RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

ZOO INTERLOCKING
NW Philadelphia PA

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There are a number of good vantage points for photography, as noted with the green arrows.

Off 34th St, on the top of the map, is a fairly good spot for trains going over the Schuykill Bridge, but decent pictures can only be had of trains on the closest track because of the angle.  There is sufficient space just on the other side of the bridge from Girard to park, and there are no signs along there preventing you from doing so.... at least for now.  Beware shooting from here, as we saw evidence of a homeless "shelter" off under the trees.... just make sure you don't "go it alone"

Another good spot is on the backside of the zoo, along Zoological St.  Sometimes, during the high season, they set up an impromptu gate to charge for parking.  We were able to convince the girl at the gate not to charge us, and she didn't seem to have a problem with it when we said we were going to take train pictures.  The street is one way going NB towards Girard.  Amtrak frequents the track right next to the street.  An SUV with their pop-up tailgates make for easy railfanning from here.  CSX comes rolling thru here, on the 2nd or 3rd track over.... we caught an inbound and outbound in less than an hour spent at this side of ZOO.

Pictures can be had from the 34th St bridge, but you'll need a ladder.

Fairly nice pictures can be taken from Mantua Ave, but again, a ladder would be nice to get over the fence.  Unfortunately, the pole line gets in the way in places.  Of notable note along this stretch, are a couple of Pennsy PL's on a cantilever bridge, so noted on the map.

Once I go thru my slides, I will fill in other signal locations on the map and key them so you know what is where.

The signal bridges at the top of the map are all colorized PL's.

A couple of pedestal signals are placed, mostly along the tracks adjacent to Zoological St.

I saw one tri-light, or as others would have me say, triangular shaped color light signal, on the 3rd track over from Zoological St.

And buried somewhere in the middle of the wye I did see (still) an all yellow PL.

          A couple of ZOO track charts courtesy "NJ Mike"

Taken from underneath 34th St and looking west, comes this great photo of the track, signals, and overhead wire work.  No-one knows who took the picture, but it was passed on to me by Tim Vermande, and it's location identified by Lee King.... thanks to both Lee and Tim!  Note the double-slips are aligned for a move on the track the photographer is in the middle of.  Great stuff.
 

I will post more pictures when I get a chance

NEW 07/17/2007
Last Updated: 21-Dec-2009