2005-12-D-5170

Image Number: 2005-12-D-5170

Magnetic Flagman Wigwag Signal, Union Pacific El Segundo Industrial Lead.
(cat # 2005-12-D-5170)

In 2005, the four remaining wig-wag crossing signals in the Los Angeles Basin say more about how railroading used to be than how it is today, and of how a few tendrils of that past still cling to the railroad landscape despite efforts toward modern efficiency. On BNSF, there is one wig-wag signal remaining on the Harbor Subdivision at 49th Street in Vernon; its banner has been replaced by a home-built black disk with a red highway construction light after the original banner was stolen in 2002. On the UP's ex-Pacific Electric lines, there are two wigwags on the spur from the Torrance Branch to Crenshaw Lumber in Gardena, and there is this one, located on the El Segundo Branch at Eucalyptus Ave in Hawthorne. The UP El Segundo Switcher passes it every weekday, much like the SP switch jobs and PE interurban cars did before them. Somehow, it survived the track upgrades that occurred throughout the Los Angeles area during 2003-2004. I pass near the Eucalyptus Ave wig-wag on my way to work, and often find myself taking the short detour from my regular route to see if it is still there, or whether it has been vandalized or otherwise destroyed by local kids that do not value it for the history it represents. It is a symbol of a simpler time, one where prowling the tracks did not bring with it the threats we know today, and where railroading itself meant able men doing a noble job of work, not efficient microprocessors and distant management.

Update August 19, 2007