# Signals



## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

I rarely see G scale modelers placing signals on their garden railroads, and for several good reasons. First, there are not many products on the market today, however I have seen more manufacturer's offering different types of signals recently. Second, they will become obstacles when walking about your railroad! That being said, I believe that signals can add a great bit of interest to your railroad. So far, I have made some dwarfs, two target signals, and a cantilever bridge that I posted separately. 

*Dwarf Signals:*
A 0.25" brass tube was used to hold the 5mm LED in the signal. The base was constructed from brass and polystyrene. A thin sheet of plastic was cut and folded to serve as a the lamp shade, as well as securely holding the LED in place. 



 

Blue signals protect men at work in the diesel service facility:
 

Wires from the LED run underground to a control box located nearby: 
 

Multicolor LED's let me switch between red, amber, and green:


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

*Target Signals:*

Even though more and more signals are available in G scale from various manufacturers, I built my own from brass, piano wire, and polystyrene. Each target has a multicolor 5mm LED that can be changed from red, to amber, to green. These signals are manually controlled from a hidden panel located around the targets. 



The design for these signals is very simple to construct. The round target is made using a 1" metal hole cutter with a 0.25" drill bit. Thin polystyrene is then cut out to from the lamp shade and wrapped inside the 0.25" brass rod that will hold the LED. You can play around with this until you get the LED to fit in tight. Once the head is made, brass wire is used to connect the target to the mast. If you want to run wires through the pole, make sure you drill a bigger than you think gap in the rod before attaching the target. Trust me, the more room you give yourself to feed wire, the better! Finally, a drop of thick CA glue will make the cap at the top of the mast, and a square brass rod can serve as the base of the signal. After paint, you can wire the LED's into place.

After the signal is painted, the wires can be run through the mast and connected to the LED. I had good luck running wires up from the base and taking a dental pick to pluck the wires out of the mast when they were at the appropriate cutout. Patience is a virtue with this process! Each LED has three wires coming down the mast. If you went with a single color LED, you would only have two wires per LED. For the triple head target, there was no way for me to run nine wires down the tube. I added a brass wire down the outside of the mast and connected the common leg of each LED to that rod which allowed me to get the rest of the wires down the mast. Once the wires are in place, solder on the LED's and pull the excess wire back down the pole. Use touch up paint to cover the wires and coat the back side of the LED. Once you have built one signal, the next one will be much easier!


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

More pictures can be seen on my website:

http://www.haworthengineering.com/signals.html


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

As always, excellent craftsmanship Michael! 

Greg


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

Hey, definitely a post to keep notes on.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

I want to know what you used for your chain link fence? 
What's the three headed mast for? A siding? Diverging route? Crossover? 

Craig


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## dieseldude (Apr 21, 2009)

Those signals look great. Nice job. 


-Kevin.


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

And the signal bridge if you didn't see my other post:


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## toddalin (Jan 4, 2008)

Very nice!

You can also use a brass fender washer for the target and solder to it. Not quite as scale, but certainly easier.


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

Thank you!

Craig: The three target mast is for two diverging routes as seen below. The first stub turns into the DSF while the second is a passing siding for the mainline. I will have to make another post on the chain link fence at some point.



All the wiring for the seven dwarfs, 2 targets, and the signal bridge converge on the office trailer I built for the DSF. The roof can open and each signal can be adjusted to the desired color.


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## Torby (Jan 2, 2008)

Very nice! 

Only thing I'd worry about is misplaced feet. 

Why do you write all in "passive voice?" It's ok to say you did something.


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## bnsfconductor (Jan 3, 2008)

Posted By Torby on 04 Dec 2012 05:57 PM 


Why do you write all in "passive voice?" It's ok to say you did something. Now you sound like my professors. Passive voice, active voice..







For a 'fun' read just open up Strunk and White "Elements of Style"


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## Rod Fearnley (Jan 2, 2008)

Michael I am following this thread with great interest. I have made a single target using the bi-colour LED, very similar to yours. A question for you from the other side of the Pond please. How tall or what are the average heights of the mast for various styles.ie Single, double and the Gantry types ? 
Rod


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

Rod,

Single: 6.75" tall pole with LED at 6"

Triple: 8" tall pole, LED's at 4", 5.5", and 7"

Bridge: Bottom of bridge at 9.5" above railhead


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

Here is the control box for the signals and some other things in the diesel service facility:



And some size comparison:


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

Starting to get dark:


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## Bob Pero (Jan 13, 2008)

Very nice. I originally used Shiloh Signals on my layout, because I like the automatic detection system. You have done a great job building your own. Thanks for posting your pictures.


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## on30gn15 (May 23, 2009)

At first glance it looked like ObiWan back there.



Posted By mrh044 on 13 Nov 2012 09:14 AM


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## zoro (Feb 8, 2010)

Looks great! Is that asphalt in your yard?


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## mrh044 (Oct 11, 2008)

Thank you! This page of my website shows how we made the 'asphalt' looking pad:

http://www.haworthengineering.com/asphalt-g.html


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