Moving Train Order Signals on the C&O at Man, WV

by Jonathan Spurlock

My dad was an operator on the C&O at Man, WV, and I can still relive the first time I ever saw him hand up orders to the crew of a moving train. I will always think of him as one of the bravest men I ever knew. You can read more about this in my first article, Passing Train Orders on the C&O at Man, WV.  One of the last things he did before handing up the orders was to change the train order (T.O.) signal for the appropriate track, something I’ll explain here in a bit more detail.

C&O used upper-quadrant semaphores at Man and most other train order offices where Dad worked. A green signal or vertical position meant “no orders, proceed”. A yellow signal, or a 45-degree angle (in the neighborhood) meant “you have orders, prepare to receive them,” and the red signal or horizontal position meant “stop, you must sign the train orders before you receive them and before you go any further.” Dad and the other operators had to manually lower the signal to yellow or raise it back to green. They didn’t drop the signal to red very often, if I remember Dad’s stories correctly.

C&O GP7 5865 leads a short mine run at Man, WV on 18 May, 1979 -Stan Short

Dad took us along to a few places where he worked, but except for Man, all the rest had a switch and signal machines. Most of us have seen these, or pictures of them: the tracks are displayed as one line for each track and lights wherever there was a switch or signal. Even a very small “cabin” (C&O’s term for train order and other offices) such as the one at West Hamlin, WV had one of these devices. All he had to do with one of these was literally move a switch and the circuits did the rest.  Not so at Man.

Looking at Stan Short’s photo [at left], you can see the pair of signals, one set on each side of the depot. You can also see that the signals are mounted to a mast (pole) outside the depot. If you look closer, you may see a small rod mounted to the wall near the semaphore blade. The semaphore blade was controlled by a geared contraption mounted to the wall inside the station that worked in an up-and-down rolling movement using that rod. I don’t recall exactly how the devices were connected, and at age 11, my understanding of physics was limited at best!

Dad explained to me how he could change the signal’s position. He or the other operator had to walk over and grab hold of a grip, much like the handle of a steam locomotive throttle, then squeeze it, and rotate the handle up or down to the proper aspect (what he wanted the train crew to see). There were simple dots of red, yellow, and green paint on the inside walls to serve as indicators for where to place the handle for the needed signal. He let me try to change the signal’s position once and I realized then and there that this was not something I could do at that time! I just didn’t have the arm strength then to “let it roll”—which is another thing I can remember pleasantly about Dad’s days as one of Man’s operators.