Willamette Shore Trolley Wigwag

[ctw100s]

WHY DID THE TROLLEY 5TOP BEFORE CROSING?

[someone7974]

what was that thing infront of the trolly?

[deloreanman14]

@someone7974 - It's a power generator. This line was converted to from electric interurban to freight in the mid 1930s and as a result, the overhead catenary wires were removed so the trolley has to get its power from somewhere.

[bcschmerker]

Nice vid of a running 'Flagman! The surrounds for these signals, orig. developed in-house by the Southern Pacific to address accidents on their Pacific Electric division, had several variations, such as the yellow "trolley" version shown here; the black-cross-on-white came about in the 1930's.

[DTMRM8]

Is that a small slug engine (thats what I have known them as) an engine with no cab? They were used for extra power without the need for a whole engine (cab and all) back in the day.

[Polybun]

No, it's a perkins 60kw gen set with a set of rectifiers shoved inside to output 600vdc nominal. It sags... allot...

[sophieoftipton]

There's not much action in a wig-wag crossing

by looks of it.

[sophieoftipton]

That wig-wag looks very different to the ones

I've seen on other video clips.

[KazzRacer]

Must be a different RR, I think the black and white ones might be AT&SF, but I'm not sure

[deloreanman14]

This is now owned by the Willamette Shore Trolley but when freight trains ran here, the line was owned (as were the wigwags) by the Southern Pacific.

[KazzRacer]

Ah I see, thanks!

[neomrdo]

That looks like rail town in calif.

[robertgift]

I meant that the sound timing is off.

These signals ring at the extreme of each swing.

Thanks,

[deloreanman14]

I checked the original video file on my hard drive and the sound timing matches it here. I guess it's just the way these wigwags work.

[robertgift]

Must be BoobTube. There is another video there where the sound is several seconds behind.

When the 10 VDC power to the wigwag stops, the light turns off, but the bell rings several more times as wigwag swings to a rest.

It actually has an internal brake so that wind does not cause it to swing freely and possibly ring the bell if the swing is great enough.

[robertgift]

Wonderful.

Does BoobTube cause the sound to be off.

Thank you,

[deloreanman14]

It works for me and I've received no complaints to the contrary. Have you checked the volume bar above? Also, check your computer's volume controls (the little speaker icon on the taskbar). Sometimes they mute for reasons even Bill Gates can't understand.

[robertgift]

Sound is off.

Why did you not wait for it to stop swinging?

[deloreanman14]

This was shot with my old digital camera and it would sometimes let me run videos past one minute and others it would shut off at 30 or so seconds. It just depended on which way the wind was blowing at the time. I have a new camera now and will reshoot this video in the summer on a better weather day.

[masckub]

such a true oregon treasure.

[danosf]

Record these while you can. I hear that ODOT is working to get rid of all Oregon wigwags right now.