| Posted by Dana M. on February 8, 2014 | |
Awesome shot Steve. It's great to see the restored wig-wag signals that were featured on an episode of "American Restoration" on the History Channel late last year! Nevada Northern Railway Museum often takes equipment and items to Rick Dale's shop "Ricks Restorations" in Las Vegas, Nevada. When the wig-wags were brought in - (there were two) - they were literally scrap pieces and parts. The only parts of both wig-wags that Rick Dale had to work with were the bases, the poles, the cross-bucks, the bells and only one of the diamond brackets that the wig-wag swings in. After a few months of fabricating the other three diamond brackets, installing all new wiring, polishing the bells, hammering out dents, buffing out scratches, and many more man hours of actually fabricating the wig-wag blades with no template to go by, and searching for lenses, and really too much detail to fully go into here, Rick Dale had completely restored these two wig-wags to fresh from the factory looking, fully functional condition. They are proudly displayed and set at the main crossing next to the Nevada Northern Depot that every visitor to the railway has to cross, so they are seen by everyone. They also get plenty of use as they are active 24/7 so they get a workout during every excursion and for every after-hour train movements in the yard and on the property. They certainly don't look now like they were in such horrible condition that when you saw them, you'd think that there was no way they would ever be salvageable. Thank you Rick Dale at "Rick's Restorations" in Las Vegas, NV for bringing back a piece of American railroad historic equipment that can be enjoyed and appreciated by current, and future generations of rail fans. He's also restored an extensively wrecked, and ready for scrap track speeder, a steam powered power sprayer to wash locomotives, a steam brake pressure pump used on parked rail equipment to check the brakes, and various other items for the Nevada Northern. He's become a regular go-to guy.
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