06-20-2019, 11:18 AM
(06-20-2019, 08:53 AM)KevinT Wrote:(06-19-2019, 10:25 PM)ijmorlan Wrote: Update on the derail at Willow St.: today it was engaged when I got home from work in the afternoon. Later in the evening I noticed it was disengaged, but upon taking a closer look I saw that the signal was showing yellow. This makes me wonder if perhaps the derail state is now interlocked with the signal.
I've always assumed that the derails are interlocked to the signal state (and the state of the rest of the system, i.e. OCS power off on the shared section, gauntlet tracks switches set, etc.) Were they not?
Except during installation and testing, I had never observed the derail engaged until yesterday. Having said that, I misspoke, in that I agree it was probably already interlocked: I doubt the system would allow a non-red signal with the derail engaged. But until yesterday, it was not engaged, even when the signal was red.
Incidentally, a second point and a cute flip-up “derail” sign and blue light were recently installed. In addition to the inside point which sits on top the track and would lift the train up and pull it over the rail, there is now a second point on the outside which would push the train away from the track.