I am back from a week of vacationing. I won't say where, just yet, as it may make identifying this object easier for some. I wonder how many of you can identify this object and tell us where and/or how it is used?
It's a.... oh no... wait, i dont know... its not nice to tease us you know? is it a paddle? used for paddling those who would misbeave? otherwise it looks to be something to do with signalling.
It looks like a whistle signal for a grade crossing. The longs are represented by the long line, the short is the dot. Therefore you have two longs a short and a long. The only other thing I can think of is some type of indicator for flangers or snowplows.
I agree it could be a whistle post. This is what it looks like to me. But where it is, I have no ideas. It's from a railroad somewhere on planet Earth....... Boxcab E50
Not sure where, but gut feeling based on what else is in the shot is in the US or Canada. Could it be an indicator board on top of a switchstand?
If I remember correctly Southern and subsequently Norfolk Southern used whistleposts like this one. John Bursi
I'll take a shot and say it's a warning that the train is approaching a steep grade. My first guess would be to raise flangers, but I guess that's not it.
One more guess. It's a whistlepost indicating that the train is approaching a (former) passenger station.
I think I have seen distance marker posts similar to this. The black dashes are used to represent 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 mile to a particular location e.g a crossing. In the photo the black dot is indicating 3/4. Just a guess, John.
Southen style whistleboard for a public grade crossing. However, many years ago, two long and two short blasts were the signal for approaching a public grade crossing. There are still a few whistleboards that I know of that have the old two long and two short symbols. The signal was changed in the 1930s I believe because the railroads felt that the last whistle blast should be as the train entered the crossing and it was much easier to accomplish that with the engineer giving the long extended blast rather than attempting to time the older signal so that the last short blast would be made as the train entered the crossing.
It's plain to see that this is just an oar that someone lost from a Skullboat! Naaa! I agree about it being for a whistle.
That is a cricket bat, custom decorated with hockey tape, by Lionel Strang....I think ???? regards / Mike
OK, I said I would reveal the answer this weekend and the weekend is almost over. I first saw these signs while taking a ride on the Smokey Mountain Railroad, along former Southern Railway tracks. When I asked about them, I was informed they are, indeed, leftover from Southern. Also I had observed they were used where most other railroads were using the more familiar "W." Conclusion: this is a left-over of the Southern's version of the whistle sign. The one in the photo is at the North Carolina Transportation Museum. Congraulations to those who correctly identified this unusual marker.
