PHOTOS: LANDIS - The PRR Main Mine's Forgotten "Tower"

One might wonder how the electrified PRR Main Line could have an interlocking tower somehow more "forgotten" than the small booth that occasionally managed the emergency crossovers at LEAMAN, but it did and that forgotten tower also began with the letter L. LANDIS tower, in Landisville, PA, was always a stepchild of an interlocking forced on the PRR by the rival Reading Company by means of the Reading and Columbia Branch.  This was a forked "milk run" line connecting Reading (via Sinking Spring) to Ephreta, Columbia and Lancaster. The Lancaster fork was ultimately integrated into the west end of CORK interlocking, crossing the main line via crossover switches and the Columbia Branch via diamonds. The Columbia fork met the PRR Main Line about 8 miles to the west at Landisville and, due to the lack of any existing infrastructure, the diamond managed to justify its own interlocking tower, built and operated by the PRR.

Given the telegraph code NV, a square wooden tower was built in 1902 in the contemporary PRR style exemplified by the preserved LEMO tower at Strausburg. 

This tower lasted into the post war period, its Victorian aesthetic somewhat in conflict with the electrification infrastructure. In this photo one can see the Reading alignment complete with Reading style US&S color light signals in a target configuration. Also note the Reading freight station which in this photo is partly obscuring the PRR Landisville freight station behind it. 

Based on the 1962 interlocking chart it can be surmised that the old NV tower was taken out of service around 1953 with the block and interlocking station moved into the old PRR freight house. Here the part-time operator would work the crossing as needed using a 5 lever US&S table type interlocking machine. Each main track had a pair of signals controlled by a single lever in the US&S fashion. The Reading was controlled by lever 1, the PRR levers 6 and 8. The Reading signals could display Stop, Clear and Restricting in both directions. The PRR signals had a full ABS head with a Stop and Proceed marker with the current of traffic and a dwarf with Restricting and Sop against. The Reading track had split point derails on either wide of the diamonds controlled by lever #4 and the PRR had a hand throw trailing point crossover unlocked by lever 5. The last detail of note was an 'E' marker on the eastbound PRR track which would illuminate if the dragging equipment detector near milepost 79 were activated.



As of 1954 LANDIS was listed in the timetable as an Interlocking Station open part time from 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM daily except Sundays and holidays. By 1971 this had changed to 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Daily except Saturdays, Sundays and Holidays. Ultimately the Conrail merger of 1976 would prove fatal to the diamond crossing at LANDIS as the Reading branch line was no longer providing "competition" in the Lancaster market and Conrail trains based out of the PRR Lancaster yard could serve what on line customers remained. Therefore the diamonds were removed, the "tower" was closed, the milepost 74 ABS signals replaced the controlled signals on the PRR Main Line and a PRR freight delivery track was repurposed into a new connection to the ex-Reading branch towards Columbia, PA.

Like many legacy railroad structures along the Amtrak RoW, the freight station version of LANDIS was boarded up and left to become somebody else's problem. 50 years later the building still stands in decayed-yet-reasonable condition.

Similar to the Reading's old Chester Creek Drawbridge, the 5-lever US&S "table interlocking machine" is still present in the operator's area, albeit in a stripped down condition. Similar to the single story PARK tower, the windows were covered over with high security wire mesh.

The "table interlocking machine" was a modular platform for very small interlockings up to about 10 levers. Each module contained a standard US&S bell-crank type "lever" and was could interface with both mechanical and electro-magnetic interlocking components. At LANDIS the lever modules have been removed, but the robust metal base remains in place.

For comparison here is a similar table interlocking device set up in NORTH PHILADELPHIIA tower as an auxiliary to the main US&S EP machine.

We can see that the LANDIS machine had a US&S/S&F style mechanical locking grid as well as make/break circuit spindles.

As an interlocking station the operator was provided with a full telecom suite mounted just outside of the bathroom nook.

An old relay hut sits across the tracks, although it is hard to tell what era it came from, Amtrak, PRR or PC.

LANDIS continued on as an ABS signal location until the mid-2000's Rule 562 re-signaling. Today only those with a knowledge of PRR Main Line history, or a sharp eye for abandoned rights of way, would notice that something had once gone on here.

Just goes to show that while many old towers have been demolished, a few are still hiding in plain sight.