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These pages cover signals that have (mostly) gone the way of the steam engine.  Pretty soon, we will be able to add B&O CPL and Pennsy PL signals to this page at the rate they are being replaced by color light signals.

This page will cover Tilting Target Signals.


Tilting target signals were used where two railroads crossed each other.  The two thumbnails below show the two positions you will see them in, and the engineers of each railroad knew which indication applied to them.  As far as I know, they were/are all manually operated, and rarely interfaced into a signal system.

Quite often, these signals aren't very close to a road, so they often go unnoticed by most railfans.  This is the case when I was in Kokomo Indiana some 11-12 years ago, and was not aware that there were 3 or 4 of them in town - so the only one I have a picture of was taken by chance because I was taking pictures of a freight leaving town.  I also missed one in Bay City MI, bummer :-)  The one I got pictures of in New Castle PA, I only got because a local railfan took me there, as it was well hidden under an overpass, and there was no clear path down to it from the main road.

  


Bay City MI

                Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham



I took the above picture in October of 2011.  I had talked to Mr. Ingham on the whereabouts of this signal, and after visiting Bay City twice, gave up looking for it.  That is, until I got home and started looking at the pictures I took.  If you look at the far left of the above photo, you will see the red part of the signal.  Now all I have to do is go back for better pictures now that I know it's location :-)  (I left the picture in it's original size so you can see the detail)....


Bellaire OH

  Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Bellevue OH
This signal is in the NKP Museum's collection, and was formerly in Freemont OH

    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Canton OH

    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Carroll OH
This signal is in a personal collection.

    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Cleveland OH

      Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Coshocton OH

  Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Dover OH

  Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Justis OH

  Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Kokomo IN
Kokomo had a bunch of tilting targets around when I was there in 1999, too bad I didn't know about them then.

              Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham

   
CIND GP-30 #2252 passing a tilting target in Kokomo IN in 1999.


Minerva OH

         

          All pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Newark OH

  Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


New Castle PA

         

 
Here's the remains of a tilting target signal I came across on a business trip back in 2004 in New Castle PA, about 45 minutes NW of Pittsburgh.  Be sure to check out the New Castle Industrial RR while you're there.

  These two pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham of Wallingford England


North Vernon IN
At the junction between the CSX (B&O) and CMPA (PRR).
The first two pictures are courtesy Tim Vermande.  Thanks Tim!

 







          Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Plymouth OH

  Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Reese MI

    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Springfield IL

    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Springfield OH

        Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Union IL - at the IRM
According to Mr. Ingham, this tilting target signal was originally in Jackson OH.

    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Washington Court House OH
This signal protects the crossing of the I&O Midland Sub and the ex-DT&I line--the Fayne Industrial Track.  CSX leases the Midland Sub to the I&O. Jesse tells me that CSX has upgraded this signal with a new blade and LED lights!

  Picture courtesy Jesse Svoboda



    Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Youngstown OH

      Pictures courtesy J.S. Ingham


Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

Please Note:  Since the main focus of my two websites is railroad signals, the railfan guides are oriented towards the signal fan being able to locate them.  For those of you into the modeling aspect of our hobby, my indexa page has a list of almost everything railroad oriented I can think of to provide you with at least a few pictures to help you detail your pike.

If this is a railfan page, every effort has been made to make sure that the information contained on this map and in this railfan guide is correct.  Once in a while, an error may creep in :-)

My philosophy: Pictures and maps are worth a thousand words, especially for railfanning.  Text descriptions only get you so far, especially if you get lost or disoriented.  Take along good maps.... a GPS is OK to get somewhere, but maps are still better if you get lost!  I belong to AAA, which allows you to get local maps for free when you visit the local branches.  ADC puts out a nice series of county maps for the Washington DC area, but their state maps do not have the railroads on them.  If you can find em, I like the National Geographic map book of the U.S..... good, clear, and concise graphics, and they do a really good job of showing you where tourist type attractions are, although they too lack the railroads.  Other notes about specific areas will show up on that page if known.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, floobydust is a term I picked up 30-40 years ago from a National Semiconductor data book, and means miscellaneous and/or other stuff.

Pictures and additional information is always needed if anyone feels inclined to take 'em, send 'em, and share 'em, or if you have something to add or correct.... credit is always given!  Please be NICE!!!  Contact info is here

Beware: If used as a source, ANYTHING from Wikipedia must be treated as being possibly inaccurate, wrong, or not true.

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Last Modified On: 02-Jan-2021