RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

RAILROAD SIGNAL
DOLL POSTS

Doll Posts are "sort of" an accessory item for signals.....
When a signal could not be located directly to the right of the track it governed, with another track between it and the signal, railroads employed a Doll Post to indicate that to the engineer..... Think of the Doll Post as a place holder.

Many railroads use a short mast with a blue light on it, and if you have ever seen one, it is a deep, deep blue.
Other railroads, such as SEPTA, uses a blue circular reflector on the mast.
Some railroads, like the B&O, employed no signal at all as seen below.

The B&M was one railroad to employ Doll Posts with an active blue signal,
A visit to Waltham Massachusetts will not disappoint you (unless the lamp was out as it was on one of my trips)!
The Seaboard is another railroad that employed the blue lights, also shown below.

Typical B&O CPL Doll Post located on the east end of Aiken Siding siding north of Perryville MD.
Notice the lack of a lamp on the post.
Also notice how the dwarf signal is mounted to the base of the high signal.... interesting!
The high signal is for the main line, which is to the left,
And the dwarf signal is for the siding on the right, which is in between the signal and the track it governs, hence the Doll Post.
Picture taken from Jackson Station Road.

A pair of pictures of a US&S Searchlight signal with a doll post in Lineville AL on an ex-SCL line,
one of which includes a shot of a classic SCL whistle post.
As with many other railroads, they use a high signal for the mainline and a dwarf for the siding.
Photos courtesy John Higginson.

SEPTA's version of a doll post, it uses a blue reflector.  This one is on the R3 line in Media PA.

New 6OCT2006
Last Updated: 01/24/2011