Inside WINSLOW Tower: Then and Now

If there was a moment where I got into railroad signaling, it would be in the fall of 1998 when I quite literally got "into" railroad signaling. While being dropped off at South Jersey's Winslow Jct for the purpose of completing a 20 mile hike for a Boy Scout merit badge requirement, I noticed that one of the omnipresent plywood panels securing the lower level of WINSLOW tower had been removed. Scrambling inside I was presented with a trove of wonders that forever whet my appetite for the age of relay technology. I luckily had a 35mm film camera with me and was able to take a few photographs, but with my plan for the day already set, I only had about 10 minutes to get my fill. Although I had the motivation and opportunity to return, I as busy with school and kid stuff and by whatever time I did go back the tower had been re-secured. 

For the next two decades I would periodically check up on the tower, waiting for locals to break back in so I could follow up with more photos. It was only in 2023 that I was provided with a do over and lets just say, things were quite different. While I've covered South Jersey's WINSLOW tower and the ghostly remains of the interlocking plant on this blog before, today we will explore the interior with two groups of my own photos photos taken 25 years apart, with some additional insights provided from a 2003 urbex visit and photos from when the tower was still in service. 

If you are not familiar with WINSLOW (aka WINSLOW JCT), please check out my previous coverage to get a better idea of its history and layout. to summarize, WINSLOW was built in 1934 as part of the Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines merger to PRR specifications with a brick tower, bay window and a US&S Model 14 electro-pneumatic interlocking plant. The tower was in service until 1983 when the NJDoT seashore services, run under contract by Conrail, were discontinued due to lower ridership and rapidly declining track conditions. The final service level consisted of 3 peak direction round trips to Atlantic City and 1-2 round trips to Ocean City and Cape May. When the tower closed the signals were turned and remained in place until Amtrak showed up to rebuild the line about 5 years later. 

When I first got into WINSLOW it was about a decade into its second act as a radio repeater base for NJT operations on the line. A small lattice radio mast had been build against the north side of the tower and the upper story windows were still intact and letting in light. Towers serving in useful capacities as relay huts or crew bases is one of the more common factors behind their not getting demolished. 

 
On the ground floor, the relay racks and associated relays had been removed, however the cabling that fed the US&S Model 14 interlocking machine on the operator's floor was largely still in place. From the look of it, one can see why so many old tower had their own regular maintainer that under the old system of inefficient railroad employment, could be in the position for many years.

When I visited in 1998 I don't remember much of anything in the ground floor, but in the 2003 urbex photo we can see that it was being used for general storage. I recall being informed by a Southern Railway of NJ employee mentioned that they had access to the tower, but I can't confirm if the items being stored were theirs or not.

There is a single flight of stairs along the rear wall connecting the relay room to the operator's floor. I could not tell if the relays were caged off or not as this was the typical practice to prevent operators from being tempted to tamper with the interlocking equipment to "fix" certain problems. In the 2003 photos we can see shelf style relays on the stairs, but I did not recall seeing any in 1998.

Heading up the single flight of stairs to the operator's level revealed something unexpected, a false wall built lengthwise across the room with a door in it. 

The false wall had the unfortunate effect of blocking the view of the original PRR pattern model board, expect for a small bit at the top. I also managed to get a tight angle photo in from the side that came out pretty well all things considered. 

The model board matches its final appearance from the mid-1960's through to 1983 where the main lines to Atlantic and Ocean cities were both single track manual block. 

What really blew my mind back in the day was the presence of WINSLOW's 27 lever US&S Model 14 interlocking machine. Until this point I had never physically seen one or even known what one was. While some of my railroad books had contained pictures of specifically PRSL Model 14's, the fact that they didn't look like the classic armstrong type lever frame made it hard to intuit what that strange box thing in the photo was until I literally stumbled upon one and it all clicked, despite the lever cranks had all been removed.

Here is the WINSLOW machine as it appeared in service. 

Various panels were open, but it hadn't been badly stripped.

The rear was also open showing off the full suite of locking magnets. The rear space had also been piled high with documentation, which was evidently still there in 2003. In 1998 I managed to recover the complete interlocking logic and wiring diagram that was sitting there in a bundle.

 

So why the false wall? Well as you can see in the Model 14 photo above, the operator's space had been converted into space for the radio equipment with components both on top of the Model 14 and in front of it on the floor. All these components likely did better with climate control, thus the false wall to create a small enough space for a room-sized heater or cooler.

In 1998 the windows of the operator's level were still intact, however by 2003 they had been knocked out by local vandals. When I arrived the operator's desk and chair were still there and I immediately regretted not grabbing said chair.

By 2005 WINSLOW had been secured again, but over the years the windows would continue to take damage and by 209 the first small graffiti tags appeared on the front. By 2015 the tags had largely covered the front and in 2019 new ivy green boards appeared on window bay. 2019 would also see the retirement of whatever radio equipment had been inside the tower with new equipment huts going in with both voice and PTC related equipment 

2007

2009

2015

2019

It was in 2023 that I discovered that the tower had become accessible again and eagerly ventured inside to get photos of all the stuff I had seen in 1999.

2023

The ground floor had been completely cleaned out with all vestiges of the wiring and relay racks removed.

What greeted me on the upper floor was even more surprising. The Model 14 interlocking machine and associated false wall had both been removed. Equipment cases for the radio gear was still present, yet had been generally stripped, yet were somehow still powered with a single bare fluorescent lamp lighting the room.

It was hard to tell when the Model 14 was removed, as checking my external indications revealed no obvious changes prior to 2019, however the operator's desk (and chair) were also removed.

The bathroom door was intact, although the bathroom space was empty.

The old PRSL telecom PBX was also generally intact. Despite scavengers having gone over the entire tower, the valuable lead acid backup batteries had been left behind.

A cheat sheet for the various phone circuits available to the operator was written inside the PBX door. These included such PRSL favorites as TUCKAHOE, BROWN, ATL(ANTIC) and CENTER towers as well as the remote interlocking KIRK.

While leaving the batteries, the more recent telecom gear had been stripped. Bell lines were and are generally used to back haul the railroad radio voice channels.

On my way back down the internal steps I captured these interesting lighting effects.

It's hard to believe that WINSLOW tower is 90 years old and for 75 of those years it was out in the middle of the pinelands serving an active railroad purpose. With the decline of the Southern RR of NJ it is unlikely that anything will be done with the structure in the near term, but perhaps if the preservation oriented SMS Lines gets involved they might do something creative.