# Anyone Know What This Stuff Is?



## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

First, a bit of background information ...


Southern Pacific rails reached Mojave, California in 1876 and were extended into Los Angeles by the following year. The SP also had a narrow gauge rail line, the former Carson and Colorado Railroad, serving the Owens Valley and western Nevada. However, the systems didn't interconnect and there was a long stretch of land from Mojave north to Lone Pine that was not served by any railroad. 


When the city of Los Angeles decided to build a large aqueduct to move water from the Owens Valley to the city, they asked the SP to build a branch line through the Owens Valley to transport building supplies. Construction on the Jawbone Division, as it was called, began from Mojave in 1908. The tracks terminated north of Lone Pine at Owenyo where it met the narrow gauge tracks of the old Slim Princess (SP Narrow Gauge.) The line was dedicated October 18, 1910 at a ceremony in Owenyo. Here is a photo of an SP train in the Owens Valley taken in 1954.











While trucks had gradually replaced the SP freight service from Mojave to Lone Pine, the rails were still used by a lumber operation near Pearsonville and by the Trona Railway. The Southern Pacific officially abandoned its Jawbone Division north of Searles station August 22, 1982, bringing an unceremonious end to railroading in the Owens Valley. The Trona Railroad still operates over the tracks from Trona to Mojave. Here is what the end of track looked like in 1985.











A good friend of mine worked for the Southern Pacific Signal Department back in the early ‘80s. While he was dismantling the various signal systems on the Jawbone Division, he gathered a few items and brought them to me. I have been carting this stuff around with me for the past thirty years and have decided to get rid of part of it. I plan on keeping the signal heads with the little semaphore blades (I think they might be hand car signals), but I'm not really interested in the remainder. I would like to find a good home for the other items Anyone know what this stuff is? It appears to be relays and patch panels of some type. If you want it, all you need to do is come by and pick it up or else pay shipping. (this stuff is heavy!).


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## trainman707 (Jan 3, 2008)

Love the BW picture coming through the bridge.


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## Scottychaos (Jan 2, 2008)

Those little signals with the semaphores just came up on another forum I frequent! 
They are switch "block indicators"..the position of the semaphore would tell another train crew if a switch could be thrown 
to enter a block..(or a siding, I presume) 
the indicator tells if another train is in the block or not.. 

Im not quite clear how this differed from regular full-size semaphore signals or lighted signals.. 
I guess the full-size signals were used more for the mainline, while these mini-semaphore signals 
were used at switches to tell a crew if they could safely open a switch and proceed into a siding..something like that. 

I read that here: http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?board=LV;action=display;num=1324497683 

Scot


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Scot, 
Here's what a modern switch indication signal does. I'm assuming based on the info you wrote, and by looking at the pictures those smaller signals did the same thing before tri-color signal heads came about. I've never seen the old ones before, but the new ones are pretty common (looks like a normal dwarf signal but only has two heads instead of the traditional three). Anyway here's what they are used for. 
Switch signal indications are used when you have a manual switch entering dispatcher controlled territory between block signals. The signal (in CTC) is NOT used to gain authority to move on the main line. The signal does NOT give permission to open the switch up. So if entering in CTC territory between signals with a switch the crew would first have to have authority to move on the main (verbally through the dispatcher), and permission to open the switch up. The signal then would allow a movement at other then restricted speed to the next governing signal. In most of the cases that I've seen and have had to deal with the next governing signal is only a few hundred feet away. The signal kind of preforms the same function as a electrically locked switch. 
Hope this explains and doesn't further murky the waters... 
Now you can see why RR's have a 22lb rule book 

Craig


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## Pete Thornton (Jan 2, 2008)

Anyone know what this stuff is? 
Well, as the guys are saying above, it's the interlocking relay panels for controlling the signals and the rest of the railroad. It used to be done by mechanical interlocking rods, and is now done by computers and displays. In the days before electrnics, it was all done by relays - and you have a lot of them! 

The B& RR Museum used to have a big HO layout built by the signal engineers in the 1950s, and it had automatic control using similar relays. 

Union Switch & Signal is still in existance, I think, so you may be able to get obsolete manuals - the stuff is only 30+ years old?


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## Naptowneng (Jun 14, 2010)

Perhaps a donation to the Laws Railroad Museum just outside Bishop, CA. This is a great little place, with loco, rolling stock and muitiple buildings containing not only railroad related items but local history as well.

Your writeup on the history of the signals and relays ties in nicely with the stated mission of the museum, to preserve the railroading history of the Owens Valley, worth a call or letter to them?

http://www.lawsmuseum.org/

Jerry


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

Here are a few more old relics collected from the Jawbone Division that I thought some of you might enjoy seeing or recognize from the past.











These little bottles all say "Battery Oil" on them. All but the one in the center have the following inscription - Edison Battery Oil - Made in USA - Thomas A. Edison, Incorporated - Bloomfield, NJ, USA. Anyone know what battery oil is?












These locks mostly have "SPT" or SP Co." stamped on them. The item on the upper right appears to be some type of key. It has "RACO" stamped on it. 












Here is a close-up of the back of the lock located on the left in the previous photo. It says "AMES SWORD Co. - CHICOPEE, MASS. USA - PAT SEPT 19, 1852" Stan, did you make this?












Here are some of the date nails I pulled from the old ties after the rail was removed by the scrappers. They range from 1915 to 1930. An no ... before you ask ... my birth year is not among them. 












Here are a few of the telegraph insulators I saw. Most were clear or green, but every now and then I would find one of these pretty blue ones that I picked up.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Bob, 
In the picture of the switch locks the upper right hand lock is what I believe to be a lock for a signal shack, or other signal equipment. I've seen those type of locks on the electric equipment shacks. I bet if you went down to your local grade crossing and looked at the shack you might find something similar. 

Craig


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## GaryY (Jan 2, 2008)

I would say the SPT and SPCo locks are for Southern Pacific Transportation Company and the info on the battery oil bottles can be found at http://www.antiquebottles.com/edison/ 

Fascinating objects. Thanks for sharing 

Gary


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By rhyman on 05 Jan 2012 07:37 PM 











Bad Day at Black Rock


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## rhyman (Apr 19, 2009)

Matt,
Good eye. This scene was shot on the Jawbone division near Lone Pine in 1954. The movie wasn't released until 1955. I couldn't find any shots of a SP Black Widow F unit in normal service on this section of track, but this movie shot was a good attention grabber. If you are a western film fan, you probably know that there were many movies (and TV series, as well) shot in this general area. It's a pretty amazing place. There are open vistas of high desert on one side of the track, and an impressive mountain range with Mt. Whitney (highest peak in the lower 48) just on the other.
Bob


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

I really like the beginning and ending of the movie just for the great black widow and daylight painted cars.


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