Allen Keller with Kevin Kizer

Adding the Dwarf Signals to Bridge Junction

April 9, 2018 By Allen Keller with Kevin Kizer & filed under Model Railroad Academy Blog.

Here is the diagram for Bridge Junction on Allen’s Bluff City Southern. In earlier blogs Kevin Kizer and I installed the approach signals and the train order signal inside the wye. Kevin, a retired signal maintainer, determined that we needed dwarf signals at the 3 locations marked 1,2 and 3. Location 1 is the lead to Bluff City yard. Location 2 is the lead to the coach yard and location 3 is the lead to the engine service facility inside the wye itself. Kevin said the signals will tell the engineer if the switch is aligned properly to exit the location.

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 3

November 8, 2017 By Allen Keller with Kevin Kizer & filed under Model Railroad Academy Blog.

Kevin Kizer, a retired signal maintainer, starts to drill the pilot hole for the train order signal in front of the train order station at Bridge Junction on the Bluff City Southern. This small but long drill allows us to make sure there are no obstructions below the layout base before we drill the full…

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 2

July 27, 2017 By Allen Keller with Kevin Kizer & filed under Model Railroad Academy Blog.

Editor’s note: This blog is part 2 of a series on installing signals for an interlocking plant. You can read part 1 of this series here. We decided to use searchlight signals manufactured by Tomar Industries. We added a 4′ scale base made out of Plastruct tubing to help raise the approach light signal mast…

Installing Approach Signals for an Interlocking Plant: Part 1

April 21, 2017 By Allen Keller with Kevin Kizer & filed under Model Railroad Academy Blog.

On my model railroad of the Bluff City Southern there is a bottleneck, but it’s a fun bottleneck. The five railroads that I model come together at this bottleneck. It’s the wye at Bridge Junction leading from Memphis into Arkansas across the Mississippi River. When I designed the layout I knew that a busy junction…