Mechanical Marvel Frozen In Time - The SONO Switch Tower [S3: E02]

Mainframe computers and sophisticated algorithms are at work every day on the railroad, getting trains and their passengers or cargo safely to their destinations. It’s an endlessly complicated puzzle that relies on thousands of moving parts working correctly and in the right sequence in order to avoid disaster.
But have you ever wondered how all of this was done before the age of computers?
Rail Weekly travels to South Norwalk Connecticut to learn more about the history of switch towers and how they helped keep America on the move. The railroading jobs of yesteryear required more physical effort and quick thinking than you could imagine.
To learn more about experiencing the SONO switch tower to see this mechanical marvel for yourself, visit their website at www.sonotower.org/.
Here's your chance to contribute to the preservation of this captivating landmark. Consider making a donation or joining the mailing list, becoming a patron of history. The volunteers of the Western Connecticut chapter of the NRHS are the unsung heroes of today, ensuring this fascinating piece of the past stays accessible to the public.
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[@ronselliers6951]

I guess I'm one of the lucky ones. I worked as a Signal Tower Operator from 1973 until 1985 when I had to go into dispatching because the tower were being phased out. I worked 9 different towers in the St. Louis area. 1 had strong arm levers that had been modified to operate electric switch machines. Some were levers for electric switches, some were levers for pnuematic air operated switches and several were toggled levers on a console at a desk.

[@RailWeekly]

Which did you prefer, working as a tower operator or as a dispatcher?

[@ronselliers6951]

Loved working in the towers, Dispatching not so much but it was all great after 43 years payed into the Railroad Retirement Board.@@RailWeekly

[@frazermacaulay]

I currently work at 3 interlocking towers at Union Station in Toronto. The towers are over 100 years old and control the busiest railway in Canada.

[@RailWeekly]

I have been there a few times! It’s a great place to rail fan, especially from CN tower. It would be a dream to see behind-the-scenes there.

[@robmcfarlane3602]

I work in a Signalbox in Australia very similar to this at Frankston in Victoria and it is still 100% operational and 101 years old !. We control the terminus of the Frankston Line and the Stony Point Branch line. It houses 49 levers ! It is the last and biggest large lever frame in Australia. They are brilliant pieces of engineering !

[@RailWeekly]

That’s so awesome! And it is all mechanical like this? Or are there electric motors on the switches?

[@hollisdodge2272]

I spent Friday Nights in a NYC tower in Michigan with the operator to keep him awake. I was too young to throw the switch levers, but NOT too young to smoke cigars and play cribbage all night.

[@RailWeekly]

Haha! Sounds like an awesome memory! Cribbage was a popular game with my Midwest family as well.

[@user-rh3fp8bc1n]

At 3.25, you have got it back-to-front: it is when a signal is set to clear (green) that the locking prevents switches from being moved.

[@RailWeekly]

I think you’re right. That wording was a bit confusing. Good catch!! Thank you for watching.

[@johnvrabec9747]

Almost 40 years ago, when I was working as a bottled water route person, I had to deliver some 5 gal bottles to a RR tower in the Chicago suburbs. I walked up the stairs and it was a tower just like this one. The operator gave me a quick tutorial of the operation. So cool! I come from a RR family, so, I enjoyed it immensely.

[@RailWeekly]

What a cool experience! Thank you for sharing!

[@danmarkis3785]

I'm old enough to see some of this equipment used in person.

[@user-fj9be5fe3p]

same here - market and shell towers.

[@waynecarwile7486]

Me too!

[@RailWeekly]

It would be very cool to see the inside of Shell tower. Not sure that’s possible.

[@SteamCrane]

Me too!

[@Stanf954]

This type of tower operation always amazed me while watching it first hand working for NYC Transit. We still had a handful of manual switch towers operating then before the installation of ATO and CBTC. The local master tower at W4 St controlled the interlocking for the 6 Av and 8 Av A B C D E F lines. It was always busy and the intensity would get hectic if one of those main trunk lines required rerouting of trains to circumvent delays from a disruption of service that happened frequently on a shift.

[@RailWeekly]

Many years ago, I had noticed an underground switch tower of sorts on the north end of the downtown 123 platform at 96th street. I wonder if that is still staffed these days.

[@ManuelRodriguez-qi9ru]

I was a Signal Maintainer at West 4th. Miss those old machines.

[@jayyoung2586]

In the late 50's or early 60's I got to go with an Uncle to work a few times. He worked for Norfolk & Western. One of those times was at the switching yard in Winston-Salem, NC. The tower looked very much like the one in the video. He even let me "help" him pull the big levers. Very memorable experience.

[@RailWeekly]

How cool! It certainly would have been different had these levels still been connected. I bet they were much more difficult to move in that yard!

[@SteamCrane]

Spent a lot of time in a working armstrong tower like this. A slower, nicer life back then. Young people can't comprehend how much nicer life was in the 1950's + early 1960's than today.

[@RailWeekly]

Yes, a much more relaxed pace of life. And a nicer life for some people surely, but not all. Thank you for watching!

[@B-and-O-Operator-Fairmont]

CSX still had some "armstrong" plants into the 21st Century; West Keyser in Keyser, West Virginia and Hancock - not really Maryland as the tower was on the West Virginia side of the Potomac River. The last American "armstrong" switch was deactivated in Springfield, Illinois in the summer of 2010 at Union Pacific's Ridgely Tower. It was indeed long-lived "technology". Very nice restoration work. I should like to see it someday!

[@RailWeekly]

That’s interesting. I am very much into CSX and the history of the B&O and C&O. Do you know if any of those CSX towers were preserved?

[@B-and-O-Operator-Fairmont]

Two B&O towers were preserved as far as I know, UN at New Castle, PA and R from Miller / Cherry Run, WV. Both were armstrong plants, although I don't know if UN's machine was saved with the tower. R was disassembled and moved to Martinsburg, but I don't know if it was ever reconstructed. I think the C&O Society saved a "Cabin" for their museum. A handful of towers still stand in derelict condition or in use by signal or track forces.

[@dasy2k1]

We still have some mechanical lever frames in use in the UK especially in the Worcestershire and Shropshire area They are so reliable they just keep going.... Interestingly the lever colours are the same. Black for points (switches) blue for locks and red for signals (we also use yellow for distant signals) although the way we group levers is different. The main line signals for trains running left to right on the far left of the frame, the ones for mainline right to left at the rightmost end and everything else in the middle in the order that roughly reflects the geographical layout with consideration to keeping the locking simple, so the signal lever for a route across a certain set of points is likely to be very close to the point lever

[@rickmidkiff9990]

As a kid in Erie Pa, I remember these switching stations. The agent would let me come up and watch

[@RailWeekly]

What a cool memory! Thank you for sharing!

[@darylcheshire1618]

one lament I read was that once everything had been computerized for years, you cannot switch in an old mechanical signal box when the computer fails. Everything is disconnected and nobody would know how to operate that particular box. In Sydney, there are plenty of disused signal boxes. I used to be in IT, I’d hate to have a stalled transport system awaiting my diagnostics.

[@JerseyRV]

They still used paper orders until 1998? That’s crazy! Mike, this is another well written, narrated and produced video. Many thanks!

[@RailWeekly]

Thanks so much! And I know! I was shocked to learn that as well.

[@James_Knott]

I used to work for CN many years ago. Those paper orders were written on thin paper called "flimsies". I remember them being yellow, though. Back then, I was a technician with CN Telecommunications and my work often involved the dispatchers phone and train to wayside radio. I never saw those Armstrong lever as CTC was used in many areas and I remember spring switches on sections of the main line, in Northern Ontario, where there were double track sections for trains to pass.

[@stripervince1]

I was a signalman most of my career out in calif in the i980s and 90s. And was lucky enuff to (or unlucky) to sometimes work at Santa Fe Mission tower in downtown Los Angeles. Incredible . 5 railroads went thru there. Santa fe ,southern pacific union pacific, amtrak and later on metrolink. Complexity times 10. Fantastic , complicated career. These tower operators really knew their stuff

[@RailWeekly]

I can imagine! You had to have a lot memorized in order to be able to make important decisions very quickly. That’s very impressive!

[@JimCvit]

When I was a kid in the 70s there was a Conrail switch/crossing shack near my grandmother's house. I used to go over there and talk to the guard all the time. He let pump the crossing arm mechanism. I loved doing that. Great memories.

[@RailWeekly]

What a cool opportunity! There are so many cool stories like that which could NEVER happen today with all our heightened security. That sounds like a great memory :-)

[@TonyVRailfanning]

It is amazing to see how the mechanical interlocking switches worked. Preventing some switches from being moved if another was lined just incredible!

[@RailWeekly]

For real! And how they figured that out without computer programming is so impressive! Thank you for watching!

[@HarrisonPeloso]

I’ve been there so many times, even help set up the virtual railfan cameras

[@RailWeekly]

Very cool! I have seen that web cam many times.

[@Steve14ps]

Very similar to a British signal box (Tower) the interlocking was under the lever frame Red levers for signals Black levers for points (switches) Blue levers for facing point locks (switch locks) Train register book for recording all train movements. In the UK train working messages were passed on from box to box (tower to tower) by 'Block Instruments' using bell codes (railway variation of Morse code) code 2-1 being request for a passenger train etc. not too sure what system this tower used. Paper orders were rarely used in the UK, usually a train would be brought to a stand and the message given verbally to the driver. Yes, there are still some mechanical boxes in the UK, but many are due to be phased out.

[@RailWeekly]

That is fascinating! I’m definitely going to look up more information about that. And if my travels ever take me to the UK, I’ll be sure to seek out one of these. Thank you!

[@UKHeritageRailways]

@@RailWeekly At Severn Bridge Junction in the UK we have the largest operational mechanical signal box in the world with 180 levers.

[@jackx4311]

You got the bell code wrong, mate; 2 - 1 means 'train out of section'. There are various codes for offering a passenger train; 3 -1 is a stopping passenger, 4 bells is an express, 2 - 2 - 1 is for an empty coaching stock train, and so on.

[@Steve14ps]

@@jackx4311 I realised after I posted I made a typo error, yes 2-1 is 'out of section' and 3-1 is a request for a passenger train as you correctly pointed out. I will let the error stand as you have corrected it already.

[@adelestevens]

I still work a mechanical signalbox here in the UK(back on night turn tomorrow ). I've only ever worked mechanical boxes... for over 30 years now! I guess I'll retire before Railway Opersting Centres running westcad(the modern computerised UK sugnalling system) takes over.👍

[@RailWeekly]

How cool! I really need to make my way to the UK to see some of these!

[@TerryMartinTrEmUp]

Where I grew up had Pence (MJ) Tower and we would go visit the men working. Those Armstrong switches were really hard to throw. I remember how cool the tracks looked from the second floor office.

[@RailWeekly]

So cool! I’m not familiar with Pence Tower. Where is that one located?

[@TerryMartinTrEmUp]

@@RailWeekly Momence IL

[@joeclark7888]

A truly fascinating story of some very important US infrastructure.Thanks for a great vid!🌞

[@RailWeekly]

My pleasure! Thank you for watching!

[@Shipwright1918]

Over in the UK these are called signal boxes, and although they are eventually intended to be replaced, many are still in regular use on the rail network to this day along with their accompanying semaphore signals. Most preserved railways are still controlled this way as well.

[@RailWeekly]

This has recently come to my attention! Looks like a trip to the UK is in order!

[@tonytins]

Having grown up in the 90s, I saw an old NEC documentary in the 2000s by Trains Magazine (I think) that showed one of the few remaining switch towers in operation. But it's only now sinking in that this stuff was only just getting phased out when I was still a child!

[@RailWeekly]

I think I know the exact documentary you are talking about! They focused a lot on Zoo tower in Philadelphia I believe.

[@kerry2368]

Excellent video!!! Thanks for posting!!

[@RailWeekly]

Glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for checking it out!

[@rodneylitton638]

They have a switch tower in Mansfield Ohio all the levers control lights on the board. You listen to the rail traffic coming threw and throw levers to see if you don’t cause a crash on the board lol. The club did a nice job making to function and the people there are very nice and like to help people try running the tower. Needless to say it’s not actually connected to the railroad but was the tower that controlled that area

[@RailWeekly]

That is so cool! Is this part of an exhibit that is open to the public?!

[@tombirmingham7354]

I remember this type operation when l started with Conrail in mid 70’s. Towers along the main line, each staffed by an operator. Most towers have been demolished by now.

[@ronselliers6951]

Did you ever come into the St. Louis area?

[@jackx4311]

@Rail Weekly - In June 1856, John Saxby, an English engineer, received the first patent for interlocking switches and signals. He set up a company to manufacture signalling equipment with John Farmer. In 1868, Saxby was awarded a patent for what is known today in North America as 'preliminary latch locking'. Preliminary latch locking became so successful that by 1873, 13,000 mechanical locking levers were employed on the London and North Western Railway (England) alone. It would have been courteous for you to have given some acknowledgement to the pioneering work of English engineers like Saxby and Farmer.

[@RailWeekly]

This is fascinating! Thank you. My videos are quite that deep of a dive, but that would be some interesting history for me to look into.

[@stevencooper1771]

Really interesting to learn how it all once worked. Thanks!

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you, Steven!

[@marcellocolona4980]

Fantastic, have to get there when I’m back up North.

[@RailWeekly]

It’s definitely worth a visit!

[@caseyvillemodelrailroad3877]

Great vidio, love the switch tower,.Thanks for the morning coffee...

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for watching!

[@seanpacificrailroad3700]

Wow, thanks for sharing it was so cool 😎

[@RailWeekly]

My pleasure! Thank you so much for watching.

[@sbrunner69]

Very well done video, narration

[@RailWeekly]

I appreciate that! Glad you enjoyed it!

[@patrickmonks9761]

Thanks for doing this

[@RailWeekly]

My pleasure. Thank you for watching!

[@c2757]

At 0:13 I like the commentary referring to trains "seamlessly guided to their destinations" over a close up of a catch point which is a device designed specifically to stop them going anywhere or derailing them if they try! Is this irony in steel?

[@RailWeekly]

Haha! I don't know how many times I have watched that clip and never noticed that! Good eye!

[@wtmayhew]

Thanks for the well produced and narrated video of such an interesting piece of long running rail history. I recommend as a complement to this video, a documentary by the New York Central, 1950, The Big Train. It is available on KZbin. Highlights are the Frontier switch yard in Buffalo and showing of an early form of Centralized Train Control used on the main line.

[@RailWeekly]

Great suggestion! I have seen that one as well! I’m fascinated with New York Central history. I have another video about the Hickory Creek and the 20th century limited on my channel if you are interested. And I’m trying to work on a video about their electric engines that are currently being restored.

[@wtmayhew]

@@RailWeekly Thanks for the reply. I really appreciate your videos.

[@jovetj]

Looks like my kind of place!

[@RailWeekly]

Definitely check it out if you can!

[@chuxtuff]

Today we have digital control of the rail network. Back when all these levers were used that was the analog version of yesteryears rail network.

[@RailWeekly]

That is very true!

[@darylcheshire1618]

the mechanical rods and cables had to be adjusted twice a year for expansion otherwise a signal arm would only move an inch.

[@RailWeekly]

Yeah, these mechanical systems required so much more maintenance than today’s do. It was a lot of work!

[@mostintelligent5115]

Oh! Hello, friends! I`m worked as an train traffic aperator in Ukraine. Olmost at every stations we have an automatical railway contros systems sience 1960-70-s from former USSR. For arriving or depaturing trains it`s enough to us only to press 2-3 buttons which are responseble for switches or traffic lights at the table. And it all peformed withour competers.

[@RailWeekly]

It’s so interesting to learn how things are done on the railroads in other countries too. Thank you for sharing!

[@bennetfox]

You should elaborate a little bit more on what CTC is. That is Centralized Track Control for those who are curious.

[@RailWeekly]

Agreed! I interviewed several people who worked this tower or towers like these for this video. But I’m not acquainted with anyone who works or has worked with CTC. That would be a great topic for the future. Thank you!

[@SteamCrane]

Centralized Train Control.

[@mimodelrailroading]

The CSX Delray tower was operational until a few years ago when shutdown in 2021.

[@RailWeekly]

That’s so cool! What were the operator’s duties by then? Was there still an interlocking that they operated manually? I know some of the towers that lasted long were responsible for other duties like operating a draw bridge (for example).

[@Renville80]

I have heard these mechanical interlocking levers referred to as "armstrong" levers - and with good reason. I think there are some videos elsewhere of the old tower at Neilson, IL in the last days before the tower was retired, and I have heard the railroad merely dug a pit and pushed the entire tower into it...

[@RailWeekly]

What a shame! More of these should have been preserved. I’m going to try to find that video. Thanks for the info!

[@timothygriscom7110]

I enjoyed the video. Was that Trenton NJ at 0:43?

[@RailWeekly]

It was indeed! Good eye!

[@trevorgwelch7412]

In 1964 , I was 4 , lived in New Zealand and I remember seeing old fashioned steam trains . 🚂🚋🚋🚋🚋🚋

[@RailWeekly]

How cool! Does New Zealand still have any steam engines running today?

[@freeagent8225]

Worked at a small box in Melbourne, Australia, only 13 levers, pleasant memories😅.

[@RailWeekly]

How cool! Was it very similar to this one?

[@freeagent8225]

@@RailWeekly On one side was double line block, the other side, single track, staff & ticket. Station has just been demolished due to overhead track over the road, no more rail crossing.

[@andysnashall6140]

Signal boxes here in the UK. Very similar though. Some routes still have them and semaphore signals.

[@RailWeekly]

Very neat. I’ll be in the UK filming later this year. I heard there are some signal boxes that are still active.

[@denzzlinga]

It always amazes me how much money other countries put in their railways :D In germany we still got plenty of armstrong towers in regular daily operation in 2024, no big ones and only few on the main lines, but small ones on the branch lines, where nothing was renewed ever.

[@RailWeekly]

That is so interesting! I’m just now learning that there are any of these type of towers still in operation. Hopefully I get to check that out before they are all gone.

[@FZ1nbiker]

interesting to see the levers are painted the same colours as in the uk, for the same uses,red= signals, black point etc.

[@RailWeekly]

That’s fascinating, and I’m sure it’s no accident. Would love to check out the UK rail system in the future.

[@vonmazur1]

I hired out on the New Haven Line in 1972. There are some inaccuracies in your video. The crossovers in the west end of the interlocking were electrically operated, the pipeline went only to the first crossover on the ladder to the Danbury Branch. There was only one manually operated signal, it was on the Danbury Branch. Other than that, a good presentation.

[@jamescerone]

Why was that one signal not updated at the time?

[@vonmazur1]

@@jamescerone It was when Walk was activated. In 1972, only improvements were as absolutely necessary. PC did not have the money for anything else

[@jamescerone]

@@vonmazur1 “walk”?

[@quadrannilator]

​@@jamescerone The other new tower they installed, the yellow building

[@RailWeekly]

This is really interesting. Thank you for taking the time to elaborate. This never came to my attention in my research for this video. I spoke with someone who worked this exact tower, and they also mentioned that the one switch that was 1/4 mile away was so difficult to operate mechanically that they used a “lever extender” for lack of better words in order for them to apply sufficient force to move the switch. This is certainly a fascinating topic that warrants more attention.

[@MetaverseAdventures]

I find it astonishing that anyone could pull a lever attached to a 1/4 mile of what looks like a 1" steel rod given how much that rod would weigh. Like really...how would a person do this with the 3' high levers they are using? Surely some other MUCH taller lever was used for the distant switches? Anyone have some insights here?

[@RailWeekly]

Yes! I spoke to one person who worked at this exact tower when I was researching the video. They said that they had a pole in the tower that they used as a “lever extender” in order to move that one switch that was a quarter mile away. The lever was so difficult to move that they needed the pole for extra leverage.

[@oldad6207]

Not coincidentally I think, to this day, all the controls that are set to interrupt improper operations of other equipment in STEAM powered electrical generating stations are called the "Interlocks".

[@RailWeekly]

Very interesting. I will need to look into this more. It’s all very fascinating.

[@oldad6207]

@RailWeekly The people who brought the 1st steam generating plants on-line were the folks with railroading backgrounds because they knew steam.

[@Jayhawker340]

Is walk tower used for anything today?

[@RailWeekly]

At least until recently, the drawbridge operator still used it. I believe that is still the case. But no switching or dispatching is done from Walk anymore.

[@jackwilson4722]

Well...nice to know that when the computers go down the trains stop to...why not keep the old system as a backup..same with everything else.. moving forward is great but have a backup in place..many times I've been in restaurants and other places and had a meal..and not many others there..big sign..card machine not working..cash is a good backup..have a backup plan...

[@RailWeekly]

Good point! Some of this could definitely be kept in place. At the very least, staffing some of these towers to have more eyes on the line would not be a bad idea.

[@michael029138]

And yes, they did take a lot of physical strength. I remember "Bank Tower" in "Red Bank", NJ. Oh yeah, where were "Boss Bitch" women at this time. Home cooking the food and taking care of the kids. LOL

[@RailWeekly]

So thankful there are more opportunities for women now! This job required a lot of organization and quick thinking. There are a lot of folks that would be amazing at this type of work! Thank you for watching!

[@grizzlystiks]

Oops wrong switch.....😂😂😂

[@RailWeekly]

Haha. I mean, that happened to me on modern day Amtrak before (they sent us down the wrong line by accident) so I’m sure it happened in the past.

[@danielhutchinson6604]

Computers never fail us........Right?

[@RailWeekly]

Haha! They sure do. I have experienced a dispatching error that sent my Amtrak train down the wrong line before. The train had to reverse back to the junction. It caused a 30min delay.

[@retiredatlast1976]

Mute the music so we can understand the guy doing the talking.

[@Chris_In_Texas]

Bet the levers were fun in the winter with snow and ice! 🤦‍♂🤷‍♂

[@RailWeekly]

Oh yea! I’m sure I could find someone with a story about having to walk up and down the line with ice picks in the winter. It used to be a labor-intensive job in the BEST of times. Haha

[@johnschultz9023]

It should rightfully be called an electromechanical interlocking tower.

[@denelson83]

Brits know these as "signal boxes".

[@jackx4311]

@@denelson83 - you mean Brits *INVENTED* these signal boxes, *AND* the interlocking system was invented by *ENGLISH* engineers.

[@jackx4311]

The interlocking in this tower is purely MECHANICAL.

[@unguidedone]

i like trains

[@frogandspanner]

As a retired UK university academic my main research field was logic, real-time software, and computer networking. Now retired I am taking more time to learn about railways, and realise how similar the subject is to that of my 40+ year career. I am fascinated by the mechanical logic employed in signal boxes [US: towers] to interlock semaphore signals and points [US: turnouts? switches?]. How aware were the signal box designers of the algebra of logic (e.g. Boolean Algebra)? As the maths of minimisation of Boolean functions was quite some time after interlocking was designed it suggests that the designers had techniques to simplify the mechanical logic used - or was it all rule of thumb design? The more I discover what our predecessors achieved the more impressed I am.

[@jackx4311]

You're wrong about Boolean Algebra; it was introduced by George Boole in his first book 'The Mathematical Analysis of Logic', published in 1847. In June 1856, John Saxby, an English engineer, received the first patent for interlocking switches and signals. He set up a company to manufacture signalling equipment with John Farmer. In 1868, Saxby was awarded a patent for what is known today in North America as 'preliminary latch locking'. Preliminary latch locking became so successful that by 1873, 13,000 mechanical locking levers were employed on the London and North Western Railway (England) alone. It would have been courteous for the narrator of this video to give some acknowledgement to the pioneering work of English engineers like Saxby and Farmer, and also to the equally vital equipment designed and manufactured by another English engineer, Edward Tyer, from the mid-1870s onwards, for use on single line routes. These instruments allowed a token to be issued to train crews from either end of the single, and once one token had been released, the instrument prevented a second token from being released until the train had cleare the section, and locked the section signals preventing two trains from being in section at the same time.

[@frogandspanner]

@@jackx4311 The minimisation of Boolean functions for other than the simplest functions of a handful of variables was not perfected until the 1950s when Quine and McCluskey formulated an algorithm.

[@RailWeekly]

Technology doesn’t always mean improvements. Railroads had a lot of this figured out long before electronic computers… and these systems were not a susceptible to “server outages”. They were complex and labor intensive, but very robust!

[@eliasthienpont6330]

🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁🦁LION c LIKE No. 279

[@chopperbillintexas5854]

A very HOT railfan...very nice!

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you so much!

[@MrDerbee]

Very interesting and educational; but he "background" music is a headache.

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for the feedback and for watching.

[@davidculmer1520]

We don't need to see you in vision!

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for watching.

[@user-me4xf6bp1u]

Good video, you sound EXTREMELY QUEER!

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for watching. Hope you’re well.

[@johnjeanb]

Frenchman here. Very interesting and great thank you. It is also good to compare with the roadside switch controls we in my home town of Paris in the 50s. All the videos i have seem about systems in France and in the UK were WAY MORE musle-intensise but the system looked the same in Paris: long tubes along the rail line. In my favourite station Paris Saint Lazare, all was replaced with a "all relays" switch control in 1965 Here is how it looks now with approx 1000 trains daily. Here it is a peak hour kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYfSl3V5hrN9etk

[@RailWeekly]

That video is awesome! Paris has some cool-looking trains! Did you take this video?

[@johnjeanb]

@@RailWeekly No It is not my video (I wish it was). Saint Lazare is the second largest train station in Prais

[@adamsmith275]

...ROUTE... is a French word!... It is pronounced like the word ROOT... ROUT... in English means... "defeat"...

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you. I love stuff like this…. Especially regional pronunciations. The Chicago folks love to get me on my east coast pronunciation of things like “La Salle” and “Mundeline”…. Other French words of which Americans have changed the pronunciation.

[@lukeorion9397]

This was a neat topic but I find that having the narrator appear in the video is disconcerting.I know its becoming more common in the past 5 years. Is it because of a lack of affordable sources for footage?

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for the feedback and for watching. Just trying to put my own personal spin on this type of content. Hope my face doesn't ruin it for you. lol

[@hatesTD]

is it me But the guy narrating this I could’ve swore I thought he was an AI even his image there’s something questionable

[@RailWeekly]

I’m as real as it gets. Lol

[@hatesTD]

@@RailWeekly 👍👍👍

[@hatesTD]

@@RailWeekly ok my mistake

[@RailWeekly]

All good! Won’t fight you on the “something questionable” though. Lol

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

No. WRONG. Electronic computers weren't but mechanical computers, like the interlocking described here came along in 1856.

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for watching! I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying. Would you mind elaborating?

[@neiloflongbeck5705]

@@RailWeekly mechanical interlocking is basically a mechanical computer. Next came along electric interlocking using relays. Finally we get to electronics and the microchip. Sorry sometimes my dyslexia gets in the way.

[@Greatdome99]

Railroads not rail lines. Ever seen a railroad crossing sign? Doesn't say Rail Line. There's a difference between computers, which decide based on simple inputs, and actuators which respond to these decisions. Human dispatchers still Decide, using remote Actuators to follow their instructions. I know of no place where computers Decide on which track a train will take--at least not yet.

[@RailWeekly]

Thanks for watching! I take “railroads” to mean a rail company in their entirety and “rail lines” to be a specific line or subdivision (like the northeast corridor in this video). And yes you are correct. It’s not completely AI at this point. But from what I understand, dispatchers are now able to set a route and the computer handles aligning all the turnouts and setting signal indications automatically. They only have to make one input instead of 14 separate inputs for one train movement.

[@Gunter909]

Great video on track switches. U r very handsome. R u gay and single by chance? Probably not, but have a great day!

[@RailWeekly]

Haha thank you for watching. I appreciate that! Yes I’m married to a wonderful man who helps me a lot with this channel. He definitely drank the railfan Kool Aid! Lol

[@billjenkins687]

Try another reader.

[@RailWeekly]

Thank you for watching. Hope you’re well.