So is CP-ROCHESTER back from the dead or is it just a zombie that NS will eventually shoot in the head. For a little context, CP-ROCHESTER in Rochester, PA was a junction of three former Conrail "Lines", the Fort Wayne Line, the Cleveland Line and the Youngstown Line. A 4-track partial crossover, CP-ROCHESTER took the 4 track Fort Wayne line in from the east and spit a 2 track Fort Wayne line sandwitching a 2 track Youngstown Line, all while the Cleveland Line branched out to the side. CP-ROCHESTER had always been a bit of a pain because it was not a 4-track complete crossover with only a complete facing ladder and two disjoint facing crossovers.
CP-ROCHESTER is as much a mix of signals as it is a mix of lines. When the old tower was closed in the 1990's, Conrail worked to re-use as much hardware as it could. The westbound PRR signal bridge with two high PL signals was retained, however 261 operation on all 4 track necessitated the old reverse direction pot signals be upgraded to Conrail special 4-lamp dwarfs (GGYR). Eastbound trains a new tubular Conrail cantilever and dwarfs and Cleveland line trains got a couple ratty looking color light masts.
Years ago NS single tracked the Youngstown Line and constructed a new CP-BRIGHT about two miles west of CP-ROCHESTER where the two main tracks could go to one. The interlocking was just a single turnout and located solely on the Youngstown Line, however this gave some people ideas and about 9 months ago CP-BRIGHT was expanded into a 4-track full crossover and the new split point between the Fort Wayne and Youngstown lines. The intention was to then remove CP-ROCHESTER except for the Cleveland Line turnouts, however this plan was postponed as dispatchers have found it exceedingly useful to store Conway Yard bound trains in the new pocket tracks created by the back-to-back interlockings. It also allows for all sorts of paralel movements.
Needless to say, CP-ROCHESTER and its Conrail/PRR heritage is still extremely endangered. I'd advise anyone in the area to get out and document it ASAP.
Fun Fact: I had always wondered why Conrail had installed GRS point machines at CP-ROCHESTER and CP-WEST CONWAY instead of their usual US&S M3 fare. However then I saw that each of the towers there had used GRS Model 2 interlocking machines, a real rarity for the Pensy.
A blog devoted to explaining the ins and outs of North American railroad signaling, past, present and future. This blog seeks to preserve through photo documentation the great diversity and technical ingenuity of 20th century signaling and interlocking hardware and technology. Related topics cover interlocking towers and railroad communications infrastructure.
Note, due to a web hosting failure some of the photos and links may be unavailable.
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Tuesday, August 15, 2017
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