“Please Turn Around” – The Wendescheibe, an Early Railway Indicator Disc

If you think a Wendescheibe is a platform for turning trains around at the end of the line, you’re mistaken. The Wendescheibe was an early railway signal: an indicator disc that informed the engine driver from several hundred metres away whether he was permitted to enter the next station.

But what did such a Wendescheibe look like, and how did it work? A clear illustration can be found at the Bahnmuseum Albula in Bergün. A disc is mounted on a tall post, with two small discs beneath it pointing in the opposite direction. The mechanism is weight-driven and triggered by electric impulses sent by station staff. When the large disc was turned parallel to the tracks so that the driver could see only the two small discs, it meant “clear”. If, however, the large red-and-white disc faced the approaching train, it meant “stop”.

The Wendescheibe was developed by the German watchmaker, telegraph specialist and inventor Matthäus Hipp (1813–1893). His invention significantly eased the work of railway staff, as electric signal control replaced the labour-intensive mechanical cable-pull systems, which were particularly prone to failure in poor weather. Despite these improvements, the stationmaster still had to ensure that the station was clear and that the points were correctly set. In the first half of the 20th century, the Rhaetian Railway installed Wendescheiben as home signals at almost all stations – including the specimen preserved at the Bahnmuseum, which was in service at Samedan station from 1909 to 1967.

The Hipp Wendescheibe even found its way into art: anyone looking closely at Ernst Ludwig Kirchner’s painting Die Brücke bei Wiesen (The Bridge at Wiesen, 1926) will spot it in the colourful landscape.