Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Railway switch latch

 



This is a Bethlehem DES 465 switch latch for locking out a railway turnout. They were used in tandem on a track switch to lock the switching lever in one direction or the other. A padlock was used to prevent unauthorized movement of the switch.  They seem to be fairly common online, though no pictures of one actually in use.

4 comments:

Dave said...

Somebody still sells what looks to be a welded (vs cast) copy, so maybe these switches are still in use in private railyards and need to be replaced occasionally. Odd that it's so cheap.

https://kimessteel.com/products/k51-foot-lever-catch

Anonymous said...

http://lst-zittau.blogspot.com/2016/11/dreharbeiten-zum-lehrfilm.html

Mister G said...

They're used everywhere! and the new welded ones are cheaoer than the the antiques... Thanks for the links!

Dave said...

I still can't figure how they can make and sell that thing for the price of only 12 cups of Tim's medium regular coffee. Gotta be a misprint.