Yeah, it’s a cliché.

But so what.

So, there I was in Whitefield, New Hampshire last week for the first time since the early 1990s, and the old Ball signal was basking in the evening sun.

Once a common variety of signal in New England, often used where one line crossed another, the Ball signal is all but history now.

Whitefield’s Ball is the last on a common carrier, but the lines are so infrequently used that the old signal has virtually no function other than serving as an historical decoration.

However, it’s not the only surviving Ball signal  in New Hampshire. The Balls that once protect Waumbek  Junction (near Whitefield in Jefferson) are now displayed at North Conway, and will soon feature in Tracking the Light.

Tracking the Light aims to post daily!