic, markers lighted displaying red to the rear on the outside, and green to the rear on the inside.

    On more than two tracks, when running with the current of traffic, or when standing or running against the current of traffic, markers lighted displaying red to the rear unless otherwise directed by special instructions.

    When a train is clear of the main track to be passed by another train, lighted markers will display green to the rear.

When the rear of a train is equipped with built-in markers, they must be lighted by day and by night.

When a train is equipped to display a single flashing type marker it will be unlighted by day; by night it will display flashing red to the rear, except when clear of the main track to be passed by another train it will display flashing green to the rear.

EXCEPTION: The requirement that markers display green to the rear when clear of main track does not apply in CTC.

19A. A train not equipped to display markers as prescribed by Rule 19 will display a red flag by day and a red light by night to indicate the rear. The red light will be replaced by a white light when the train is clear of main track.

EXCEPTION: The red light will not be replaced by a white light in CTC.

20. All sections except the last will display two green flags and two green lights by day and by night in the places provided for that purpose on the leading end of the engine.

21. Extra trains will display two white flags and two white lights in the places provided for that purpose on the leading end of the engine, except that white flags and white lights need not by displayed in CTC.

22. When two or more engines are coupled, for all or part of a subdivision, each engine shall display signals as prescribed by Rules 20 and 21.

23. One marker, flag or light display where in Rule 19, 20 and 21 two are required will indicate the same as two; but the proper display of all train signals is required.

24. When two or more engines are coupled the leading engine shall sound the signals as prescribed by Rule 14.

26. A blue signal displayed at one or both ends of an engine, car or train, indicates that workmen are under or about it; when thus protected it must not be coupled to or moved. Each class of workmen will display the blue signals and the same workmen are alone authorized to remove them. Other equipment must not be placed on the same track so as to intercept the view of the blue signals without first notifying the workmen.

When emergency repair work is to be done under or about engines or cars in a train and a blue signal is not available, the engine crew must be notified and protection given to those engaged in making the repairs.

27. A signal imperfectly displayed, or the absence of a signal at a place where one is usually shown must be regarded as the most restrictive indication that can be given by that signal, except that when the day indication is unmistakable it will govern. Such conditions must be reported to the proper officer.

Employees using a switch where the switch light is imperfectly displayed or absent must, if practicable, correct or replace the light.

28. A combined green flag and white flag or combined or flashing green and white light will be used to stop a train at the flag stations indicated on the schedule or in special instructions.

29. When a signal(except a fixed signal) is given to stop a train it must, unless otherwise provided, by acknowledged as prescribed by Rule 14 (g), (h), or (n).

30. The engine bell must be rung when an engine is about to move; while moving about stations; while passing a train standing on adjacent track; and 1/4 of a mile from every public crossing at grade (except within the limits of such towns and cities as may be prescribed in special instructions) until the crossing is occupied by engine or cars.

32. The unnecessary use of the whistle or the bell is prohibited. They will be used only as prescribed by rule or law, or to prevent accident.

33. Watchmen stationed at public crossings at grade must use stop signals when necessary to stop trains or engines. They will use prescribed signals to stop highway traffic.

34. Crews on engines and snow plow foremen must know the indication of fixed signals (including switches where practicable) and members of train crews must know the indication of train order signals affecting their train before passing them. All members of engine and train crews must, when practicable, communicate to each other by its name the indication of each signal affecting the movement of their train or engine.

35. In emergency cases when track is suddenly found defective or is obstructed any employee must, by the use of flags, lights, torpedoes, fusees or other signals make every possible effor to stop trains in both directions.

Recent Posts

State of the Layout – Doubleheaders Tour 2024

It has been a while since our last blog post, so we thought a quick status update may be in order to show some of the exciting projects we’ve been working on over the winter. Also with the 2024 Doubleheaders Tour date quickly approaching, this will serve to advertise some of the new things you can expect to see if you make the trip to Maryhill.

Victoria Mine Spur (INCO – Crean Hill)

Located approximately 45km west of Sudbury, this area is situated on the southern-most end of the Sudbury Igneous Complex. The original Victoria Mine was opened in 1906 after a vein of copper-nickel ore was discovered here near the newly completed CPR line to Sault Ste Marie (the present day Webbwood Sub). A town of over 1000 residents sprang up here quickly, and thrived until the mine closed in 1930. Though Victoria Mine became a ghost town, the CPR maintained a siding here and the name lived on in employee timetables.

But as is usually the case in the Sudbury Basin, after one digging pays out another mine will usually spring up years later. And sure enough just three and a half miles away from Victoria Mine, another ore discovery was made which caused INCO to open a new mine in 1965 called Crean Hill. This caused the CPR to construct a whole new spur to service the facility, and to erect a train order station at Victoria Mine where the spur joined with the Webbwood Sub.

Crean Hill Mine

INCO’s Crean Hill Mine rock loader facility, as it appeared in 1991.

Our club actually built the spur down from Victoria Mine very early in layout development, as the helix that carried the Webbwood Sub between Copper Cliff and Nairn had to be built immediately, and the Victoria Mine spur ran along within the same helix. The Crean Hill mine trackage was laid early too, sometime around 2002 as best we can tell. Some rudimentary scenery sprang up, and construction of a rock loader had even begun. However the whole project sat for decades until we could re-create a large enough fleet of ore gondolas. That was the stumbling block as these ore gondolas were only used in one place on earth, Sudbury, with Canadian Pacific and INCO being the only operators. We had managed to build a small fleet of 1970-built CP cars that were produced by Sylvan Scale Models (the only correct Sudbury gondola kit ever produced) but these are craftsman resin kits that require time to build en masse. They are also long out of production.

CP 375837

3D printed car from series CP 375800-375999, which was a conglomeration of cars originally built between 1926 and 1942 (ex CP 376350-376849) that were rebuilt with solid floors in the mid-1970s after INCO installed a rotary dumper at Clarabelle Mill.

But time and technology march on, and present-day modellers now have the benefit of the 3D-Printer. Through the purchase of a machine and many hours of research and CAD work, our own Chris V. has been going through the whole fleet of Sudbury ore gon types, and has been very busy printing, assembling, painting and decalling the large fleet we require.

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CP RS-18s 8766 and 8765 bring in the first train of empty ore gondolas to open the WRMRC’s miniature re-creation of the Crean Hill mine. The small GE 43-tonner is on loan from a member, and is substituting for INCO 65-tonner #201 that was once assigned here.

With around 50 ore gondolas now in service on the Sudbury Division, we installed all the remaining track feeders, a Tortoise switch machine on the junction switch at Victoria Mine, and cleaned all the trackage that’s been mothballed for all these years. As the photos show, the first “INCO Job-2” Crean Hill ore train has operated over the spur, exchanging 20 empties for 20 loaded gons bound for INCO’s Clarabelle mill.

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The first loaded INCO-2 ore train is ready to leave Crean Hill mine. If you didn’t notice from the photos there is a real-life puzzle to switching the mine, because as the CPR Employee Timetables directly state; “Diesel units and equipment higher than ore cars must not enter rock house at Crean Hill.”

All these new 3D-printed ore gondolas, and the Crean Hill mine operation will be there for you to see if you take the 2024 Doubleheaders Tour on Saturday April the 6th. It will also gives you the chance to see how the crews running INCO-2 get around that rock house switching puzzle.

Victoria Mine Station

This project goes part and parcel with the Victoria Mine Spur entering service. With the ore trains soon becoming a reality, member Julius O. took on the task of scratch-building the diminutive Victoria Mine train order station and tool shed which stood guard over the junction switch.

Victoria+Mine+1970

Victoria Mine train order station, tool shed, and station name sign, as they appeared in 1970.

Even though the structures are small and Julius is a seasoned structure builder, there were enough outstanding questions that he required consultations with the real-life experiences of fellow WRMRC member Robin A.. As it just so happens, Robin used to be a former CPR train order agent on the Sudbury Division in the early 1970s, and had worked at Victoria Mine many a time.

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Our 1:87 scale recreation of the Victoria Mine structures.

One of the more colourful anecdotes that Robin shared was of the bathroom situation at Victoria Mine, in that there was none. The station was remote and not manned 24 hours a day, so instead the CPR provided the agents with an outhouse should (more like when) the need arouse. The INCO-2 job was a night train, and so the walk to relieve yourself was dark, long, and one that could potentially cross paths with a black bear. So agents had to light a standard railway fusee to scare away any potential bruins that may have been near.

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The inaugural run of the first loaded INCO-2 Crean Hill job approaching Victoria Mine.

After the tour as we turn our attention to finishing off the scenery in Victoria Mine and hide this helix for good, Robin’s story has us thinking of 3D-printing a much younger 1:87 scale version of him running from the outhouse with a lighted fusee in his hand. Apparently reddish-coloured flickering mini-LEDs exist, so this silly idea may be a thing. Stay tuned.

20240316_162154

The INCO-2 crew stop at the Victoria Mine station to pick up orders from Agent Robin A. to return to Sudbury Yard. The infamous outhouse was moved closer to view in this photo.

Sudbury Station & Division HQ Building

The CPR station and Sudbury Division headquarters building were off-site over the past year and had a lot more work done to them. Both are now nearing completion, and are back on the layout again for the public to view on the Doubleheaders Tour.

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CPR train station and Sudbury Division Headquarters buildings on the WRMRC layout.

Aside from adding the roofing shingles, the station building is pretty much completed.

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Back view of the station building and division HQ.

The basic structure of the division headquarters and roof profile are now complete. The remaining windows and assorted details are still required.

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Still a work in progress, but the overall division HQ structure is now completed.

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The second floor on this corner of the division HQ building once housed the Sudbury Division’s dispatch offices.

Good as these photos may be, they don’t do justice to how truly impressive these structures are when you see them in person. If you can’t visit us on April 6th you’re missing out.

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The combination of the station building plus nickel ore gondolas leaves no doubt as to the only place this could be; Sudbury, Ontario.

Miscellaneous Items

In addition to everything highlighted thus far there has also been a new structure completed in Sudbury, in addition to scenery expansion to Coniston (the next town east of Romford). However we’re keeping everyone online in suspense, so for now you’ll need to visit us on the tour to see what else we’ve been up to over the past while.

However one thing we’ll leave you with is something the average person will probably not see on the tour. Our signalling/electronics staff have been busy over the past months as well, and one of the more visible projects (for those of us working behind the scenes) they’ve completed is the Romford operator’s local control panel. If it looks to you like a CTC interlocking panel, that’s because the real one did too.

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The local control Operator’s panel, mounted within the Parry Sound Sub staging yard / Romford Operator ‘mole’ position. It is located under the layout by the Romford junction scene.

The panel is not operational at the moment, as it and our signals are waiting on quite a bit of work before CTC can be fully implemented. But we are getting closer.

We’re looking forward to opening our doors to the public again, showing off all our latest efforts, and sharing ideas and stories with fellow modellers. That is really what our hobby is about after all. If you can’t make it, there is always our own Fall Open House to look towards, or next year’s Doubleheaders Tour. However if you plan on making it out this April the 6th, all that we’ve shown here will be there for you to see. That and around 30 other layouts to tour. Hope to see you then.

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