Wigwag
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Wigwag is the nickname given to a type of early 20th century railroad grade crossing signal, so named due to the pendulum-like motion it used to signal the approach of a train. It is generally credited to Albert Hunt, a mechanical engineer at Southern California's Pacific Electric interurban streetcar railroad who invented it in 1909 out of the necessity for a safer railroad grade crossing.
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Rationale
Soon after the advent of the automobile, speeds were increasing significantly with each passing year and the growing popularity of closed cars made the old notion of "stop, look and listen" at railroad crossings a difficult one.
Fatalities at crossings were rising at an alarming rate. Though the notion of automatic grade crossing protection was not a new one, no one as yet had come up with a fail-safe, universally-recognized system. In those days, many crossings were protected by a live watchman who warned of an oncoming train by swinging a red lantern in a side-to-side arc, which in universal railroad sign language means "stop". It was presumed that a mechanical device that mimicked that movement would easily catch the eyes of motorists approaching the crossing and give an unmistakable warning.
Design
Pacific Electric's earliest wigwags were gear-driven, but these proved to be difficult to maintain. The devices were originally built in the railroad's own shops. The final design, first installed at a busy PE crossing near Long Beach, California in 1914, utilized an ingenious system of alternating electromagnets pulling on an iron armature to which an attention-getting, flat, round, red-painted steel target serving as a pendulum weight just under two feet in diameter was attached. A red light in the center of the target lit up as well, and with each full swing of the target along its arc, a mechanical gong rang out.
This new model, combining sight, motion and sound was dubbed the Magnetic Flagman, with production of the signal now handled by the Magnetic Signal Company of Los Angeles, though history is unclear at this point as to exactly when the changeover to Magnetic Signal took place. In fact, little if anything is known about the origins of Magnetic Signal itself other than an early patent date of 1914 on the builder's plate mounted on the inside of each signal. It might be surmised that Magnetic Signal started as a subsidiary of the Pacific Electric.
Three mechanically identical versions were produced: The upper-quadrant signal was mounted directly atop a steel pole and waved the target above the motor box. It was intended for use where space was limited. Since the target no longer served as the pendulum, a cast-iron counterweight opposite the target was used. The lower-quadrant version waved the target below the motor box and was intended to be supported across lanes of traffic on a pole-mounted cantilever (see above photos).
Though Magnetic Signal manufactured a steel pole and cast-iron base for this purpose which doubled as a cabinet for backup batteries and relays, Pacific Electric often mounted the cantilevers on their own wooden utility poles supporting the overhead catenary providing power both for their streetcars and the signal. This meant the batteries were unnecessary since failure of PE's own generators meant a shutdown of the railway. This also meant that the still-necessary relays could be housed in a separate and relatively inexpensive cabinet, thus saving PE money both on purchase and installation.
Wigwag_guts.jpg
The third and least common version was a pole-mounted lower-quadrant signal suspended above an octagonal steel frame that surrounded the target, presumably to protect both banner and motor box from damage from passing vehicles. Dubbed the "peach basket" because of the protective framework, the apparatus was crowned by another visual warning, namely the traditional, X-shaped "RAILROAD CROSSING" sign, or crossbucks. The majority of peach baskets were used by the Union Pacific Railroad.
Any version could be ordered to operate on the customer's choice of the railroad signal standard of 10 VDC or the 600 VDC used to power streetcars and electric locomotives with not much more than a change in the electromagnets. Not surprisingly, most if not all of the 600-volt units were used by the Pacific Electric. As the conversion to diesel power progressed after Pacific Electric sold off its passenger operations in 1953, those 600-volt wigwags were gradually converted to 10-volt units. Other options included a warning light with adjustable housing, a rare, adjustable turret-style mount for properly aiming the signal if space considerations did not allow for the cantilever to fully extend over the roadway and an "OUT OF ORDER" warning sign that dropped into view if power to the signal was interrupted. The last known example of the turret-mounted wigwag was removed from service in Gardena, California in 2000, while the versions with the warning signs were mostly shipped to Australia. One surviving example is on display at a railroad museum in Victoria.
It was not long after these distinctive signals began sprouting up that train-versus-car collisions began dropping at PE grade crossings all over Southern California. They were so common throughout the area that they became near-icons of Southern California motoring in the years to follow. The idea caught on and Magnetic Signal wigwags began appearing at railroad crossings across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and as noted, even as far away as Australia.
A ruling by the United States' Federal Railroad Administration mandated a change in the target in the early 1930s, necessitating a change in the paint scheme from solid red to a black cross and border on a white background, but remained otherwise unchanged until another FRA ruling that changed the standard to the alternating red light system still in use today.
This, along with numerous other rules pertaining to signalling fail-safes at grade crossings that the wigwag was simply unable to comply with due to its power requirements rendered it obsolete at new installations by the early 1940s, but grandfathering laws allowed them to stay in place until any upgrades to the crossings they still protected were necessary. Magnetic Signal was sold to the Griswold Corporation of Minneapolis shortly after the Second World War, with production of new signals continuing to 1949 and replacement parts to 1960.
Wigwags in modern America
Today, a surprisingly large number of these simple, rugged signals remain in place more than six decades after their use in new installations was outlawed, though that number is rapidly dwindling as crossings are upgraded and spare parts become ever more scarce. Once broken down and sold (or given away) as scrap as modern flashers took their place, they are now railroad collectibles of the highest degree, commanding a hefty price and winding up not in scrap heaps when removed from service, but often in the personal collections of railroad officials. Those made in Minneapolis after production was moved from Los Angeles are especially rare and desirable.
Port_rich_wigwags.jpg
According to FRA data from 2004, there were 215,224 railroad crossings in the United States of which 1,098 were listed as having 1 or more wigwags as their warning device. Of these 1,098 crossings having wigwags, 398 are in California, 117 in Wisconsin, 97 in Illinois, 66 are in Texas and 45 are in Kansas. A total of 44 states have at least one railroad crossing having a wigwag as its warning device.
As of 2004, only two Magnetic Flagman wigwags in the United States remain standing guard at main rail lines. One is a lower-quadrant signal at a private crossing in Casmalia, California along Union Pacific's coastal route and the second is an upper-quadrant at a far-flung rural crossing in Delhi, Colorado on the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. Until it was knocked over by a truck in April 2004, a lower-quadrant in the above photo protected a private crossing of a BNSF main mostly hidden from public view by a sound barrier in Pittsburg, California. The wigwag, the last "Model 10" in active use, was replaced by standard highway flashers per the aforementioned grandfathering laws. The Model 10 was distinguished by its short, low-hanging cantilever and use of crossbucks. They were almost exclusively used by the Santa Fe.
A single lower-quadrant wigwag in the industrial city of Vernon, California protects a crossing with nine separate tracks on the Harbor Subdivision of the BNSF. A once-busy link between downtown Los Angeles and the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, this line sees less traffic than it once did since the completion of the more direct Alameda Corridor project between downtown and the harbor. This same project eliminated many at-grade crossings along the length of Alameda Street and a number of Southern Pacific wigwags dating back to Pacific Electric days. Those remaining protect crossings of lightly used spur lines primarily in California and Wisconsin, the latter state featuring a slightly different signal produced by the Western Railroad Supply Company.
The wigwags at the crossing that mark the historic location of the western terminus of the BNSF in Richmond, California became pawns in a fight over local control in 2003. The two upper-quadrant wigwags are the last of their kind paired together in active use and are on land that the BNSF would like to develop. The BNSF is also bowing to pressure from the state's transportation authority to upgrade the crossing to modern signals. Richmond is trying to preserve the grade crossing with historical designation and other planning tools. According to information recently posted at Dan's Wigwag Site (see below), the crossing will be updated with gates and flashers. In a highly unusual compromise, the wigwags will remain as non-operative decorations at the crossing. In the interest of safety, signs will be posted at the wigwags stating that the signals are non-operational. They will retain the ability to be activated by a passing train, but only for special events.
External links
- Dan's Wigwag Site (http://www.trainweb.org/dansrailpix/WIG_WAG_PAGE1c.htm). This is the preeminent website on the Magnetic Flagman wigwag and was the primary source of reference for this entry.
- Orange Empire Railway Museum (http://www.oerm.org). A link to the Orange Empire Railway Museum of Perris, California whose impressive collection includes a number of working wigwags on display.
- City of Vernon (http://www.cityofvernon.org/News/wig.htm). Article about the Vernon wigwag on the City of Vernon's own website.
- Link to information about the Richmond wigwags. (http://mypoint.bluehighways.com/mparchives/2003_09.html)
- San Francisco Bay Crossings.com article. (http://www.baycrossings.com/Archives/2002/06_July/going_wiggy_over_wig-wags.htm)