Wigwag (railroad)

The term should not be confused with its usage in Britain, where "wigwag" generally refers to alternate flashing lights, such as those found at modern level crossings.

Soon after the advent of the automobile, travel speeds were increasing and the popularity of enclosed cars made the concept of "stop, look, and listen" at railroad crossings difficult.

In those days, many crossings were protected by a watchman who warned of an oncoming train by swinging a red lantern in a side-to-side arc, used universally in the United States to signify "stop".

The final design, first installed in 1914 at a busy crossing near Long Beach, California, utilized alternating electromagnets pulling on an iron armature.

Their popularity led to Magnetic Signal wigwags appearing at railroad crossings across the United States—including on Alaska's Copper River and Northwestern Railway[1] and on several Hawaiian railroads—and across Canada, Mexico, and as far away as Australia.

Dubbed the "peach basket" because of the protective framework, the apparatus was crowned by another visual warning, the traditional X-shaped "RAILROAD CROSSING" sign, or crossbucks.

The Magnetic Flagman wigwag waves its target using large, black electromagnets pulling against an iron armature.

Each Magnetic Flagman includes a builder's plate (bottom center) detailing patent dates and power requirements.

The Norfolk and Western Railway decided to make a change in which the motion-limiting bumpers were placed on the front of the signal instead of inside at the rear, so that the torque on the armature was reduced.

There were also some 110 volt AC models of Magnetic Flagman used on several railroads, including Norfolk and Western, Winston-Salem Southbound, and the Milwaukee Road.

There was a rare adjustable turret-style mount for properly aiming the signal if space did not allow the cantilever to fully extend over the roadway.

The last known example of the turret-mounted wigwag was removed from service in Gardena, California in 2000, while the versions with the warning signs were mostly shipped to Australia.

Few wigwag signals currently remain in place, and the number dwindles as crossings are upgraded and spare parts become scarce.

Magnetic Flagman made in Minneapolis, Minnesota after production was moved from Los Angeles are especially rare and are valued by collectors.

[4] Until destroyed by a truck in April 2004, a lower-quadrant Magnetic Flagman wigwag protected a private crossing of a BNSF line hidden from public view by a sound barrier in Pittsburg, California.

Anaheim had a working signal along the Union Pacific Costa Mesa branch at Lemon and Santa Ana Streets before being removed on February 25, 2019.

[5] Collector and notable film director, Chris M. Allport owns and operates a restored, lower-quadrant Magnetic Flagman (made in Minneapolis) wigwag at his studio in Los Angeles, California.

A single lower-quadrant wigwag in the industrial city of Vernon, California, once protected a crossing on 49th Street with eight separate tracks on the BNSF Harbor Subdivision.

This project eliminated many at-grade crossings along Alameda Street and a number of Southern Pacific wigwags remaining from the PE era.

[6] Its removal and that of the Anaheim signal the previous year marked the end of Southern California wigwags still in revenue service.

They employed standard bells that were used on other types of signals, and mounted either to the mast or to a bracket on the top of the center harp style, as in the Devil's Lake, WI photo.

While there are a few examples in museums, the sole surviving US&S wigwag in service in the US is a two-position style in Joplin, MO on an ex-Frisco industrial spur.

The last one of this type with the chase lights was removed in 1985 and US&S wigwags were thought to have disappeared from the USA until the discovery of the specimen in Joplin.

The wigwags at the crossing that mark the location of the western terminus of the BNSF Railway (successor to the Santa Fe) on West Richmond Avenue in Point Richmond, CA became pawns in a fight over local control in 2001 when BNSF said it was going to remove them once they installed more modern devices,[8] after the state's transportation authority pressured it to upgrade the crossing.

Nevertheless, in July 2019 the two upper wig wags were put operative again after the Richmond community raised funds ($2,000) to restore the devices, which had been out of use for 18 years.

[9][10] Both wigwags remain as non-operative decorations at the crossing, coexisting with the modern gates, red lights and bells.