In General
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In General

The signals on TEX Rail are all colorlight signals, no surprise there.  Almost the entire line runs on former trackage of one railroad or another, and most of them also used colorlight signals, altho of older styles.

Most of the track TEX Rail runs on used to be old Cotton Belt rails.  The two eastern most stations are on a brand new track AND right-of-way.  There is also new trackage where the line crosses the Trinity River and goes over a rail yard to join up with the TRE line just above the Ft Worth Central station.

My signal guide starts at the DFW end and works its way west to the T&P station.

My signal guide is the result of following the line on Google and Bing Maps, neither of which, as of June 2020, have current pictures of ghe line.  However, don't fret, that allows us to see what was there before the change took place, and in many instances, especially with the station views of the areas the stations are in (on the main page of this guide), there is nothing there at all, and many of the signal locations don't have any signals at all.

If you have any pictures of the system you would like to share, I hope you shoot me an email and send them my way!

Map



Signals

  Terminal B

There is one dwarf signal along the access road where the track goes from one to two for the station.  There are probably signals for the outbounds trains, but I haven't seen them yet....



  Mainline Interchange

New signals.  This is where the TexRail branch to DFW comes off the Cotton Belt mainline.






Leaving Grapevine for the DFW branch.

  S Dooley St, Crossover East Interlocking

The signals here, on the east side of Dooley St, are for the crossover track and siding on the other side of Dooley St.
There used to be a single track here, a second one was added for the station.
On the far side of the station at Main St, there is another set of signals where the three tracks go back to being two.



  Crossover West Interlocking

Two sets of signals on the west side of the crossover and siding take-off.  Easy to shoot off the end of the passenger platforms.







  Main St Grapevine, Three Tracks to Two to One

Two high colorlight signals for the two station tracks, and  dwarf a little further down for the siding, where it all goes down to a single track.



  WB Colorlight for Siding

A new signal installation for the Grapevine Vintage RR siding because of the requirements of TexRail.

before

after

  WB Colorlight for Siding/Kimball Ave

In this aerial view, the signal has not been installed yet....
The Google Streetview shots show the grade crossing and tracks before work got started.
The siding looks to be about 4,300 feet long.







  EB Colorlight for Siding/Mustang Ct

At the other end of the siding, is the EB siding signal.



  EB/WB Colorlights for Siding at Amundson Dr/Donna Rd

The east end of the siding for the station at Smithfield, the siding was extended.
There is a parking lot for the trail here-at the Dick Faram Park, making it a very convenient spot for pictures.









  EB/WB Colorlights for Siding Intermediates at Davis Blvd

before

The siding looks to be about 4200-4300 feet long... nice sight lines in both directions.








Love those pedestrian crossing gates!



  EB/WB Colorlights for Beginning of Siding at Smithfield Rd



before

  EB/WB Intermediate Colorlights at Mid Cities Blvd



before

  EB/WB Intermediate Colorlights West of Rufe Snow Dr

Anyone want to take a walk down the trail for some close-up shots??? :-)



  EB/WB Colorlights for Iron Horse Station Siding-East End/Browning Dr

the WB signals

the EB signals
  EB/WB Colorlights for Iron Horse Station SidingWest End

No pictures yet, but there has to be some, given the signals at the other stations, may even have an intermediate set.

  Reserved for additional Iron Horse Station Signals

  EB/WB Interlocking Signals/Glenview Dr

Signals for the single to double track interlocking, with a single track heading east.
You may think the double tracking is for TexRail, in part you are correct, but the track to the right is for freight, and has a diamond and interchange track up ahead.

looking west

looking east

before signals & double tracking

  WB Interchange Approach Signal/Haltom Rd





before

  TexRail Intermediates & Freight Approach Signals/Janada St

the TexRail Intermediates

how did that one pole get left behind?

the EB freight signal


Here you can see the freight line on the right, with the TexRail line going over the other rail line, bypassing the diamond and interchange.

before

  TexRail Intermediate Signals/Beach St





before


From Beach Street, we can see the Beach St/Mercantile station, and a signal for a siding.

  EB Signals for Mercantile

TBD.....

  CP T750 - Maintenance Yard Interlocking Signals/Sylvania St






Four sets of signals can be seen if we look west from Sylvania Ave, the FtW&W yard is off to the left.

  ???

Spare slot, I'm sure there is something else in here before Deen Rd

  CP T751 - Signals/Deen Rd

These Google Streetviews are from 2016, before TEX Rail came thru.  Looks like there was a signaled siding here, and even as late as 2018, the signal for the siding was still standing.  I'm sure by now, it is gone....















  29th St

These Google Streetviews are mostly from 2014, way before the Northside station was built, so I'm sure this WHOLE area has changed dramatically.
We have a signaled siding, and (I assume), an approach signal... back then.....

















  One of the few fixed approach signals seen around here....



  Signals in and around Northside Station

Have any pictures you would like to contribute?

  Interlocking

This is where TEX Rail diverges from the Cotton Belt line (behind 2567 Decatur Ave), avoiding the huge diamond with the BNSF, and heads south into downtown Ft Worth on the east side of the BNSF.  Have any pictures you would like to contribute and share?

  2 to 1 Interlocking / Decatur Ave / MP 13.97

Busy place, I count six signals in the first screengrab....









  Unknown Signals

There are numerous signal locations that can not be covered at this time, since I am doing this remotely, and have not had a chance to visit yet.

  EB T&P Station Signals

Taken from Google's streetview from I-30, we can see a number of the signals on the east side of T&P stationm.
Both commuter rail tracks deadend just to the west of the platforms.
For now, this concludes my coverage of the signals of the TEX Rail line.




I don't know if TexRail uses the same signal indications as the TRE does, but here is a DART TRE signal chart.




Disclaimers:

I love trains, and I love signals.  I am not an expert.  My webpages reflect what I find on the topic of the page.  This is something I have fun with while trying to help others.

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 :-)

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.

Aerial shots were taken from either Google or Bing Maps as noted.  Screen captures are made with Snagit, a Techsmith product... a great tool if you have never used it! 

By the way, 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!  Please 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.

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