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They are Sakai, made in Japan right after WW2. I did a short article on them in the TCA Quarterly maybe 10 years ago. From the physical attributes, you can tell that they were built in a "cottage industry" setting. Note the hand-made and hand-assembled metal parts. The era is easy to determine, from the type of plastic insulation on the wire leads inside the signals.

They are interesting from an electrical standpoint, in that they operate using a relay that is built into the base. The relay is a bi-stable one, meaning that it has two steady states, like a headlight dimmer relay in some foreign cars.  The entire kit comes with the signal, and two or three insulated rail overlays, depending upon the type of signal. The overlays snap over the outside rail, and have a lead soldered onto them. The leads go back to the signal and operate the relay.

The range and variations of the series is quite extensive. There are both 2- and 3-lamp signals, in both short and tall versions. (The tall versions are roughly the same height as the Lionel #153 signal.)   There is a semaphore in both heights, and a crossing gate. There is also a very whimsical crossing signal, "in the style of" the Lionel 154, with a strange electrical feature: It has one red and one green lamp and operates the same way as the block signal. It does not operate prototypically, with alternating red lamps.

I also have a much smaller version of the 3-lamp block signal, which I have always assumed was an attempt to offer an H0 version. I have found no documentation on that little fellow, though.

Hope this info helps.

 

 

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