There is a certain thrill to the railroad and all railroad doings. In 1947 the Pantagraph ran a sort of railroad photo story that explained the signals of the railroad men.
E. L. Lesher demonstrated the signals for "back out" (slapping his butt) and how to direct a train of stock to the right track.
Don Bonny signals a train to "cross over" and alerts mechanics to a hot axle box (a burning smell made this signal an easy one to create).
Elmer Sinclair directed a train to the "house track" and to "head in."
Yardmaster H.G. Setchell signaled "use track 4" and "go."
Yardmaster signaled the best loved signal "time to eat."
Challenge your children to say why each signal was designed the way it was!
I hope everyone on the rail yard had 20/20 vision or there was going to be confusion!!!