I am wondering what sort of signals would be appropriate for a Branchline. i intend to operate with anything up to 3 trains at once, but only one will be moving at the moment.
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First some railroads didn't use signals on a branch except at level crossing with other railroads or when approaching the junction with the main line instead they use employee time tables or train clearance forms which basically told them to run from the Junction to the town where the branch ended because as a rule a branch line would see a single round trip made by one mixed train or local on a daily bases except on Saturday and Sunday.
Now if this was a larger branch line then it may see 2 trains a day a AM passenger run and a PM passenger run with a local freight switching the industries..Movements would be by Employee Time Table and form19s..The 19s would be received by line side phone when the conductor or head brakeman would call in for clearance to proceed to the next stop..Again this was only done when 2 trains was operating on the branch.
Now when signals was used they would be the same style as found on the main line.
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How many lights and that sort of stuff would i need?
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What ever type of masthead the railroad use..It could be a single light mast to a multi light mass...The three light masthead seem to be the more common signal used.
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Another thing, if someone could please explain what each signal means, that would help too
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That would depend on the railroad and their operating rules govern signals.There is a short cut for us modelers,
Green= Proceed
Yellow=Approach
Red=Stop
Our club layout has the following added
Yellow over Yellow Advance Approach
Red over yellow =Restricting
Yellow over Green=Diverging approach.
This site should help you as well.
http://www.railroadsignals.us/