KYLE - UTAH 5006 West symbol SALI-08, west of Stratton, Colorado_
The western half of the Kyle RR line is littered with derelict ABS searchlight signals. They harken back to the days of a much busier line of the Rock Island Railroad. This was part of their main line to Limon, Colorado, where trains could operate to either Colorado Springs or Denver.
In 1946 an ABS type signal system was completed on 485 miles of track between South Omaha, Nebraska and Limon, Colorado. It was a "poor mans" version with station to station blocks at roughly eight-mile increments. This reduced the costs of placing more signals to protect shorter blocks. Blocks in excess of the eight miles did receive a set of intermediate signals half the distance of that block. Single approach signals warning of each of the station-entering signals were placed at an appropriate braking distance in advance of each station. The Rock's signal engineers at the time were looking at the system's use more for speed and cost effectiveness than traffic capacity.
I hope this condensed explanation is coherent enough. It is put together from a book in my collection "Rock Island Westward" by T.R. Lee, and from a very detailed article in "Railway Signaling" sent to me by my friend Ron Wesolowski.
KYLE - UTAH 5006 West symbol SALI-08, west of Stratton, Colorado_
The western half of the Kyle RR line is littered with derelict ABS searchlight signals. They harken back to the days of a much busier line of the Rock Island Railroad. This was part of their main line to Limon, Colorado, where trains could operate to either Colorado Springs or Denver.
In 1946 an ABS type signal system was completed on 485 miles of track between South Omaha, Nebraska and Limon, Colorado. It was a "poor mans" version with station to station blocks at roughly eight-mile increments. This reduced the costs of placing more signals to protect shorter blocks. Blocks in excess of the eight miles did receive a set of intermediate signals half the distance of that block. Single approach signals warning of each of the station-entering signals were placed at an appropriate braking distance in advance of each station. The Rock's signal engineers at the time were looking at the system's use more for speed and cost effectiveness than traffic capacity.
I hope this condensed explanation is coherent enough. It is put together from a book in my collection "Rock Island Westward" by T.R. Lee, and from a very detailed article in "Railway Signaling" sent to me by my friend Ron Wesolowski.