Saturday, March 14, 2020

Models of interlocking frames at the German Museum of Technology, Berlin

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

Two weeks ago, on a business trip to Berlin, I visited the German Museum of Technology ("Deutsches Technikmuseum") to take a view at one single display: One day before, I had found out that there is an exhibit of a few models of German interlocking frames from the 1880s, built by various signal companies for demonstration purposes. I will not explain their details here, but just show a few pictures.

Here is a view of the display case with its models, all of them scaled 1 to 5:

Display with model interlocking frames, Deutsches Technikmuseum Berlin, 2.3.2020

One can see the following five models—I also give links here to museum-digital, where one can see an additional picture of each model:
A sixth model of type "Rüppell/Büssing", which can be seen online here, is not shown in the display case.

Here are a few random pictures that I took (unfortunately, my SD card had a problem, so I lost some pictures I shot; maybe I'll go there another time to shoot more):

Crank frame by Witten

Crank frame for points and signals by Witten

Crank frame for points and signals by Witten

Crank frame for points and signals by Witten

Lever frame by Witten

Lever frame by Witten

Lever frame by Witten

Lever frame by Witten

Zimmermann & Buchloh

Frame for points and signals by Zimmermann & Buchloh

Frame for points and signals by Zimmermann & Buchloh

Jüdel

Frame for points and signals by Jüdel

Frame for points and signals by Jüdel

Siemens

Frame for points and signals by Siemens

These are all my pictures of these models from some 125 years ago. In an upcoming posting, I will show a model of a mechanical frame that is much (much) younger—stay tuned!

Tuesday, March 10, 2020

Puzzling Italian signal levers—final episode: Terni to L'Aquila, 1990

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

Here are my last pictures from our journey to Italy in 1990—they also are puzzling in some respects, like the frames at Pollenza and Cerreto d'Esi. All the following pictures are from stations on the line from Terni to L'Aquila, over the Sella di Corno pass in the Abruzzese Apennines. And on most pictures one can, finally, see men and women who work the frames and control the traffic on that somewhat remote line.

At Marmore, they had two simple levers on a frame for the two home signals. The first picture shows them in the background, near the flag that indicates where the tip of a crossing train should stop:

Lever frame, barrier cranks and stopping flag, Marmore, May 1990

The following image is an enlargement from the previous one. I somehow believe that both levers are seen here in their normal position; and somehow I don't believe it, as the catches would then, very atypically, be at the front of the handles instead of behind them. So, as two trains are meeting here (as can be seen from the red flag), it may very well be that both levers are reversed here.

Question 6: What is the normal position for this type of signal levers?

Lever frame, Marmore, May 1990

The next picture shows the station name, with a steam engine and the symbol of the Ferrovie dello Stato next to it, assembled from many small pebbles. One of the signal levers now has the opposite position; and as with the levers at Cerreto d'Esi or Pollenza, I wonder here also how the single signal wires are coupled to the two-wire levers:

Question 7: How are the single-wire lines attached to this type of levers?

Near the read flag, a railway man is waiting for the train—in the good old times, even such small stations had (at least) two employees working there.

Lever frame, barrier cranks and stopping flag, Marmore, May 1990

The following five or six stations did not have signal levers, but signal cranks of the standard type we have already seen at Asciano. At a few stations, the signal wires were running above the ground (similar to the one I had photographed at Albano), whereas others had already been moved below.

At Greccio, I took a photo of the home signal from our train:

Home signal, Greccio, May 1990

The next image shows the signal cranks and, left of it, a barrier crank. The capo stazione does something with the bell—does he reset a fallen lid?

Barrier crank, signal cranks und capo stazione, Greccio, May 1990

At Contigliano, one can see signal wires above the ground. The cranks are both in normal position, and near them there are no less than four barrier cranks, with all the barriers raised—our departure is still some time away, it seems:

Barrier and signal cranks, Contigliano, May 1990

Also Cittaducale had four barrier cranks and, in addition, a female traffic director. The signal wires were already running below the platform:

Barrier and signal cranks, Cittaducale, May 1990

I also took a photo of the home signal when we departed from the station. It is, atypically, on the right side, with its arm pointing towards the track:

Home signal, Cittaducale, May 1990

Rocca di Corno: The signal wires had been put below the ground, but the old deflection wheels had been left above the cranks:

Signal and barrier cranks, Rocca di Corno, May 1990

Somewhere between Rocca di Corno ("Castle of the horn") and Sella di Corno ("Saddle of the horn", or "horn pass") I took a photo of a telephone pole; the tensioning wires are already quite loose, but the rest is still kept in order:

Telephone lines, which were still in use, Rocca di Corno, May 1990

Next station: Sella di Corno, where the signal wires were also below the ground, and the deflection wheels had also been left in the wall. The meeting train has stopped in fron of the red flag, as the rules require:

ALn668 3335, barrier and signal cranks, Sella di Corno, May 1990

And here is the last station from which I have photographs. On the next image, one can see the distant signal of L'Aquila in a forested narrow valley in the Abruzzese Apennines:

Distant signal, L'Aquila, May 1990

The signal wires left the cranks upwards, towards the still necessary deflection wheels:

Signal cranks, L'Aquila, May 1990

And near the small toilet building, one can see a pole where the signal wires are routed from above the ground to below:

Signal wire routing from above the ground to below, L'Aquila, May 1990

Fine!

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Another electro-mechanical frame in Italy: Macerata, 1990

Deutsche Version dieses Postings

I took only one photograph of the frame at Macerata:

Electro-mechanical frame, Macerata, May 1990

The following two enlargements show a few more details. The levers on the frame are pretty self-explanatory, with the exception of the rightmost one, which should probably be yellow—controlling the distant signal on the Civitanova side; and the light-grey one in the middle, which probably controlled the points visible on the track plan above the starting signal towards Civitanova. The track occupance was shown in the old way, with non-occupied tracks being lighted, and occupied tracks, as well as tracks without track circuits, shown dark—see also the frame at Ciampino:

Electro-mechanical frame, Macerata, May 1990

Track plan, Macerata, May 1990

Outside, I took two more photos of the ubiquitous Fiat rail cars used on those secondary lines:

ALn668 1403, Macerata, May 1990

ALn668 1480, Macerata, May 1990

On our way back to Foligno, I took a last picture of a locomotive, probably at Fabriano:

E646 037, Fabriano(?), May 1990