Shunting signal question

[nah00]

So I got a few of these sets from TGW...but what is the yellow post on the right for?

Edited July 31, 2016 by nah00

[westfalen]

My guess is they are either speaker phones for contacting the dispatcher or yard master, or key switches or push buttons for things like setting routes or operating crossing gates.

[NXCALE]

Could you show a picture from a different angle?

 

Cheers,

 

Nxcale

[mrp]

My guess is they are either speaker phones for contacting the dispatcher or yard master...

 

According to this blog entry, that's exactly what they are - part of a talk-back / intercom system of large speakers mounted on pillars.  I think it's also saying that this TGW version is a bit out of proportion for N-scale.

 

Maybe it's meant to look something like the unit in the foreground here:

 

 

 

[nah00]

So it would not be unusual for these to be in a yard not near a shunting signal? Mine are set all the way at the opposite end of the yard, I thought they were some kind of sensor or yard limit marker. 

[kvp]

They tend to be placed where locomotives stop during normal operations. At least they were before the widespread use of radio communications, so early to mid JNR era. I've seen similar ones in use around mixed use stations, mostly near the places where locomotives stop or shunting crews work, including key operated ones in passenger accessable areas. For multiple unit yards, they have to be near the cabs or the boarding stairs.

[nah00]

Ok so I have one at the start of a runaround track and another at the exit from an engine house so those both make sense.