Something about Italian semaphores - Albano Laziale, 1990

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

This is a posting which tries to clarify a few first concepts of old Italian semaphores. There will be more, and more explanations, in later postings—but let's start with the first few pictures I have taken.

Immediately after reaching Rome, we set out for a short trip to Albano. Somewhere along the line, I took this picture of a searchlight signal:

Signal on the line to Albano Laziale, May 1990

Already, we are at the stub station at the end of the line. It seems that Italy, it was required that there is a full stop signal at the tracks ending in a stub station. Of course, the signal had a fixed horizontal arm and was not connected to any lever. At Albano, it appears as if the line once continued behind the station—but this is certainly not so.

Update 5.10.2019: I was wrong here. "Rossano" left a comment in the German posting: The line actually continued to Campoleone on the (old) main line from Rome to Naples. But this segment has already been closed in 1927 (or 1935?).

There probably was a reversing track for locomotives in earlier times; and the signal might have had the purpose of securing the crossing road immediately behind it—but this wasn't necessary any longer in 1990:

Signal at end of line, Albano Laziale, May 1990

On the other side, however, Albano had a semaphore ("segnale semaforico") as its home signal. Unfortunately, I did not take a photo of it when we entered the station. But I took a picture of the signal lever on the platform. On the right side of the lever's wire wheel, one can see a small catch lever which can be unlocked with a key. After lifting the catch, the large lever can be pulled, which pulls the wire and clears the signal:

Signal lever, Albano Laziale, May 1990

The following picture shows the railcar on which we rode up and down the line—but much more interesting is the special way signal wires were routed in Italy: To the left of the lamppost, one can see another, unexpected shorter post:

FS railcar, Albano Laziale, May 1990

Here we can see the post somewhat enlarged; and one can discern the signal wire coming out of the ground and then bend around a pulley at the top of the post:

Signal wire post, Albano Laziale, May 1990

And here, the post is enlarged even more, with coloured lines that indicate the signal wire's path:

• In the foreground, the wire passes the pulley at the top of the post (orange),
• then it continues (yellow) in a height of maybe four meters to another post far in the background,
• where it is finally routed downwards again (red).

At the bottom of that post, another pulley allows the wire to go to the signal lever near the ground. One can see that in Italy, it was customary to run signal wires high above the ground, at least near platforms. I do not know the reason for this; later photos will show that most such wires had later been relocated to ground channels. But here at Albano, the old up-and-down was still in place:

Signal wire path, Albano Laziale, May 1990

My last picture from Albano shows the weight of a locally thrown single slip (in Italy, they are called deviatoi inglese, i.e., "English points", incidentally):

Single slip, Albano Laziale, May 1990

Some Italian locomotives in 1990

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

Here are some less important pictures of Italian locomotives, taken on our trip to Italy in 1990. The first one has a nice symmetrical number:

FS E656 565, Bozen

Work train near Leifers(?), May 1990

In the 1990, many old steam locomotives were still parked on various Italian tracks. I am quite sure they were heading for scrap yards, but one or the other might have found a place in a museum:

Deposito locomotive di Verona, May 1990

Deposito locomotive di Verona, May 1990

Signal box, Mirandola(?), May 1990

E656 306 and E447 093(?), Bologna, May 1990

FS E646 079, Firenze S.M.N.(?), May 1990

FS E636 414, Firenze S.M.N.(?), May 1990

Historical pictures of an Austrian command frame in South Tyrol, Italy, in 1990

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

In May of 1990, we went on a holiday trip to Italy. We started in my home town Lienz, where we took the train to Innichen, which had gotten the Italian name San Candido after South Tyrol was annexed by Italy after World War I. The line from Lienz to Franzensfeste (Fortezza) had been completely inside Austria before then, and had had Austrian interlocking frames built by the Südbahnwerke, as this was one of the main lines of the Südbahn-Gesellschaft (see this Wikipedia article for some information on the Südbahn-Gesellschaft). From the 1960s or 1970s onwards, Italy started to replace these older interlocking frames with Italian ones; however, at Innichen, the old frame remained in place much longer, because Austrian signals had to be provided on the eastern side, where operations were (and are) done according to ÖBB rules. This complication prevented a replacement for a long time, until ... well, you'll see.

But first, here are three pictures that are more or less normal. As mentioned, on the ÖBB side of Innichen, Austrian signals were in place. The distant signal had long lost its wires and was fixed in the "caution" position:

Distant signal, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

The home signal, a classic Austrian two-arm semaphore, was fully functional:

Home signal, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

Electrification had been completed, and for some years, goods traffic was up, so that locomotives of both the Austrian and Italian railways would meet there. An Italian class 214.4000, which was quite new then, had its share of work to do:

ÖBB 1044.019, FS E636 065, ÖBB 1042.630, and FS 214 4168, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

But here are three much more interesting pictures. Actually, it was not that easy to get into a traffic bureau or a signal box in Italy at all times—and even harder for someone like me who did not speak Italian; although, Innichen was mostly German-speaking—but not, or mostly not, on the railway. However, somehow I was allowed to get in there for a few moments; and there, to my astonishment, I could take a photo of the old command frame, from before World War I, and still doing its duty. The block instruments—a Siemens&Halske lever machine, with the oldest type of small route levers—had gotten Italian labels somewhen in the 1920, then the Südbahn line was overtaken by the Italian state railways (Ferrovie dello Stato, or FS):

• Arrivi da Lienz
• Chiusura deviatoi
• Partenze per Lienz
• Partenze per Fortezza
• Chiusura deviatoi
• Arrivi da Fortezza

or, in English,

• arrivals from Lienz
• points locking [towards Lienz]
• departures to Lienz
• departures to Franzensfeste
• points locking [towards Franzensfeste]
• arrivals from Franzensfeste

Unfortunately, I did not have time—and wouldn't have been allowed—to take photos of the frames in the two signal boxes. I assume that old SBW500 frames (SBW = Südbahnwerke, or Southern Railway Works; the Südbahn built its own interlocking frames) also from before 1918 were still in place. Altogether, this was certainly the last ensemble by far of old Austrian frames in Italy, as the stations along the Brennerbahn as well as in the Val Canale had been replaced long ago. Only here in Innichen, where an Austrian signal was necessary on the eastern side, because trains (and are) were run by the ÖBB there, no agreement was reached (or probably even sought) up to the start of the electrification in the 1980s. Be that as it may—I am quite sure that no-one except me has pictures of this old frame:

Command frame, traffic bureau, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

This second image is, unfortunately, much darker. However, it shows the additional labels to be used for occupied tracks—they are in German and to be used for the line to Sillian:

Command frame, traffic bureau, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

Last, there is a picture of the panel of the new interlocking, which is a typical Italian relay interlocking. The traffic director (capo del movimento) writes down train information in the classic way:

Panel of the new relay interlocking, traffic bureau, San Candido/Innichen, May 1990

That's it from this Austrian, and then Italian, station!

Hollabrunn's signal boxes, 1990

German version of this posting

This is, I'm sad to say, my last complete documentation of the interlocking frames of an Austrian station from the last century. However, I'll continue to post in this blog with about 200 more pictures from various countries around the world, which will show interesting semaphores and interlocking frames from the 1990s. After this—well, it seems to be over, then. So it goes.

Hollabrunn, in 1990, had a refurbished set of 5007 frames with the typical Austrian layout: A traffic bureau in the station building and a signal box at each end of the station tracks. Here is the command frame in the traffic bureau, with a poster calling for secure working conduct that is typical of this time:

Command frame, traffic bureau, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The command frame had been built anew in the 1980s with small route levers. Besides the typical six block instruments for station blocking of a single line, it had an additional instrument that would unlock points 32 and 32 in the middle of the station tracks. On the left, there were four small levers for unlocking derails and another set of points, W34. And even though the calendar shows still the 13th of August, I know that I took this photo on the 14th: Because that is the date shown at Retz's signal box 1, which I have definitely visited before Hollabrunn:

Command frame, traffic bureau, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

On the traffic director's desk, there was this ÖBB-built signal panel, which additionally had the controls for three barriers on the line to Vienna:

Signal panel, traffic bureau, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The next photo is already from signal box 1. Splitting the single track of the line into four station tracks (3, 1, 4 and 6—track 2 had been removed when the centre platform had been erected), three sets of points are sufficient; and only two of them, in the straight through track, need facing point locks. So, we end up with five levers altogether, as the FPL levers are reversible "three-position" levers that can be used to move the locks to either position: Such a lever is either moved up with the handle pulled to lock the points in the normal position; or it is first moved up without pulling the handle and then, with handle pulled, moved down—this will turn the wheel in the other direction and lock the points in the reverse position):

Interlocking frame, signal box 1, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Below the track indicator, there was a key lock for an "A/C dependency", i.e., the key would unlock a derail, after which one could extract another key there to unlock the points leading to the derail. At the upper left, there is a beeper indicating that a barrier had to be closed manually if a route was set for a train:

Track indicator and related instruments, signal box 1, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The signal panel was quite minimalistic. Besides the few buttons, lamps and symbols for the signals, there was a set of monitoring lamps and override buttons for a train-controlled barrier inside the station limits:

Signal panel, signal box 1, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Signal panel, signal box 1, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Here is the low building of the signal box:

Signal box 1, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

While I walked to the other signal box, the train from Retz rumbled through on its trip to Vienna:

2050.011, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The old station had been optically cut in two by a large platform shelter. But the building itself had been renovated quite nicely:

Station building, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Station building, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Here, I am approaching signal box 2, of which I have taken a rare back-side photo:

Signal box 2, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

This is the compact type 5007 lever frame. In contrast to signal box 1, it is completely occupied by levers, without any space for old signal levers—thus, it must have been built newly when the station was redesigned in the 1980s:

Interlocking frame, signal box 2, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The points levers have each two positions, whereas the FPL levers were three-position levers of the same type as in signal box 1. The rightmost lever had, for some reason, a larger wheel, which would give it a wire travel of 610 mm instead of the standard 500 mm. Below the track indicator, there are the small route levers. Towards their left is a row of small levers for shunting signals:

Interlocking frame and track indicator, signal box 2, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The two sets of points 31 and 32 in the middle of the station tracks had large "Madner" levers, which made it possible to release them for ground reversal during shunting. On the far left is the block instrument for releasing these levers from the traffic bureau (the label Ze means "Zustimmungsempfang" or "admission receive"; it should also have an additional text telling what was admitted by it—but that was forgotten, out of laziness, I assume):

Block instruments and lever frame, signal box 2, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

The small signal panel has a few buttons for the starting and home signals, two sets of barrier monitoring controls, and a larger number of shunting signal symbols—these signals were cleared by small levers as mentioned above:

Signal panel, signal box 2, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Out of the signal box's window I took this photo of points no. 52. It shows a typical Austrian points installation: The heavy weight, which would forcefully lock the blade locks, was on the opposite side of the linkage moving the points. On the same side as the weight and to the left of it is the cover of the facing point lock; one can see its connection rods leading to the very points of the blades. Both covers, of the moving linkage and the FPL, are nicely painted with yellow warning stripes to make them more visible:

Points no. 52, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Here is the signal box, which was built into the slope near the tracks:

Signal box 2, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Hollabrunn had, at that time, a small pedestrian-only barrier leading over the tracks. Three photos of this small contraption conclude my presentation and documentation of this station:

Pedestrian barriers, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Pedestrian barriers, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Pedestrian barriers, Hollabrunn, 14.8.1990

Signal box 1 at Retz, 1990

German version of this posting

The frames at Retz were, even back then, among the last with a complete set of levers—for points, locks, and, above all, semaphores:

Interlocking frame, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

The signal box was quite small, therefore my photos are angled somewhat strangely. The signal levers are typical for an Austrian single track line: From the right to the left, one can see

• the single lever for distant signal a
• the double lever for home signal A; the lower lever clears the signal with one arm, the upper one with two arms;
• three so-called reduction levers (the name comes from the fact that even though they are reversed by about 180°, the wheel turns only by about 90°, so that the wire travel is 250 mm) for starting signals H₅, H₃, and H₁
• and finally another reduction lever for grouped starter H_2-6 for tracks 2, 4 and 6:

Interlocking frame and block instruments, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

The track plan above the frame nicely shows all these semaphores, however, all the starting signals miss their names:

Track plan, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

This photo of the points lever is on the dark side, ...

Interlocking frame and track indicator, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

... but one can nicely read the labels on the track indicator:

Track indicator labels, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

Here are all the signal levers and, above them, the block instruments in their normal position:

Signal levers and block instruments, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

and once again:

Signal levers and block instruments, signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

The small signal box was painted flawlessly:

Signal box 1, Retz, 14.8.1990

A goods train from (still existing) Czechoslovakia rests on its trip to Vienna:

2050.011, Retz, 14.8.1990

And here is a final photo of the station building, with a sole pylon foretelling the coming electrification:

Station building, Retz, 14.8.1990