Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
stations. Most of the time, the signs spell out DERAIL, but some-
times it's just a large letter “D.” Near these signs, you'll see a
metal device, often painted bright yellow or orange, attached to
a rail. It's designed to deliberately derail a freight car that might
otherwise roll out onto the main line and become a safety hazard.
Other Signage
Unfortunately, there is some variation in signage from one rail-
road to another. For instance, in some parts of the East you may
see signs that are shaped like small yellow pyramids. These simply
tell the head-end crew that there's a “break” in the rail ahead—
meaning a switch or another track is crossing the main line. In
Canada, you'll see a lot of small black signs with two white dots,
like eyeballs. These tell the engineer to pay attention—there's
something just ahead of which he or she should be aware. Most
of the other signs that you'll occasionally see along rail routes are
there to let the head-end crew know when the method used by
dispatchers to control their progress has changed. For instance,
“Begin CTC” tells the engineer that the train is now under Cen-
tralized Traffic Control; “Begin ABS” means an Automatic Block
Signal system is in use from that point on.
Signals and Traffic Controls
You can see a lot of these during any train ride, although you
really have to be looking for them because they're placed either
right alongside or directly over the tracks. There are a number of
different kinds, but whatever the shape, almost all use green, yel-
low, and red lights to communicate with the engineer. These sig-
nals are used to keep proper spacing between trains running on the
same track. In almost all cases, they operate automatically. Each
signal has a number prominently displayed on it that corresponds
to the last mile marker, plus however many additional tenths of a
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