RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME


This page covers switch heaters. 

They are used to melt snow and ice in climates where there is the possibility of an accumulation which would prevent turnouts from operating improperly, incorrectly, or at all.


Clifton VA - Norfolk Southern

A directly heated / propane fired installation.  Pictures from 8/22/2005

         

 


Elkridge MD - CSX / ex B&O

A propane fired installation.

COMING SOMEDAY


Manly IA - Iowa Northern

A forced hot air / natural gas installation.  Pictures of the switch machine are on the lower set of pictures.

             

         


Minneapolis MN - Union Pacific

A forced hot air / natural gas installation.

COMING SOMEDAY


Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  I do these pages because I love spending my time doing them - although I do a reasonable amount of research to make sure the information presented is accurate! :-)  :-)

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, oooooooops, oh well! :-)  

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.

BTW, 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! BE NICE!!! Contact info is here

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

RAILFAN GUIDES HOME
RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME


NEW 12/28/2006     
Last changed: 16 Feb 2017