Railroad Towers

RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

RAILROAD
TOWERS

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RAILROAD SIGNALS HOME

Towers once served as the operational hub at many railroad locations, and kept the railroad moving. Without them, railroads would have gotten clogged up in short order if the train crews had to go out and align all of the switches for a particular move. As a youngster, I was always amazed at the tower operators who could keep one ear on the chatter coming over the speakers and keep a conversation going with me at the same time. In Baltimore, we had a bunch of towers, mostly on the B&O. Having visited such cities as Chicago, St Louis, Kansas City, and Minneapolis/St Paul, I can only imagine what it was like during the heyday of railroading back in the 40's to see everything being controlled from towers. Today there are precious few of them still around and operating. September 17th of 2007 saw the closing of the last B&O tower (HO) on the mainline west from Baltimore and DC.

Fortunately, there are active railfans all over the place willing to commit there time and resources to saving them, as witnessed by the folks in Rosenburg TX saving Tower 17, and in Terre Haute IN saving Haley Tower.

Anything with a blue link will take you to a page that is generally a railfan guide of the area the tower is in.

There are many, many sites for towers, and (for instance) the historical society in Texas has done an excellent job of preserving their heritage (http://www.towers.txrrhistory.com/index.htm).

CONNECTICUT

Devon -- ex New Haven SS 71 Tower

The tower was in continuous use from 1917 to 1991. It originally had a US&S F style machine, which was then replaced with WABCO NX machine. The NX machine is now in a museum. The tower is currently used by the signal department. A big thanks to Dale Martin for the info and the pictures... he worked at the tower for 20 years!

DELAWARE

Newark -- ex PRR Davis Tower

INDIANA

Terre Haute -- Haley Tower

MARYLAND

Baltimore -- ex PRR BAY Tower

Baltimore -- ex PRR B&P Tower

It used to be at the south end of the Penn Station complex. This tower was disassembled and moved to Bowie MD where they wanted to set it up, but the plans never went thru, so the town of Sykesville MD took possession of it, built a new base for it, and used what salvageable material there was to reconstruct it as closely to the original as they could. It houses the visitors center and post office.

Picture by Steve Martin

Baltimore -- ex PRR Gwynn Tower

On the Northeast Corridor and so named for the Gwynn Falls that runs under the Pennsy right-of-way.... the other track below is the CSX (ex Western Maryland) track that goes up to Hanover PA.

Baltimore -- ex B&O CX Tower

Pictures by Steve Martin

Baltimore -- ex B&O HB Tower

Picture by Steve Martin

Baltimore -- ex B&O HX Tower

Baltimore -- ex B&O NA Tower

Pictures by Steve Martin

Brunswick -- ex B&O WB Tower

Hyattsville -- JD Tower - AKA, Alexandria Junction, location of former B&O tower

Perryville -- ex PRR Perry Tower

MICHIGAN

Detroit - Delray Tower

Kalamazoo -- BO Tower

MINNESOTA

Albert Lea -- UP Albert Lea Tower

NEW JERSEY

Newark -- Dock Tower

An ex PRR tower on the Northeast Corridor controlling the interlocking and bridges north of the Newark station. The left picture is by Rich W. of Newark.