EAST (and WEST) BRIDGE JCT Tower Closes

In a somewhat surprising bit of bad news, EAST BRIDGE JUNCTION interlocking tower closed a week or two ago.  Operated by the New Orleans Public Belt at the east end of the Huey P. Long bridge in New Orleans, EAST BRIDGE JCT contained a GRS Model 5 pistol grip style interlocking machine and had been mirrored by WEST BRIDGE JCT up until a few years ago when that tower was also closed.  The loss of these two towers, combined with the recent closure of LENOX near St. Louis is a major blow to main line electro-mechanical interlocking.

East Bridge Jct at Night in 2015

And in daylight.

Although in this day and age no classic tower closure should be a surprise, the demise of the two BRIDGE JCT towers has surprised me.  Both were operated by a publicly owned railroad and not only are public railways typically strapped for capital improvements, the NOPB lacked any sort of main line or need for a dispatching center, making tower control less of a waste.  The towers were also located in the American capitol of corruption and their staffing and maintenance requirements provided a good number of patronage jobs.  As you can see the towers were well appointed with external stairways, roofs and lighting.  If Hurricane Katrina couldn't kill them I figured that nothing could, however I Union Pacific did some wheeling and dealing to get the towers closed and placed under the control of their own dispatchers :-(

West Bridge Jct in 2015