SEPTA Signaling Updates

I just compiled a few bits of signaling news after my recent SEPTA Winter fan trip and figured I should share them while they were still fresh. The the headline is that the work to rebuild or change ARSENAL interlocking is already having a negative impact on signaling as the 20 exit signal on #4 track at the north end of ARSENAL has already been replaced with what I assume is a temporary color light mast exit signal.

I say temporary because a few feet to the north some new turnouts had been installed either for an Amtrak connection (unlikely) or some sort of relocation of at least one of the Airport Line ladders off the curve where they currently exist.  Anyway, the 20 auto and southbound ARSENAL home signals are accessible for photography and a definitely work a hike in combination with the PLs at CP-WALNUT north of the University City station.

I finally got out to The SEPTA Norristown Line terminus at Elm St in Norristown and saw that SEPTA put a fair amount of money into the interlocking making all the switches power operated as well as adding power details.

Southbound signals were of the Unilens type, despite the signals well known problems. 

CTBC transponders have made an appearance on the Routes 101 and 102 suburban trolleys.  The existing ABS signaling system is a two aspect type with fairly long blocks, however after the trouble SEPTA had and continues to have in their downtown trolley tunnel I'm surprised they didn't consider just switching to some sort of light rail CTC.  I suspect they want to tie in light preemption and other goodies.

Anyway, those are the major changes I noticed.  Hope you had a reasonable 2019 and let's all look forward to a better 2020.

Hot Stuff! Railroad Point Heaters and Snow Melters.

Railroads are normally pretty tolerant of ice and slow with even the snowiest lines through the Sierra Nevada or Rocky Mountains needing the use of specialized rotary snow ploughs only about once a decade.  However when rails need to move back and forth at the point of a switch, snow and ice can quickly gum things up and that is where the wonderful world of switch heating comes into play.  Despite there really being only two main heating methods and a handful of fuels, the solutions employed still show a fair bit of diversity, even within the railroads themselves.

SEPTA losing a bet on the necessity of point heaters at 16TH ST Jct.

 The two main methods of clearing the movable parts of switches are heating the rails directly or blowing hot air in and around them.  These two categories are then divided by the type of fuel beings used to do the job.  Currently the most common are electricity, gas (methane or propane) and kerosene. The decision of which point heating solution to use is typically based on the severity of the winter events any given interlocking is likely to encounter.  Erring on the side of caution may result in unnecessary maintenance and capitol expenditures.  On the other hand insufficient point heating capacity may not only fail in its intended role, but also succeed in making the problem worse.  Railroads may further adopt the use of snow plans where the use of top quality snow melting is restricted to certain locations with the remainder being straight railed and taken out of service for the duration of the snow event.

The most basic type of point heating solution is that of the smudge pot.  Named for an agricultural device designed to ward off the effects of frost, a railroad smudge pot is a long, flat metal tank holding 2-5 gallons of kerosene with a wick at one end.  Placed under the running rails and ignited, the open flame will heat the rail sufficiently to ward off snow and ice accumulation within a certain vicinity.

 Smudge pots can be left in place year round or deployed by maintainers in advance of a weather event.  Regardless of the placement, smudge pots must by lit and extinguished manually and are generally not used anywhere a switch needs to be in service during a significant snow/ice event. They also replaced the practice of igniting oil or other flammable liquids directly on the track structure, although that can still be used to free frozen points in an emergency.

 Moving up a notch in power, the electrically powered rail heater works in much the same fashion as a smudge pot, but without the need for on-site manual operation or fuel oil and with a significantly larger area of effect.  The hardware device could not be simpler, usually consisting of an electric-range style heating elements strapped along the length of the outer rail.

In the above example of an electric resistance point heater in operation, the water has evaporated along the entire length of the heating element.  When encountered in the nighttime the elements glow a cherry red, again similar to a household electric range.

Where heating elements on the outside rail prove insufficient, additional coils can be placed under the points themselves where the radiant heat would work to keep the mechanism clear.  One major drawback to electric contact point heaters is the somewhat limited amount of BTUs available.  A practically sized heating coil can only output so much heat and in extremes of temperature and precipitation and electric contact point heater will not only fail to melt the snow as it accumulates, but the snow that does melt may re-freeze between the ties and the points making mechanical clearance nearly impossible.

Electric heaters also require a fair amount of railroad and utility infrastructure.  Not only do the interlocking locations need a power supply with sufficient current available to power tens of feet of heating element, they also need additional cabling between the power supply and the switches themselves and in the long run high voltage electrical cabling in wet conditions can become a maintenance issue.

When the electricity supply either isn't available or isn't enough then it's time to break out the burner bars that apply a gas flame directly to the rail.  Generally impractical to use except on the outside rail, it was common to add an additional shroud to trap the heat around the rail, although these since fallen out of favor due to issues related to inspection or snagging equipment.  

The propane heaters shown above generally succeed in hiding the flame and and often create a whistling noise while in operation.  Some older installations that use municipal natural gas lines create more visible flames, sometimes to the alarm of passers by who think that something has gone wrong.

Blockstation.Net Goes Down

Another indispensable web 1.0 resource for those interested in Amtrak's NEC operations appears to have gone down in the last few weeks.  Blockstation,net was a small site dating from 1998 that published a set of 1992 vintage Philadelphia Division track diagrams that the site owner had made for Amtrak using MS Paint.  Covering then-CTEC Sections A, C/B, F and G, the site had some additional interior photos and information on a number of individual towers including PENN, BRWN MAWR, THORN, PARK, CORK, STATE, HARRIS and oddly enough, BALDWIN.

The good news for everybody is that I had saved hard copies of most of the informational parts of the site (at the time I didn't feel that the index pages needed saving).  This includes all of the diagrams and all of the tower pages with textual descriptions and detail photos. You can find this content here or here.

Let's all hope that the site returns.  On the pages I do have the author was listed as Ken Reinert who was using an Erols.com e-mail address that no longer functions. Like I said the page seemed to have been populated once back in 1998 and then completely left alone for the next 21 years.  For all I know the server it was running on may have been lost in some data center sort of like Milton from Office Space and some sysadmin may have simply rectified the error. it could be that poor Ken has passed away and the web hosting and/or domain name registration may have finally lapsed.

This is why I tell people that over the long run, the "cloud", is not reliable and that people need to make hard copies of everything they find important! With Yahoo Groups having been unilaterally wiped out just this past weekend, this is especially true as Web 1.0 content may be literally reaching end of life.  Fortunately I had saved this content way back in 1999 because then what was online was seen as fleeting and unreliable on a more relatable time scale. That means today in 2019 I just have to deal with another round of dead link fixing and instead of having to restore the lost content.

NS Fort Waye and Chicago Line News

In early December I traveled to Chicago via Amtrak's Capitol Limited, and while there isn't much going on after the great signal purges of the past few years I do have a few news items to report.  I previously reported on the replacement of CP-WOOD on the Fort Wayne Line.  This time around I can also confirm that the PRR signals at CP-LUM and CP-ALLIANCE were also replaced, apparently back in March 2019.  No word on the Conrail signals at CP-EON and CP-MURPH.  The CP-ALLIANCE signals in particular are a huge loss that I never got the chance to properly photograph save for one late night at 2am back in 2003 and all I came away with were night shots of the then new westbound NS style cantilever :-( 

Both of these interlockings were of mid-90's Conrail vintage and went in with the Rule 562 project and still had excellent paint jobs.  This appears to have been a signal replacement only, probably due to the lack of parts commonality.

In other news I can confirm that NS has retained some Conrail era signaling between CP-426 in Elkhart and CP-435 in South Bend on the Chicago Line.  This includes the MP 429 and MP 433 automatics and the westbound home signal at CP-435.

Back on the unfortunate side of things, Amtrak has replaced 10 of the 12 remaining (as of 3/19) US&S A-5 pneumatic point machines in Chicago Union Station's CP-ROOSEVELT complex.  Amtrak started to electrify the 4-ladder complete crossover a number of years ago, but stopped part way, possibly due to problems with the GM 4000 point machines originally selected.  Well now it seems the point machine replacement program is back on (this time with M3s) in conjunction with a general switch renewal project. CP-TAYLOR and CP-JACKSON are so far unaffected.

The double scissors in 2017 with 15 A-5 point machines.

A State Without Towers

The plight of the single interlocking tower is getting so bad that now we don't even have states without active interlocking towers, but states without any interlocking towers at all.  Closed, preserved or otherwise.  I'm not talking about states like Hawaii or Alaska or Wyoming either, but populous states like Florida which recently saw the demolition of its last free standing tower in early 2019.



As indicated by the video, TN Tower survived for 3 decades after being closed and even had a freeway built on top of it.  However someone somewhere in CSX got pissed off enough to call in the demolition crew and asbestos remediation folks.   Unfortunately it won't be long until this more states encounter the same situation :-(

Reading, PA Trip Report

I went on a signal trip to the Reading, PA area this past weekend where, for those of your who don't know, NS has a bit of a hub going on where their Northeast network was built on the skeleton of the former Reading Railroad.  In 2018 NS replaced most of the remaining Reading / Conrail signaling still present on the Reading and Harrisburg Lines.  However a late Conrail project to replace vintage Reading Railroad signaling in the late 90's has created a pocket of surviving Conrail signaling that looks to be safe from replacement for at least the time being.

The bulk of this "historic" signaling is located on the old Reading Belt Line between CP-BELT and CP-TULP.  In fact CP-BELT features Conrail painted NS style traffic light signals at one end that may indicate the project straddled the NS takeover. 

The island of Conrail signaling includes a single automatic at MP 6 with back to back distant masts on each track.  These replaced a pair of Reading brackets sometime after 1997.

CP-TULP features a paid of equilateral turnouts forming a "Conrail Crossover" that I believe dates from the Reading era as they exist due to a single track bridge over Tulp creek.

In other news the downtown triangle consisting of CP-OLEY, CP-CENTER and CP-WALNUT has been re-signaled to varying degrees.  CP-WALNUT has the same interlocking hardware with new signals, CP-OLEY has been completely re-signaled and CP-CENTER has been reconfigured with the western turnout in the "Conrail Crossover" being moved further west to eliminate a two track grade crossing.  This had the side effect of replacing a surviving Conrail dwarf stack with a new Darth mast.  I suspect the interlocking logic and the Reading era relay hut were also replaced, but I wasn't able to check on that one detail.

I also want to take a minute and plug the Saucony Creek Franklin Station Brewpub, which had taken up residence in the old Reading Franklin St Station.  I don't think they were the ones who restored the building, but they did lease it after plans to turn it into a transportation center fell through.  Great food and drink with a lot of history.

Pittsburgh Line Cab Signal Overlaps and Human Factors

A recent derailment between three NS freight trains near Labrobe, PA sent me down the rabbit hole of human factors and accident prevention once again.  The derailment was the result of a restricted speed rear end collision that caused cars to derail into the path of a third opposing freight train.  Straight away I would like to point out that this sort of accident is not PTC preventable and exactly the reason  why high crash standards are important even in the face of technical safety systems.

Occurring just a few months after NS changed the Pittsburgh Line from Rule 261 wayside signaling with Cab Signals to Cab Signals without fixed automatic wayside signals I immediately suspected that the loss of visual cues from wayside signals prompted a crew to misjudge the point where Restricted speed would take effect as under the traditional wayside system an obstruction can be located one foot beyond the signal displaying Restricted Proceed.

 In theory a cab signal should change from Approach to Restricting as one crosses the insulated rail joint into the block where the cab signal code is not reaching the following locomotive.  It is standard practice for a cab signal cut to be placed some distance in advance of an absolute signal, dropping the cab to restricting in time for a train Approaching at Approach to know that an absolute stop is necessary.  I have observed SEPTA placing cab signal cuts in advance of automatic signals on the Reading viaduct, but there the signals are spaced a half mile apart so and SEPTA had plans to convert the Regional Rail Division to transit style operation anyway.  However, in doing some research I learned that Conrail had implemented this same system on its entire Pittsburgh Line with cab signal cuts between every signaling location such that a train on Approach would see its cabs drop to Restricting a mile before encountering the Stop and Proceed signal.  This feature has since been confirmed from a head end video.

New Signal Indication Point (SIP) at MP 125.3

Old unlabeled Cab Signal change point at MP 125.3

This explains why NS was creating new "Signal Indication Points" every mile along the Pittsburgh Line as part of its re-signaling project.  It wasn't increasing capacity by increasing the number of blocks, just replicating the system Conrail had already installed.  I have long wondered how Conrail would prevent rear-end accidents on its Rule 562 territory (cab signals without fixed wayside signals) as there were no mentioned in the rulebook of crews traveling on Approach being provided with a stop target (as is the case on the Union Pacific Hiawatha Sub).  It turns out that they were likely using signal overlaps the whole time.  If this practice originated with the PRR's Conemaugh Line experiment remains to be seen.

Of course when it comes to human factor's nothing is what it seems.  In a world where one's cabs stop to Restricting halfway through a block one knows to be clear until the next wayside signal, crews might not take that Restricting cab signal so seriously until passing a wayside Stop and Proceed.  Over decades of service, these habits can become ingrained, especially if rules testing fails to cover the corner case.  A feature designed to provide crews with advance warning of a track obstruction may have instead created a false sense of security and a hidden reliance on wayside signals.

Additionally, although this episode both revealed and in part confirmed the use of cab signal overlaps on former Conrail territory, it now raises further questions about how the new NS SIP system will function compared to the Conrail system of waysides and cuts.  Will the "odd" SIPs still only act as Approach -> Restricting cut points or will they be sully featured automatic signal locations that help to reduce train separation?  I guess I'll have to put my feelers out ;-)

CBTC is a Scam and the MBTA Backs Me Up

Communications Based Train Control promises higher capacity at lower costs thanks to the magic of WIRELESS TECHNOLOGY!  However almost every real world situation that makes use of it seems to wind up costing a ridiculous amount, having major reliability problems or both.  It turns out that with signaling there is no free lunch, but when faced with overcrowded subway trains, planners can't help but get seduced by those lovely braking curved.  I mean fixed block, that's so 1890, surely we can do better!

In 2016 the MBTA was conducting a capacity study for the Red Line, which currently has a somewhat anemic throughput of 13tph in the peak period.  With new rolling stock on order, the (T) would literally have more cars than it could run.  The current signaling system made use of fix block audio frequency cab signals installed in the 1980's.  This is similar to many other transit systems such as the CTA, WMATA and BART.  Of course CTBC is the to go technology for capacity expansion and the study quickly confirmed this.  Oh wait, it didn't.

• A detailed analysis assuming a moving
block CBTC system on the Red Line was completed.

• Analysis found that a CBTC system would produce
an improvement of just one train per hour beyond
the improvement from the new cars and minor
system changes.

• Major Red Line capacity improvements can be
achieved without implementing very costly CBTC. 

• Long dwell times in the downtown area and close
spacing of stations limit CBTC as much as they
limit fixed block systems.

That's right, just like the costly NYC Subway L Train CBTC system only increased capacity by 2 trains per hour, applying CTBC to the Red Line would only improve capacity by 1 train per hour over a fixed block alternative.  Past a certain threshold capacity is limited by dwell time and the efficiency of terminal interlockings. The study also found...

• The shorter the block length, the closer the
system is to the ideal CBTC (moving block)
braking distance

• MBTA block lengths in the central subway already
average less than 500 feet (6 car trains are 416
feet long)

It's nice to see that for once a transit agency actually ran the numbers and decided that CBTC just wasn't worth it.  It turned out the best way to increase the capacity was simply to allow the new rolling stock to use updated braking curves that will result in later braking and more aggressive cab signal speed stepdowns.  Also the 1980's audio frequency cab signal system will have its components replaced with digital versions that have faster reaction time and thus allowances for less conservative block progression. 

The Alstom GM4000 - It's a Fake!

Excuse the click-bait-y title, but I just discovered something the other day that I wanted to bring to everybody's attention.  In North America there are effectivly two families of electric point machines,  The Union Switch and Signal M3 family and the General Railway Signal Model 5 Family.  You can order these in a variety of variants, single control, dual control, low profile, high profile, etc.  These two families have been around for so long that in the case of the M3 a variety of third parties are offering legit off-brand examples at a lower price point and without the US&S trademark.   Back in the 60's, GRS decided to get ahead of the copycats by designing a brand new point machine with a new set of associated patents and trade secrets.  Known as the Model 55, this cheap looking rectangle was relegated to North American transit systems, although it did kind of become the closest thing to a standard point machine that the UK has (so like I said, transit systems).

GRS Model 55 on the TTC's Scarborough Rapid Transit.

Needless to say the Model 55 was never very popular and even some of its enthusiastic early adopters, namely the Washington Area Metro and South Jersey's Port Authority Rapid Transit, eventually ultimately their Model 55's for US&S M3's.  I don't know why this was the case, but I suspect a lack of support was part of the reason as GRS had a new European parent in the form of Alstom and daddy Alstom was intent on making its own new M3 "killer" along with the associated patents.

Low profile US&S M3 on the NYCTA (7) Line at Queensboro Plaza

Backtracking a few decades, to take on the GRS Model 4 and GRS Model 55's electric transit switch machines, US&S had developed a low profile version of is venerable M3 because third rail shoes are a thing on transit. Basically it looks just like a regular M3 only flattened down by an inch or two.  So when the following appeared at Amtrak's rebuilt CORK interlocking in 2005, I thought they had opted for some sort of off brand low profile M3.

However something always bugged me about that shape and style and my instinct was indeed correct as that is not a low profile M3, but an Alstom GM4000A switch machine.  The spiritual successor to the GRS Model 55 and, apparently to some comments I got, just as failure prone.  Nevertheless a bunch of railroads bought GM4000s about 15 years ago and I happened to run into some of the survivors for the first time last December at Conrail's CP-JOHN in Morrisville, PA.

Outwardly presenting as a US&S low profile M3, the GM4000A is given away by having just two segments on top instead of three,  However if you check out the manual for the original model GM4000, it does indeed have the three segments.

I'm not here to speculate about why this inferior modern replacement of tried and true 1930's technology is an inferior modern replacement of tried and true 1930's technology.  That's a question for a C&S purchasing officer.  What I want people to take away is the knowledge that GM4000 family point machines are a thing, how at first glance they may resemble low profile M3's and that they might soon vanish from the scene so go take some photos while you can.  In this day and age every bit of diversity is a plus. 

PRR Main Line Signal Documentation Summary

On Nov 25th I am going to be presenting my work to document the PRR Main Line signaling between CP-HARRIS and CP-PENN at my local NRHS chapter meeting.  While the project unofficially started in 2009 and gained urgency in 2012 and beyond, the bulk of the photos were taken starting in 2014.  While I was not able to document everything I wanted to or even everything I would have been able to document assuming perfect planning I am happy with my work and I figured I should present a summary of the results here.

I will be using terms like Fully Document, Partially Document and Survey.  These mean got photos of all components of a signal location, only some of the components and then only photos from a passing train.



The Pittsburgh Line has a total of 38 Conrail era interlockings of which I was able to fully document 22, partly document 6 and survey 10.  The biggest misses were CP-TUNNEL, CP-MG and CP-SO.  CP-MARY, CP-AO, CP-JW and CP-W had all already been re-signaled to varying degrees and were simply not a priority.

The Pittsburgh Line has 82 main line signal locations of which I was able to fully document 38 with the remainder being surveyed, although when only counting position lit automatic signals I got 33 of 59.  I regrettably missed two signals on the track 3 turkey path between CP-C and CP-CONPIT entirely.  There are also 2 or 3 yard signal locations (2 at Altoona, one previously at Harrisburg) that were also missed.

  Total number of photos taken was around 14,000, including photos of trains and other Main Line infrastructure.  Remember this is just between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh and doesn't count work I have done on the Amtrak portion of the line.

The photos were compiled over 25 trips, 4 of which were surveys on Amtrak's Pennsylvanian, 2 of which I would consider failures.  There was an additional trip on a fall foliage special that allowed me to cover the Rockville wye.  The other 20 trips were of the road trip variety, two doing double duty for Buffalo Line photos.  Six were trips to Pittsburgh.  Four were trips to Clarion, PA.  Three were dedicated Altoona trips and the other seven day trips along the Middle Division, often involving the always wonderful HARRIS tower.  Arguably my first trip on this series was the one I took to ALTO tower in 2004 so that would make this a 15 year effort.

All these numbers are probably off by a few, but they are the best I can figure without a full blown audit.  I plan to do a live stream of my presentation sometime on or about Nov 22rd to practice and content and see how it goes for time (Draft presentation stream can be found here). 

Another Secret Stash of Signal and Tower Videos

It's always been interesting how few tower videos there are compared with like aircraft stuff where Youtube can not only provide videos of every approach, but also how to start up and steal most types of commercial airliner as well xD  I guess part of it was that much of the towers vanished before the smartphone revolution, but it's still interesting given how many fans are also railroaders and how it was clear since the 1980's that all the 1930's tech was going to vanish sooner rather than later. 

Sometimes it turns out that these sorts of videos may just be hiding in plain sight.  One such nondescript channel goes by the name of M. P. Hicks and contains all sorts of general VHS-quality railfan content from around the globe.  However Mr. Hicks also appears to have been a railroad dispatcher and was able to fenagle all sorts of cab rides and tower visits.  Here we see a 1990 video showing a Conrail run from Pavonia to Abrahms Yard via Arsenal.  Of course in 1990 this route had not yet been separated from Amtrak so SHORE, NORTH PHILADELPHIA, ZOO and ARSENAL towers were all manned and were controlling the movement.  Moreover, even the pure Conrail parts had vintage signaling and some closed towers were still standing, like NORRIS. 



In this video we have a METRA cab ride on the MILW-West line that ends with a visit to TOWER A-5.



In this video with no description and a completely non-rail related title, are embedded 7 minutes of footage showing the operation of an 80's vintage computerized dispatching system complete with a lamp based model board display!



Mr M. P. Hicks has scores of videos uploaded, but there isn't always a good way to find it without skimming through them all.  Of course some are explicitly labeled as cab rides like this one on the Chicago to Milwaukee MILW route that starts with a slow tour of the vintage CTC machine in the Chicago CP dispatch office.



Anyway, happy hunting and enjoy the ride :-)

Yahoo Shutting Down Yahoo Groups

For those you who who either didn't get the e-mail or don't log into their old Yahoo or Hotmail accounts anymore, Verizon, corporate parent of the internet giant formerly known as Yahoo!, announced that it is pretty much gutting the Yahoo Groups service and converting it to a a system of e-mail lists.  If you are wondering why this impacts the signaling and rail history communities it is because those groups were some of the best communities for discussing rail history and signaling  between the years 2000 and 2007 when other, more hip, venues became available. 

Not only were these groups' archives web accessible, Yahoo also provided a small amount of user file storage which was a huge deal when the only other solution was to run some sort of private message board or file store.  As part of the changeover these archives and file stores will be deleted on December 14th, so if there is any content that needs to be saved, get it now. 

While I don't think the loss of a couple hundred megabytes worth of documents and low res photos from groups such as Railroad Signaling, RailwaySignaling 2, Interlocking Towers, Block Tower and AmtrakNec will be the Internet's worst loss, these archives are an important record of the signaling discussions that took place on the adolescent web.  Most of these groups have barely been used in almost a decade and some were infiltrated by porn and other span posts as the moderators moved on.  Unfortunately, increased internet and privacy regulation has made the user uploaded content a potential source of liability and therefore it is being deleted. 

Those boards with active communities are currently looking to move to Groups.io which has a a Yahoo Group data migration system.  If you were part of one of these communities you might want to check back in to see if your group is moving and if there is anything you want to save, do it before December.

Signs! Signs! Everywhere a Sign! - Western Freight Roads

Well it's time to cross the Mississippi and get this series finished up.  Today I will be exploring the signs of the Western freight roads.  Today this would be UP, BNSF, KCS, CP (former SOO) and CN (former IC).

We'll begin with the BNSF and you can't spell BNSF without ATSF.  Spoiler, western railroads had a big thing for white signs and black lettering so most of this post is going to be discussing all the ways one can do a white sign with black lettering and in my opinion the ATSF did the best job with white signs on black letters by adding a black border to the signs and a somewhat distinctive font. In this photo below we can see an example on the BNSF Raton Sub showing a single interlocking with a free standing ATSF style sign (probably from late in the ATSF era in the 1990s, and then more plain black on white BNSF signage mounted on the relay hut.

Elsewhere on the Raton sub we see a non-black border sign with the same ATSF font.

And finally we have a BNSF standard font.

On the BN side of the house we see a similar style of free standing black on white sign using a two post support.  On certain single track territories, interlocking signs would sometimes be replaced by a station sign similar to the one seen below. 



Note the variety of fonts.

That's All She Wrote for Pittsburgh Area PLs

Previously I reported that the NS Pittsburgh Line resignaling project had been completed.  Well I can now confirm that NS has also removed the signaling on the Fort Wayne Line between CP-PENN and EAST CONWAY in addition to re-locating the interlocking at CP-WOOD at Homewood Jct, PA.  Chief amoung the casualties was the famed CP-LEETS with its pair of 3 and 4 track PRR PL gantries and pneumatic point machines :-(

If that wasn't enough the pedestals at CP-ISLE were removed and, like I said, CP-WOOD was relocated about a mile to the west and rebuilt as a simple crossover without any secondary track connection.

Anyway, if you are looking for PRR position lights in Pennsylvania, you pretty much need to look elsewhere, like Ohio or Long Island.