Wigwag (railroad)
Wigwag is a nickname for a type of railroad grade crossing signal once common in North America, referring to its pendulum-like motion that signaled a train's approach. The device is generally credited to Albert Hunt, a mechanical engineer at Southern California's Pacific Electric (PE) interurban streetcar railroad, who invented it in 1909 for safer railroad grade crossings. The term should not be confused with its usage in Britain, where "wigwag" generally refers to alternate flashing lights, such as those found at modern level crossings. Rationale Soon after the advent of the automobile, travel speeds were increasing and the popularity of enclosed cars made the concept of "stop, look, and listen" at railroad crossings difficult. Fatalities at crossings were increasing. Though the idea of automatic grade crossing protection was not new, no one had invented a fail-safe, universally recognized system. In those days, many crossings were protected by a watchman who warned of an on ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Magnetic Signal Company
The Magnetic Signal Company was an American company based in Los Angeles, California, focused on railway signalling. The company was the manufacturer of the ubiquitous "Magnetic Flagman" wigwag railroad crossing (or level crossing) signal, seen all over California and the western states. History The company was established sometime after 1910, and received its first patent, on May 19, 1914. Its general offices and factory were located at 3355 East Slauson Avenue in Vernon, an industrial area just south of downtown Los Angeles. It was an ideal location for a company that would eventually supply over 7,000 wig-wag signals in the US and the world, because it had excellent rail access for not only shipping its products out, but also for bringing in the raw materials needed to manufacture its products. The Union Pacific's old Los Angeles and Salt Lake line to the harbor ran just east of the location, and the main lines of the Southern Pacific and Santa Fe ran by just north of ther ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dan Redlands Wigwag
Dan or DAN may refer to: People * Dan (name), including a list of people with the name ** Dan (king), several kings of Denmark * Dan people, an ethnic group located in West Africa **Dan language, a Mande language spoken primarily in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia * Dan (son of Jacob), one of the 12 sons of Jacob/Israel in the Bible **Tribe of Dan, one of the 12 tribes of Israel descended from Dan **Danel, the hero figure of Ugarit who inspired stories of the biblical figure * Crown Prince Dan, prince of Yan in ancient China Places * Dan (ancient city), the biblical location also called Dan, and identified with Tel Dan * Dan, Israel, a kibbutz * Dan, subdistrict of Kap Choeng District, Thailand * Dan, West Virginia, an unincorporated community in the United States * Dan River (other) * Danzhou, formerly Dan County, China * Gush Dan, the metropolitan area of Tel Aviv in Israel Organizations *Dan-Air, a defunct airline in the United Kingdom *Dan Bus Company, a public transpo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Norfolk And Western Railway
The Norfolk and Western Railway , commonly called the N&W, was a US class I railroad, formed by more than 200 railroad mergers between 1838 and 1982. It was headquartered in Roanoke, Virginia, for most of its existence. Its motto was "Precision Transportation"; it had a variety of nicknames, including "King Coal" and "British Railway of America". In 1986, N&W merged with Southern Railway to form today's Norfolk Southern Railway. The N&W was famous for manufacturing its own steam locomotives, which were built at the Roanoke Shops, as well as its own hopper cars. After 1960, N&W was the last major Class I railroad using steam locomotives; the last remaining Y class 2-8-8-2s would eventually be retired in 1961. In December 1959, the N&W merged with the Virginian Railway (reporting mark VGN), a longtime rival in the Pocahontas coal region. By 1970, other mergers with the Nickel Plate Road and Wabash formed a system that operated of road on of track from North Carolina to Ne ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Builder's Plate
A builder's plate is usually a metal plate that is attached to railway locomotives and rolling stock, bogies, construction equipment, trucks, automobiles, large household appliances, bridges, ships and more. It gives such information as the name of the manufacturer, the place and country of manufacture, the model number, the serial number, as well as the date of manufacture or date of fabrication of the item or unit. Gallery File:Schenectady builder's plate.jpg, Schenectady Locomotive Works builder's plate File:New South Wales Government Locomotive No. 1c.jpg, New South Wales Government Railways Locomotive No. 1. Builders plate 958 File:Kerr Stuart Builder's plate 1327.jpg, Kerr, Stuart and Company File:T? Baldwin plate.jpg, Baldwin Locomotive Works builders plate File:Lima builder's plate.jpg, Lima Locomotive Works File:NSWGR AD60 Class Locomotive 6040 d.jpg, New South Wales AD60 class locomotive Beyer, Peacock and Company. builder's plate. File:SAR Class GMAM 4140 (4 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Union Pacific Railroad
The Union Pacific Railroad is a Railroad classes, Class I freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Pacific is the second largest railroad in the United States after BNSF Railway, BNSF, with which it shares a duopoly on transcontinental freight rail lines in the Western United States, Western, Midwestern United States, Midwestern and West South Central states, West South Central United States. Founded in 1862, the original Union Pacific Rail Road was part of the first transcontinental railroad project, later known as the Overland Route (Union Pacific Railroad), Overland Route. Over the next century, UP absorbed the Missouri Pacific Railroad, the Western Pacific Railroad, the Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad and the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad. In 1995, the Union Pacific merged with Chicago and North Western Transportation Company, completing its reach into the Upper Midwest. In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Overhead Lines
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, Electric multiple unit, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the technology is ''overhead line''. It is known variously as overhead catenary, overhead contact line (OCL), overhead contact system (OCS), overhead equipment (OHE), overhead line equipment (OLE or OHLE), overhead lines (OHL), overhead wiring (OHW), traction wire, and trolley wire. An overhead line consists of one or more wires (or Overhead conductor rail, rails, particularly in tunnels) situated over rail tracks, raised to a high electrical potential by connection to feeder stations at regularly spaced intervals along the track. The feeder stations are usually fed from a High voltage, high-voltage Electricity distribution, electrical grid. Overview Electric trains that collect their current from overhead lines use a de ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Relay
A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch. It has a set of input terminals for one or more control signals, and a set of operating contact terminals. The switch may have any number of contacts in multiple contact forms, such as make contacts, break contacts, or combinations thereof. Relays are used to control a circuit by an independent low-power signal and to control several circuits by one signal. They were first used in long-distance telegraph circuits as signal repeaters that transmit a refreshed copy of the incoming signal onto another circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone exchanges and early computers to perform logical operations. The traditional electromechanical relay uses an electromagnet to close or open the contacts, but relays using other operati ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lemony Snicket's A Series Of Unfortunate Events
''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' (also simply known as ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'') is a 2004 American black comedy adventure film directed by Brad Silberling from a screenplay by Robert Gordon, based on the first three novels of the book series ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'': '' The Bad Beginning'' (1999), '' The Reptile Room'' (1999), and '' The Wide Window'' (2000), by Lemony Snicket (the pen name of American author Daniel Handler). It stars Jim Carrey, Liam Aiken, Emily Browning, Timothy Spall, Catherine O'Hara, Billy Connolly, Cedric the Entertainer, Luis Guzmán, Jennifer Coolidge, and Meryl Streep, with Jude Law as the voice of Lemony Snicket. Nickelodeon Movies purchased the film rights to Handler's book series in 2000 and soon began development of a film with Barry Sonnenfeld attached to direct. Handler adapted the screenplay and courted Carrey for Count Olaf. Sonnenfeld left over budget concerns in January 2003 and Brad Silberling to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Crossbuck
A crossbuck is a traffic sign used to indicate a level railway crossing. It is composed of two slats of wood or metal of equal length, fastened together on a pole in a saltire formation (resembling the letter X). Crossbucks are often supplemented by electrical warnings of flashing lights, a bell, and/or a boom barrier that descends to block the road and prevent traffic from crossing the tracks. Vienna Convention The Vienna Convention on Road Signs and Signals, a multilateral treaty of the United Nations with the intention of standardizing traffic signs around the world, prescribes several different regulations for the "crossbuck" sign. The sign should consist of two arms not less than long, crossed in the form of an . The first model may have a white or yellow background with a thick red or black border. The second model may have a white or yellow background with a thin black border and an inscription, for example, "railroad crossing", "railway crossing", etc. If lateral c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Cantilever
A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilever can be formed as a beam, plate, truss, or slab. When subjected to a structural load at its far, unsupported end, the cantilever carries the load to the support where it applies a shear stress and a bending moment. Cantilever construction allows overhanging structures without additional support. In bridges, towers, and buildings Cantilevers are widely found in construction, notably in cantilever bridges and balconies (see corbel). In cantilever bridges, the cantilevers are usually built as pairs, with each cantilever used to support one end of a central section. The Forth Bridge in Scotland is an example of a cantilever truss bridge. A cantilever in a traditionally timber framed building is called a jetty or forebay. In the sou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |