CSX Demolishes New Hampshire's Penultimate Tower

The effects of CSX's takeover of the Guilford Rail System is already becoming apparent as I have discovered that New Hampshire's second to last surviving interlocking tower, MA in Manchester, has been demolished. Never a big state for main line railroading, New Hampshire did have some fairly robust Boston and Maine infrastructure in the Merrimack River Valley between Nashua and Concord. The B&M had a thing for placing towers at the end of yards and had such towers in the cities of Manchester and Concord.  Both towers were low level brick and concrete "cabin" types built around 1944 to the same plan and designed around a unit lever (CTC style) console and associated local relays.

B&M MA(nchester) Tower, just visible behind the tree line at center left.

CSX's chosen victim was MA tower in Manchester, which is especially vexing because as you can see in the photo above, I had been a stone's throw away taking photos of the deactivated remains of CPN-28 in October, 2022, only becoming aware of the tower's existence after I got home. I had plans to re-visit the area, but had not been able to put them into effect by the time the tower was demolished in May of 2024. Luckily a local urban explorer visited the tower in February, 2024. According to a history published by the Boston and Maine Historical Society, the tower first gained CTC control of the entire New Hampshire Route Main Line in the 1950's before closing entirely in 1974.



In a bit of good news, the tower in Concord had been identified some years ago by local preservationists who are currently involved in its restoration. The story behind the preservation effort is told in the video below. Unless something has been overlooked it is believed to be New Hampshire's last standing purpose built interlocking tower.

Once again the lesson is to be aware of your surroundings and do the research before you go on an expedition.  This was not even the first time I missed something in Manchester as in the fall of 2020 I had failed to get photos of CPN-28 before it was taken out of service despite performing a historic walking tour just a half mile away.