Switzerland 1988: Semaphores at Kiesen

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

Update 25.3.2020: I stumbled over a wonderful Youtube video, which shows the frame in action before the modifications of 1988, with all the noises and sounds of such a signalbox.

From Kerzers I continued to Kiesen, where I had seen a semaphore on the previous day. Here are three photos taken somewhere on the ride to Kiesen:

Rear end lamp, Switzerland, 18.8.1988

Panel for brake test and "right away" signals, Switzerland, 18.8.1988

Bells, Switzerland, 18.8.1988

Kiesen had, in 1988, still all the signals of a small intermediate station—two home signals and two group starting signals—, but half of the track connections had been dismantled a short time earlier, as can be seen on the track panel—here with signals cleared for a southward train:

Track and signal panel, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Here is a track diagram of this small station. Like St.Blaise, it had been reduced from a station with a loop track to a block post with a storage track:

The lever frame at Kiesen still had all the levers—but of course, the levers for the removed points were no longer connected. There were five signal levers on this frame, namely

• the lever for home signal A^1/2, a semaphore, which also controlled the corresponding distant light signal A^*,
• the lever for distant signal ("Durchfahrsignal") A^d, a disc signal, for starting light signal C^1/2,
• the lever for starting signal B^1/2, a semaphore, as well as corresponding light distant signal B^* mounted on home signal D,
• the lever for starting signal C^1/2, a light signal,
• and finally the lever for home signal D^1/2 and corresponding distant signal D^*, both light signals.

Lever frame, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

On the handles of the disconnected points levers (which had moved their points with rodding), small blocks prevented that they could still be pulled:

Disconnected points levers for rodding, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

This handle lock, made by Integra, locks the signal lever C on the right, which is reversed and hence invisible here:

Signal lever for semaphore B^1/2 and handle lock for signal C, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Here one can see the three reversed signal levers for the train route shown in the first picture above:

Levers set for a through train, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Levers set for a through train, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

And here are the six route levers—five of them are moved from their central position. From left to right, the levers are as follows:

• The first one for route "a^I from Wichtrach into track I" is reversed downwards.
• Also the second one, for a route "b^II to Wichtrach out of track II", has been moved down (the upper position "b^III to Wichtrach from track III" should have been covered, as the corresponding points were already missing).
• The third lever, allowing a route out of the shed track "c⁴ to Uttigen from 4", is in its central position.
• The fourth lever is reversed for the route "c^I to Uttigen from track I", its other position is for route "c^III to Uttigen from track III" out of the former loop and now stub track.
• The fifth lever for "d^II from Uttigen into track II" is also reversed; its other position is for the route "d^III from Uttigen into track III".
• Finally, this frame, like the one at St.Blaise, also had a "switch-out lever" to switch the station out of the line block. Here, this lever is of course moved upwards into position "Stellwerk und Streckenblock in Betrieb", i.e., "signal box and line block operational":

Route levers, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

The line block still used four Siemens block instruments. Here, all of them show white disks, i.e., all tracks from and to Kiesen were unoccupied:

Line block instruments, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Below the line block case, these locks provided the logic to connect the signal levers with the block instruments:

Block locks, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Points 15 and 16 had already been provided with electrical points machines, the corresponding levers were therefore wound with brake bands over the cog wheels formerly moving the rodding. The leftmost lever for connected points 10 and 11, however, was still connected to its points via rodding. The signs on the levers say "Attention: Catenary grounded.", in other words: Don't reverse them and send a locomotive with pantograph in, as this will create a colossal short-circuit on entering:

Points levers, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

The electrical points had a few fuses both for the motor current and the monitoring circuits:

Points indicators and fuses, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Right outside were these electro-mechanical bells for announcing trains along the line:

Bells, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Here is the small shed that housed the frame. The building with single glass sheets was probably horribly cold during winter:

Signal box, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

From the station building, I went out to starting signal B^1/2. On my way, I passed the wire tensioner for home signal A^1/2:

Wire tensioner, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

A little further, I took a picture of the wire tensioner for the starting signal:

Wire tensioner, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

And here is a train:

BLS Re 4/4 171, starting signal B^1/2, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

After I returned, I took a picture of the station building:

Station building, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Just before leaving, I took a shot of the signalman returning a signal lever:

Clearing a signal, Kiesen, 18.8.1988

Finally, I got a picture of a goods train rumbling through. An enlargement would show that all five signal levers had been reversed at that time—there was quite some traffic on that line in this summer:

SBB Ae 6/6 11502, Kiesen, 18.8.1988