Amtrak's Q and R Towers Close For Good

 Signaling control for the Pennsylvania Railroad's massive 1910 Penn Station project consisted of 10 block and interlocking stations. Towers N and S (later HUDSON) managed traffic at Manhattan Transfer, W (later PORTAL) handled the Hackensack River swing bridge, A, KN (B?), C and JO (D?) controlled Penn Station proper, F managed the eastern approaches and, R and Q controlled either end of Sunnyside Yard. N went first as Manhattan Transfer was consolidated into HUDSON interlocking in the early 1930's. The four Penn Station towers and F were replaced by the Penn Station Control Center in 1994 with PORTAL closing soon after due to the Midtown Direct project. When HUDSON closed in 2003 it brought an end to the era of main line towers on the Pennsylvania Tunnel and Terminal railroad, but R and Q soldiered on at either end of Sunnyside Yard. 

In the early 2000's the 1910 R was re-signaled and the 1910 tower was demolished to make room for an Acela maintenance facility. Still, the complexity of the Sunnyside Yard operations still required the use of local operators, who were relocated into the yardmasters office in the Acela building to run the interlocking through a video interface. Around this time both Q and R were reclassified as "switching centers" to alleviate Amtrak of various regulatory requirements associated with main line interlockings. 

 

While the operator at R was playing video games in an office, Q kept going with its original US&S Electro-Pneumatic interlocking machine from 1910. Similar to the machine in ALTO and NORTH PHILADELPHIA, the Q machine was likely to be the last pre-Model 14 in active service in North America. Unfortunately, as early as 2015 one began to see the replacement of pneumatic A-5 point machines with electric M3's and by the early 2020's new relay cabinets were popping up all over. In 2024 I got word that the 1910 Q machine had been retired, the operator switched over to a video display like R, and just now I was sent these this Amtrak bulletin order taking both R and Q out of service and replacing them with the new Section S dispatcher in the PSCC.
 

Why this is happening now when long term closures of each of the four East River Tunnels are likely to complicate Sunnyside Yard operations is unknown. It could be that the Q re-signaling project was completed and found to be in working order and moving to PSCC was always part of the plan. Or it could be that Amtrak was having issues managing the two remote yard towers when everyone else except said towers were in the same room. If new productivity tools allow a single dispatcher to do the work of two or more operators (especially if they lack a clear view of the yard) remains to be seen.