railroad towers?

[zenomorf]

i see new towers going up that look like cell phone towers but are not.they have one straight antenna on top. are these for railroad?

 

[AK9R]

Are they being installed along railroad tracks? Do you have any photos?

 

[nd5y]

Locations would help too.

 

[alabamarailfan]

More than likely, they are for PTC. Most railroads are installing towers at control points and intermediate signals for PTC.

 

[zenomorf]

Are they being installed along railroad tracks? Do you have any photos?

they are by tracks. no photos. one is between mcgehee and tiller ar on us 65. a brand new one is on us 278 between colins and dermontt ar.

 

[alabamarailfan]

What railroad is it? Different railroads configure their PTC antennas a little differently.
This is what the antennas on top of a typical NS fold-over trackside tower look like:


I'm guessing by your reference to AR, it is likely either BNSF or Union Pacific. The antennas on the left of the NS tower above are pretty standard for most railroads using PTC. They are a pair of 220 MHz folded dipoles. For NS, the antenna on the right is for radio code line (CTC). Not all installations have anything more than the two antennas on the left.

 

[zenomorf]

What railroad is it? Different railroads configure their PTC antennas a little differently.
This is what the antennas on top of a typical NS fold-over trackside tower look like:
View attachment 75550

I'm guessing by your reference to AR, it is likely either BNSF or Union Pacific. The antennas on the left of the NS tower above are pretty standard for most railroads using PTC. They are a pair of 220 MHz folded dipoles. For NS, the antenna on the right is for radio code line (CTC). Not all installations have anything more than the two antennas on the left.

the one us 65 is union pacific.

 

[PJH]

UP's standard for anything with signals is a folded dipole on its own support mast next to the electronics dog house, which is usually right next to the signal mast. BNSF does the same thing.

In non-signaled territory, its placed next to whatever device, named point or when distance dicates an install.

For the NS comment above, not all "codeline" is RF, and its not always CTC. Codeline can be wired, wireless, fiber, sat or any other RF link.

When used with RF, its typically a form of ATCS, which there are several websites dedicated to all of that stuff.