A common question newcomers to model railroading ask is "Why do railroads use signals?" The quick answer is to keep trains moving safely. But the topic of railroad signals deserves more of an ...

[John Philip’s] brother has a sizable room set aside for his model railroad ... for the railroad itself, he decided that an early 1900’s-style semaphore railroad signal would make a great ...

and other systems useful on a model railroad. Modelers have been using them for such layout jobs as detecting block occupancy, controlling signals, indexing turntables, playing sound effects ...