PHOTOS: Inside SEPTA's Last Towers

Over the last 20 years North America has seen the virtual extinction of "Paper Dispatching", the practice of railroad dispatchers being totally reliant on field tower operators as their eyes and ears. Operators report movements to dispatchers, dispatchers mark down train progress and inform the operators of any necessary changes. Depending on the railroad the dispatchers and operators may have more or less authority and in others the while two level hierarchy may not exist at all. Anyway, in this time period there has only been one rail system that I am aware of that went from Tower controlled to Dispatcher controlled in one fell swoop and that would be Philadelphia's commuter railroad SEPTA. 

Founded as an umbrella funding organization in the 1960's, for its first decade and a half SEPTA contracted with the legacy carriers Penn Central and Reading and later the government supported Conrail that emerged from the bankruptcies of both predecessors, to provide service on the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad's vintage electrified suburban districts. The PRR side of the house was generally worked on the interlocking tower system with single towers controlling one or a few adjacent interlockings. The Reading on the other hand developed a taste for CTC schemes controlled by panels within existing towers. In the mid-1980's a series of events would combine to create SEPTA's unique tower culture. First, Conrail was forced to pull out of contract suburban operation in favor of direct operation by SEPTA. Second, SEPTA completed construction of the Center City Commuter Tunnel that linked the PRR and Reading networks, eliminating the stub terminals and third, SEPTA built the brand new Airport Line along with a number of "state of good repair" projects like the rebuilding of the Reading trunk line and improvements to the West Chester and Chestnut Hill West lines.

The result was that all of SEPTA's rails were controlled from 7 interlocking towers. The first two, WIND and WAYNE, were co-located within the old Reading WAYNE tower building at Wayne Jct and consisted of two 1960's vintage CTC panels that not only controlled practically all of the Reading suburban network, but also parts of Conrail freight lines due to the shared Reading System heritage. The next two, BROAD and MARK, were built as part of the Commuter Tunnel Project and replaced two large Model 14 legacy terminal plants with modern N-X panels. The next two, MEDIA and CHESTNUT HILL (WEST), were direct PRR legacy towers that controlled terminal operations on the West Chester and Chestnut Hill West lines with their original interlocking equipment. Finally A TOWER was constructed new in 1985 to control the Airport Line with a contemporary unit level panel.

Beginning our tour at Wayne Junction, WAYNE tower was the most traditional of SEPTA's diverse rail control locations being located inside the former Reading WS tower, a 1920's era Model 14 powered facility that controlled the double junction between the New York/Bethlehem main line, Chestnut Hill East branch and Tabor Branch freight link. Unlike the PRR, the Reading wasn't afraid of new technology and in 1965 it implemented a wide-scale CTC project that consolidated control of its Suburban network inside WS/WAYNE tower. (Note, by CTC I mean remote interlocking control as there was only a limited amount of actual Rule 261/CTC operation in this territory.) In the tower the old Model 14 machine was supplanted by two high end General Railway Signal NX panels installed in adjacent corners of the operator's floor.

Operator lines a route at 16TH ST JCT on the WAYNE panel in 1991.

Other half of the WAYNE panel in 1991.

This gave rise to WAYNE Towers's unique "Two Towers in One" layout with the "WAYNE" panel and operator controlling everything between 16TH ST JUNCTION at the top of the Viaduct to TABOR JCT (Fern Rock) on the Main Line and the Fox Chase branch (via Newtown Jct and Cheltenham Jct). The WAYNE panel saw one major alteration with the "south" end of the panel being extended to accommodate the insertion of the new HUNT interlocking and reconfiguration of WAYNE interlocking to support the mid-80's opening of Robert's Yard. Compare the above and below photos to the original 1965 configuration (NSFW).

 

South end of the WAYNE panel in 1994

North end of the WAYNE panel in 1994

The second panel and its operator was known as WIND and was interesting for not only being a virtual tower located about 6 feet away from the WAYNE panel, but also not actually controlling an interlocking named WIND. WIND's territory was everything north of Tabor Junction including the R5 route from Jenkintown to Doylestown, the R2 to Warminster, the old New York Branch/R3 to Woodbourne and even the previously signaled Stony Creek Branch to Norristown. WIND also had control of the New York Short Line that would become the Conrail Trenton Line north of Cheltenham Jct which included a single controlled siding and various joint interlockings between Neshaminy Jct and Woodbourne. 

WIND panel 1991 with WOOD interlocking and Fairless Branch.

Between 1991 and 1993 the first state of the Conrail SEPTAration began with a re-signaling and track re-alignment project on the Trenton Line transferring control of Conrail trains between CP-CHELTENHAM JCT and CP-WOOD (exclusive) to the Conrail dispatcher. You can see in the following 1994 photo of WIND how the north end of the old New York Branch has been deleted off the panel as an active element. 

WIND panel in 1994 w/ WOOD interlocking etc blanked out.

SEPTA's WIND would retain control of both CP-WOOD and gain control of CP-TRENT after TRENT tower's closure in 1994. Unfortunately my photos do not reveal the method of control, but it would most likely be a computer terminal seeing as how CP-WOOD and CP-TRENT was re-signaled to 90's Conrail standards. The only remaining portion of the Reading Suburban network I have yet to cover is the Norristown terminal area that was originally controlled from a CTC panel in NORRIS tower. NORRIS tower closed some time after 1988 and by 1994 the CTC panel had appeared in WAYNE tower (likely under purview of the WAYNE operator). A 1991 photo shows a non-operable mimic board installed in the tower which may have operated to inform the WAYNE operator of R6 terminal movements before NORRIS closed. 

1991 Norristown area minic board.

 

1994 Norristown area CTC panel.

If you were wondering how two operators could handle all the train movements on the Reading side of the SEPTA network on an NX panel without any form of automated train labeling, I was told that at peak times each "tower' each would support at least two panel operators working in a non-socially distanced manner. Based on the recollections of a visitor, it was also likely that the physical WAYNE tower operation included a train director to call some routes and handle communications with the SEPTA dispatchers. By the turn of the 21st century SEPTA WIND and WAYNE had a very distinct presence on the scanner scene with their VHF transmissions registering loud and clear at least 10 miles distant in South Jersey. It was a truly modern rail dispatching operation in all but name.

MARK tower panel.

Looping through Center City, the next tower encountered on the SEPTA trunk was MARK. Part of the Market East station complex, I believe it was located somewhere around the ticket counter / station master's office on the east end. MARK arguably replaced the 111 lever Model 14 RACE ST interlocking plant that controlled the Reading Terminal complex. The Center City Commuter Tunnel shows the gross inefficiency of stub terminals as a the 13 track Reading Terminal complex was able to be replaced by 4 through tracks. MARK "tower" consisted of a US&S unit lever panel in an office controlling VINE, a 4-track full crossover hear the north end of the tunnel, and MARK, an interlocking without any appliances (aka switches, derails, etc) that spanned the length of the Market East station platforms. It did not control the adjacent JUNIPER interlocking located between Market East and Suburban station on tracks 2 and 3. MARK opened in 1984 with the closure of Reading Terminal.

BROAD tower center panel with 20TH ST and SCHUYLKILL interlockings.

BROAD tower south panel with WEST interlocking.

The PRR's BROAD tower was an underground facility with a 135 Lever Model-14 interlocking machine built in 1927 in conjunction with the Suburban Station project. In the 1980's SEPTA needed to re-construct the Suburban Station platforms to support the new Center City Tunnel and they took the opportunity to re-signal BROAD's territory and the tower with a new US&S panel facility that controlled 6 logically split remote interlockings, JUNIPER, SUBURBAN, BROAD, 20TH ST, SCHUYLKILL and WEST.

BROAD Tower, WALNUT panel.

BROAD Tower, ARSENAL panel.

BROAD tower CANE panel.

BROAD also wound up with control of the "Maryland Division" interlockings not under Amtrak's Purview. These included WALNUT, a new crossover located between 30th St and University City stations, ARSENAL, the junction of the SEPTA Airport Line and the West Chester Line, and CANE, a mid-point crossover on the West Chester Line in Secane, PA. ARSENAL had previously been a PRR/Amtrak tower serving a similar function as ZOO at the southern end of the 30th St Station complex. However the Airport Line project allowed for the construction of PHIL interlocking a bit further to the south allowing for separation of traffic duties at the former ARSENAL location.

Media station in 1996 with MEDIA tower near the camera with PC interlocking station sign.

Continuing down the West Chester Line, a 1980's re-signaling and CTC project somehow managed to avoid closing of MEDIA tower located inside the west end of the Media, PA station building. Open full time, the tower had some kind of traditional machine that I have neither a photo nor description of. However I do have a photo of the model board showing a full crossover and yard access. MEDIA also controlled a number of holdout signals in the Elwyn area that eventually became the terminus of the line in the late 80's after service to West Chester was suspended. Prior to that point MEDIA was also in charge of the manual block operation between Elwyn and West Chester.

MEDIA model board.

MEDIA traction power switchboard on the last day of operation in October 1996.

MEDIA tower operator's desk.

If I had to guess I would say that MEDIA was a small Model 14 machine or a bunch of table interlocking units. The MEDIA tower was also equipped with a local control electrification switchboard that likely contributed to its longevity. These photos were actually taken on the last day of MEDIA's operation in October 1996 when it and the Elwyn interlockings were re-signaled and made remote to a panel in BROAD tower.

CHESTNUT HILL WEST table interlocking machine.

People tend to assume that the interlocking at Chestnut Hill West was controlled from the tower currently labeled as "AUSTIN", however the original tower was closed during the PRR era with operations being moved to a small table interlocking machine inside the station building. SEPTA subsequently applied the AUSTIN name to the disused tower building honor some employee but it works well enough to distinguish the old tower from the newer "tower". Similar to Media in that it controlled the terminal interlocking of a PRR suburban line, the CHESTNUT HILL interlocking machine consisted of 4 US&S table type interlocking modules, two for two pairs of signals and two for two pairs of switches as well as a thumb latch controlled pair of power derails. The derails were necessary due to the sharp grade of the terminal tracks creating a runaway risk. CHESTNUT HILL WEST was actually an agent-operator position with the station agent both selling tickets and working the interlocking machine. The tower was closed and the interlocking partly re-signaled some time after 2000 with control being temporarily passed to A TOWER.



In the spirit of 1980's SEPTA, A TOWER was constructed new to control the new Airport Line that was kitbashed from number of existing freight routes and connecting tracks to provide half hourly service between Philadelphia International Airport and Center City. Resembling a sewage pump station the squat cinder block building was located off Eastwick Ave near 60th St and supported a unit lever panel machine along with various SEPTA maintenance activities. 

A TOWER panel.

In what I can only assume was an overblown attempt to copy the Reading Railroad's British affectation, A TOWER's territory consists entirely of Junctions distributed between 5 interlockings. From north to south the Airport Line features 60TH ST JCT NORTH, 60TH ST JCT SOUTH, 90TH ST JCT NORTH, 90TH ST JCT SOUTH and AIRPORT JCT (which is actually just a crossover).

 

 

The panel appears to be GRS in style with unit lever control. As time went on SEPTA recognized an easy cost savings and transferred control of the stubby Cynwyd Branch and the Chestnut Hill West terminal to A TOWER. You can see the Cynwyd Line's CP-CYN indication grafted onto the extreme right hand side of the Airport Line panel. It is not clear if the operator has any control over the absolute signals that govern entrance to the branch as I believe the process functions automatically.

A TOWER CHESTNUT HILL WEST panel.

As I said control of the CHESTNUT HILL WEST terminal was transferred to A TOWER a few years before the end of tower operation. A generic looking panel on the operator's desk replaced the table interlocking machine at the Hill West station. I do not see any evidence of a MEDIA panel so the exact fate of that interlocking remains a mystery. Note the derail unit levers have red and green indicator lamps, while the crossovers use two white indicator lamps.

A TOWER operator, note the full range and oven the background.

 

A TOWER had a number of other early 2000's amenities such as beige personal computers and CRT monitors. Also provided was a CCTV display of the Eastwick infill station possibly to monitor the at-grade xing for passengers to reach the inbound track.

Sitting adjacent to the Airport Line panel's telephone concentrator and radio mic is an Amtrak CTEC feed and associated model. Prior to its replacement in the mid-2000's the original CTEC computer dispatching system that operated the Northeast Corridor could provide train status feeds to any location that needed it such as passenger stations. The Amber monochrome CRT monitors would display a listing of the next trains approaching the specific location along with a code indicating the last interlocking they had passed. As SEPTA Airport trains must interact with Amtrak territory at PHIL, the operator was provided with a CTEC display terminal. This is most likely to manage conflicts between Airport trains and SEPTA R2 Wilmington trains coming off of Amtrak as Airport movements don't conflict with NEC movements except in the rare use of the Airport Line escape track. 

SEPTA Regional Rail dispatch center at 1234 Market St HQ.

The towers might be closed, but even as late as 2013 the CRTs were still on the job.

Well that brings us to the end of our inside tour of SEPTA towers. Between 2003 and 2005 all of SEPTA's towers were closed and replaced by a set of six dispatching desks, three more than had been needed with the tower system, situated in one of the top floors of SEPTA HQ at 1234 Market St. A new computer aided dispatching system designed for mass transit usage caused an initial plunge in On Time Performance to 85% as the system's unintelligent algorithms lacked the ability to accurately prioritize routes, often assigning them on a first arrival basis as trains approached the junction in question. Although the system was improved, it has not yet reached the level of operational efficiency that the towers staffed with skilled operators were capable of.