Falling Signals and a Possible New Tower

It's news time again and I have a mix of good and bad news this time, which I guess is better than just all bad news.  First up the CSX re-signaling project in the Bailey's Wye area was supposed to be completed over the President's Day weekend, but do to the crazy amount of snow that schedule has slipped back until May so everyone has another month to get their final photos in.

On the other side of the Potomac it looks like NS is doing some signal replacement on the Southern Main in the VRE Zone, although the extent of the work is not quite apparent.  What I do know is that NS is replacing the northbound Southern style signal gantry at BURKE interlocking in such a manner as to improve the sight lines.   As you can see the new cantilever is about 400 feet farther away from the curve than the old signal.

BNSF is continuing to replace its lightly used searchlights in Kansas.

Perhaps the biggest tragedy is that the mystery searchlights at Eagle Bridge Junction are on track to be replaced by the Guilford Rail System's ultra cheap brand of Darth Vaders.   I had this on my list of locations to document in February, but car trouble caused me to shelve it in favor of CPF-480 (which I figured was more endangered) and it was about a week later when I saw this photo.  Yay for the bracket mast I guess.  If anyone can get out there this would be a top priority to document.

Back to the good news WILLOWS tower in East St Louis got a nice new coat of siding so you can say goodbye to the old asbestos shingles.  Inside is a super classic GRS/Taylor Model 2 interlocking machine.

Finally I believe I have located what would count as another Active Interlocking Tower on the CSX Palmetto Subdivision Gibsonton, Florida.  Like the other recent finds this one is also a bridge cabin and this one comprises a swing span over the Alafia River.  Now a trip to the timetable did not definitively prove that this cabin maintained the requisite control over local switches and signals, but it is manned 24/7, is still equipped with classic SCL signals and is not in any sort of signaled territory so I say it is likely to still have local control and be run by an operator.