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Operating Interlocking Towers 2022
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 8:15 pm
by GTW Dude
Are there anymore operating Interlocking towers in the USA or was Delray tower in Detroit the last manned tower?
Re: Operating Interlocking Towers 2022
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:28 pm
by GP30M4216
Delray wasn’t quite the last. I believe local track switching responsibilities are still functioning at both the Shortcut Bridge and the NS Bridge over the Rouge in addition to bridge control. These are both within a mile or two of Delray.
There are at least 3 interlocking towers still open in metro Chicago. 16th street on the south side where the St Charles Line crosses the Metra from LaSalle, JB Tower in West Chicago which is a CN-UP junction, and Metra tower A-2 northwest of Union Station. There might be one or two more Metra towers open as well. You can also count that super busy tower on the CTA loop - Tower 18.
Is Hick tower still open on the NS Chicago Line? Does it have a local track/train control any longer, or just bridge control?
Re: Operating Interlocking Towers 2022
Posted: Sun Jan 23, 2022 6:41 pm
by Tom49801
GTW Dude wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 8:15 pm
Are there anymore operating Interlocking towers in the USA or was Delray tower in Detroit the last manned tower?
K Tower at Union Station, Washington DC is still manned & usually with 2 operators on duty for its 700 to 800 moves per day. It is a huge place, but the plan is to make it a remote controlled location from the CETC (we call it "C Tech") command center in Wilmington Delaware. The CETC Center in Wilmington, DE was originally on the 8th floor of the 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, PA & had heard talk not too long ago about it possibly being moved back to there for whatever reasons.
Re: Operating Interlocking Towers 2022
Posted: Wed Jan 26, 2022 4:01 pm
by M.D.Bentley
GP30M4216 wrote: ↑Sat Jan 22, 2022 11:28 pm
Delray wasn’t quite the last. I believe local track switching responsibilities are still functioning at both the Shortcut Bridge and the NS Bridge over the Rouge in addition to bridge control. These are both within a mile or two of Delray.
There are at least 3 interlocking towers still open in metro Chicago. 16th street on the south side where the St Charles Line crosses the Metra from LaSalle, JB Tower in West Chicago which is a CN-UP junction, and Metra tower A-2 northwest of Union Station. There might be one or two more Metra towers open as well. You can also count that super busy tower on the CTA loop - Tower 18.
Is Hick tower still open on the NS Chicago Line? Does it have a local track/train control any longer, or just bridge control?
Short Cut staffed part time as needed. NS bridge controlled by NS Detroit Terminal dispatcher.
Re: Operating Interlocking Towers 2022
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:45 am
by GP30M4216
This thread has some good info about the last towers in the Chicago region and some of the more recent closures:
viewtopic.php?t=27697
Re: Operating Interlocking Towers 2022
Posted: Sat Jan 29, 2022 9:55 am
by GP30M4216
A friend who reads this board from time to time but doesn’t post here forwarded me some helpful and up to date info to share about other towers:
Chicago also has B17 still open on one of the Milwaukee lines. I think metra might pay CP for that. I think CNW Lake Street is open still, leading into northwestern station (Ogilvie).
Ohio has no open towers. Hallett, on the north side of Toledo, was the last one.
Hick in Indiana is just a bridge tenders tower at this point. Several active bridge towers remain open along the Great Lakes.
PA has four between Lancaster and 30th St station on the Amtrak Keystone Corridor. THORN (thorndale), PAOLI (PAOLI), OVERBROOK (Philadelphia) and, of course, ZOO (Philadelphia).
Also out east, the Long Island Railroad is still a small bastion of open staffed facilities: Divide, Valley, Babylon, Brook, Lead, plus the Penn Station control center and Jamaica Control Center which each remote access some plants.