SEPTA to Retire Rt 100 Stop Request Signals?

 A unique operating practice on one of the last true Interurban lines may be on the chopping block because as of December 8th, the passenger operated stop request signals are being taken out of service with cars now required to approach every station prepared to stop.  This may simply be a temporary measure due to COVID related ridership declines, but we will have to wait until the crisis ends to see. 

The system works as follows.  Passengers on the platform are prompted to press this button to stop train.

This illuminates a single unit Safetran CRS-20 signal located at the end of the platform with either a white or lunar light.  Trains scheduled to make a station stop will look for this light and will make a station stop if it is lit.

The really clever part of the system is how the light is canceled.  Instead of using the track circuit or some unreliable sensor, a short section of third rail is provided under the platform.  Normally isolated from the traction current, when a train passes through the station the opposite third rail shoe will touch the isolated rail and energize it, tripping a relay and extinguishing the stop request lamp.

With low ridership due to COVID, trains could have been running far ahead of schedule and SEPTA might simply be looking for a way to slow them down.  However, it is more likely that the system was deemed to have outlived its usefulness and presents a significant maintenance item in an age of budget cuts.  The system probably only saved a few minutes over the course of a trip and may have confused new or infrequent riders.  Also, with smartphones giving arrival time info, trains that ran ahead of schedule could have been angering riders when trains arrived before the time indicated on their phones.

Regardless of the reason, its yet another instance of service being degraded from what was achievable during the "analogue era" of yesteryear. 

The Last New Old Stuff

Typically this blog tends to cover the last examples of one type of signal or tower or whatever.  As I have traveled around a different, yet related question has come up.  What is the last time some form of classic signaling or signaling equipment was installed new.  Now, I know there are many situations where isolated examples of old tech are refurbished and thrown in as a like for like replacement due to a sudden failure.  I am talking about identifying the last time someone opened a catalogue and picked out an older piece of equipment for a brand new project.  This is interesting as it can create an awareness of when a certain technology or feature might ultimately age out.

Now, I don't have rock solid evidence for most of the following examples, but I am fairly confident in many of them.  If any of you have better information please let me know and I'll make a followup post.  I am also keeping this limited to North American, or possibly just United States railroads and not transit.  

I am going to start off with candidates for the last new interlocking tower built.  Yes in theory nothing would be stopping the construction of new towers in the future, but I think the likelihood of that is pretty low. If we limit ourselves to traditional style, stand alone interlocking towers, I would put my money on HAROLD tower in Sunnyside Queens.  Built in 1986 and arguably still in service I am unaware of anything newer. 

What is unless you count bridge cabins at which point we have the LIRR's LEAD movable bridge built in 1988 and the Henry Ford rail bridge, in LA which I have some evidence of local control, which was built in 1996.  However, newest by a significant margin would be the St. Josephs Movable Bridge in  St. Joseph Michigan, which was built between 2008 and 2012.

Of course if you're willing the bend the rules a bit, the PATH installed a new World Trade Center interlocking tower around 2003 and the Staten Island Railroad built their new TOWER A at St. George in 2004.  Both are still technically railroads, although operated as rapid transit systems.

The next location wraps up three "lasts" up into one.  This would be the last "new" installation of  pneumatic point machines (not counting PATH), the last new installation TR type target signals and the last new installation of B&O CPL dwarfs.  This would be the Chicago Union Station re-signaling project of 1992 that closed HARRISON ST tower on the south end with control transferred to LAKE ST tower on the north end.  Although the CPL dwarfs were largely replaced by LED searchlights barely 10 years later, the pneumatic point machines are currently on their way out and the TR signals are going the way of the CPLs, I believe this project was the last significant use of all three.

Although the interlocking was always pneumatic, it's clear the 1992 project purchased all new parts and components, including pipelines.  Like the super power steam of the 1940's, this air plant used the most modern techniques and materials.

The style TR signals appear to be made from some sort of corrosion resistant metal.

CPL dwarfs were also installed at CNW's LAKE ST as drop in semaphore replacements, but like I said that was not a new project and doesn't count. Speaking of B&O CPL,s when was the last time such signals were used in a new project?  That would be the 1992/3 CTC projects on the CSX Metropolitan and Capitol subdivisions running out of Washington, DC.  These projects, partly funded by the state to increase MARC service, were immediately before the decision was made to switch the former B&O lines to color light signaling, with Viaduct Jct in Cumberland, MD being one of the first examples. I have a 1992 photo of the new CPL's going up on the Met Sub and of course Greenbelt Station and its CPL signaled pocket tracks entered service in 1993.

How about PRR position lights?  Well the last large project to use US&S PL-3 type position light lamps was the Secaucus Connection and Newark International Airport Stations on Amtrak's NEC in the 1999-2003 time frame.  From then on the PL-3 was dropped from the catalogue and Amtrak went to Safetran position light assemblies, which continue to be installed new to this day.

Alright, let's go a bit more mundane and look at the GRS D Type color light signal employed by the Southern Railway amoung others.  The latest major project I am aware of involving D Types was the NJT M&E re-signaling that wrapped up in the 1983/84 time frame.  After that the market quickly went to Safetran CLS-10 and CLS-20 signals.  I am pretty sure NJT was the last as the Southern had a number of split CLS-10 and CLS-20 mast locations on the Southern Main which would have been installed in the 84-86 timeline before left hand signals were allowed. 

For US&S H series searchlights there are a number of good candidates such as the 1986 Amtrak Springfield Line re-signaling, however I think the last H-2/5 searchlight project was the ATSF San Bernardino Sub re-signaling which I think took place in the early to mid 1990's, judging by the construction of the aluminum signal structures. 

I'm definitely going more out on a limb here because there is all sorts of stuff I can't properly investigate up in Canad, but the San Bernardino Sub US&S searchlights have a good claim as the last major install.  Moving to the GRS Model SA searchlights I have even less evidence, however a solid floor is the Conrail re-signaling of CP-HARRIS with SA searchlights in 1992.  If I had to choose something, I would probably choose the Guilford Rail System's Freight Main Line which appears to have gotten a post-1986 makeover, but I do not have high confidence, especially with Canada is taken into consideration.

If I had to speculate on the US&S N series color light signals and their associated "elephant ear" backings I would look to CSX in the late 1990's.  Both CSX and the RF&P installed new N series signals in the 1986-1992 time frame with CSX's Abbeville Sub being a specific example from the 1980's.  I really don't have enough information to go beyond there, however CSX did install some new elephant ear backings with US&S modular color lights on the A Line and on the old RF&P between RO and AF interlockings.  Regrettable, the latter were removed after just a decade of service with the AF rebuild and VRE/Amtrak Alexandria capacity expansion project of the early 2000's.

Well this is what I've been able to come up with for now.  If you have any requests for the "last new" install of something I'll give it a noodle, but be aware that I just don't have comprehensive information for the south, west and Canada.

Adjustments at Selkirk (CP-SK)

 Although the CSX routes east of Selkirk Yard in Upstate New York appear to be holding on to their Conrail style signaling, the same might not be true for their Conrail era signals.  CP-SK, the major interlocking at the east end of Selkirk Yard, was re-signaled late in the Conrail era and largely survived various re-signaling schemes in its vicinity.  Some of the Conrail signals were replaced, however the majority remained intact.  A few weeks ago new Darth Vader masts appeared at the east and southern ends of the interlocking for reasons unknown.  However Conrail signals at the west end appear to be unaffected.

Before

After

Not sure what the ultimate plan is, but I might need to stop by again after I had already visited the plant in 2019, to tie up some loose ends.

MG Tower Update w/ Photos

 A few months ago I posted about the impending demolition of AR and MG towers on the PRR Main Line Allegheny summit.  While I believe the more accessible AR tower was indeed demolished, the demolition of MG is on hold due to the remoteness of the location.  After the tower was no longer needed for air compression and 100hz power conversion after the interlocking was re-signaled in 2019, NS crews went about removing anything of value, leaving the tower open to the environment. 

MG Tower in 2018

Although MG is heavily patroled by NS police to deter railfan activity (MG, with its tower and PRR signals was a very popular photo location), a railroader and friend of the blog sent me some interior photos they were able to obtain on a visit in the October/September time frame, which contain some interesting revelations.

The all brick tower was built in 1943/44 as part of a WW2 capacity improvement program to install an extra crossover on the East Slope. MG stands for "Mid-Grade".  It's robust construction fended off the demolition and fires that befell the mostly wooden towers between Harrisburg and Altoona.

Here we can see what I believe is some of the old power equipment that would convert 60hz utility power to 100hz railroad power.  When I visited AR I noticed that this equipment was still in service and as both towers were closed and re-interlocked around 1994 I would suspect the power board seen above was in service through 2019.

Unlike most other PRR Main Line towers, MG had an external stairway which has since been removed or fallen down.  Therefore my agent was unable to verify the presence and condition of the Model 14 interlocking machine and other equipment on the operator's level.  Here on the ground floor we can see racks for the 1940's vintage plug in style relays, which were a step up from the shelf relays still employed by the PRR in the 1930's.

The Conrail era CP-MG relay hut is also still present and open to the environment.  The real surprise here is that this 1994 vintage interlocking appears to be relay based, using the same plug in style relays employed in MG tower some 50 years before.  While I am sure there were some modern/solid state components, the mid-90's was well into the era of microprocessor controlled interlocking technology that would eliminate most glass case railroad relays.  While the mid-80's signaling that went in between Harrisburg and Altoona was clearly relay based, I am surprised that Conrail would not have been faster in its embrace of solid state.