 Joined: 10/09/2019(UTC) Posts: 151 Location: England, Chichester
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For some time now I've been puzzled by some of the trackside signs one sees on German railways. In particular the upper case "F" (black on white with a black border) often seen on small cabins or on cabinets at the side of the tracks. Also, in addition to their geographical name on the front, signal towers seem to have at each end a small rectangular sign with the first letter of their name in upper case followed by either an "f" or an "n" in lower case (again, black on white with a black border.)
I am just starting to decorate and detail my first layout and answers to the above would be good to know. For example, I'm proposing that the signal tower serving my fictional location of "Salzbach" will need at each end a sign "Sf". Unfortunately, as I don't know the significance of the letter "f", I don't know whether that is appropriate.
Can any members familiar with German practice advise me please? |
Marklin - "The train set I never had as a child."
Keith Bowman |
 1 user liked this useful post by Bogenschütze
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Joined: 16/02/2004(UTC)
Posts: 15,443
Location: DE-NW
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Hi! The large "F" indicates phone booths that can be used to communicate with the scheduler if the signal is red for a long time. Signal towers marked with "f" are operated by a scheduler while those with "n" or "s" just execute orders given by a scheduler. So you can use "Sf" or "Ssf" for the south end and "Sn" for the north end of your station. See here under "Stellwerksbezeichnungen" (German): http://www.stellwerke.de/liste/seite3_a.html |
Regards Tom --- "In all of the gauges, we particularly emphasize a high level of quality, the best possible fidelity to the prototype, and absolute precision. You will see that in all of our products." (from Märklin New Items Brochure 2015, page 1) ROFLBTCUTS  |
4 users liked this useful post by H0
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 Joined: 01/03/2008(UTC) Posts: 2,883 Location: South Western France
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Originally Posted by: Bogenschütze  For some time now I've been puzzled by some of the trackside signs one sees on German railways. In particular the upper case "F" (black on white with a black border) often seen on small cabins or on cabinets at the side of the tracks. ....
Can any members familiar with German practice advise me please? I see you have your answer already . Why the letter "F" you asked? Telephone in German is "Fernsprecher" Simple. But today they have "Funk" (same initial!!  ) , i.e "Radio", but in fact if I am correct, I think it basically makes use of the public mobile telephone network , just separate private call numbers. Cheers Jacques |
Jacques Vuye aka Dr.Eisenbahn
Once a vandal, learned to be better and had great success! |
3 users liked this useful post by jvuye
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Joined: 10/09/2019(UTC) Posts: 151 Location: England, Chichester
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Thanks so much, Tom and Jacques. The above info is exactly what I needed.
Regards, Keith |
Marklin - "The train set I never had as a child."
Keith Bowman |
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 Joined: 17/04/2003(UTC) Posts: 997 Location: Netherlands
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Hi, On Drehscheibe you will find some authentic German instructions for these. Distance to rail centerline should be 3.5 meters, which is 4 cm in H0.  I decided to follow the Austrian rules, probably offending a rule to keep the line of sight to the dwarf signal free from obstructions...   Best regards, Gregor
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7 users liked this useful post by Gregor
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 Joined: 15/03/2003(UTC) Posts: 9,591 Location: Australia
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I am glad that this is clear. Some scumbag, who shall remain nameless, had some of these on his layout and told me that the F stood for Furzhaus! He then expanded on the explanation to include the comment that it is an emergency track side toilet for train drivers. Not being a German speaker, I believed him.. Sigh!  |
Adrian Australia flag by abFlags.com |
6 users liked this useful post by xxup
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 Joined: 02/08/2014(UTC) Posts: 783 Location: NEW JERSEY, USA
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Originally Posted by: xxup I am glad that this is clear. Some scumbag, who shall remain nameless, had some of these on his layout and told me that the F stood for Furzhaus! He then expanded on the explanation to include the comment that it is an emergency track side toilet for train drivers. Not being a German speaker, I believed him.. Sigh! A long time ago, I met a retired British rail Fireman. He had worked during the steam era. He told me that they used the coal shovel and into the boiler it went! Puff, Puff, Puff. Mikey |
I love the smell of smoke fluid in the morning . |
5 users liked this useful post by analogmike
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Joined: 17/04/2003(UTC) Posts: 997 Location: Netherlands
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Originally Posted by: analogmike He told me that they used the coal shovel and into the boiler it went! Puff, Puff, Puff. Maybe Seuthe can develop some appropriate smoke oil for that scenario...
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Joined: 02/08/2014(UTC) Posts: 783 Location: NEW JERSEY, USA
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 Yes, that would be very prototypical. I wonder if Preiser makes any figures of "Lokfurer Squatting? Mikey |
I love the smell of smoke fluid in the morning . |
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