New New Searchlights at Chicago Union

Amtrak's Chicago Union Station has been a haven for oddball signaling.  It's new stuff, from about 2005, consists of tri-color LED searchlights (a rarity in North America).  It's "old" stuff dates from the late 80's and consists of  US&S style TR tri-lights,  B&O CPL dwarfs and a few scattered GRS SA searchlights.  While many of the CPLs have since been replaced, the other oddball signals have hung on, that is until recently when I noticed that Amtrak appears to be standardizing on the LED searchlights in a slow, but now more steady re-signaling operation.

To begin with the combination large target US&S NR's and LED searchlights on the bracket at 21ST ST have been replaced by small target LED searchlights.

Before

After

 

Next, the 3N and 4N TR trilight signals on the northbound signal bridge for CP-ROOSEVELT have also been given the boot for small target LED's (previously many of these signals were modified with a small target LED lower head).

After

Lastly the two remaining large target searchlight signals mounted on the B&OCT viaduct as CP-LUMBER  4S and 5S have also been replaced by small target LEDs.

Before

 

After

Anyway, just a heads up for anyone passing through Chicago Union Station.  Make sure you get your photos in because there are some a-dooings a-transpiring.

Great Resource on Chicago Area Rail Junctions

From the title you might think I am here to plug the Chicago Rail Junctions website, but surprisingly I am not! The prolific Industrial Scenery blog has a "minor" section devoted to Chicago area rail junctions with all sorts of historic background and photos with maps, diagrams, Google Earth views and tower interiors. All you have to do is hit up the "towerJunction" label to get pretty much an unending supply of junction histories. 

Some of the photos are old, some of the photos are new, but a lot of them seem to be from Facebook groups that the Googable web has very little insight into.  I highly recommend this site and although Junctions are only a small part I still haven't reached the end of the archive xD

Chicago 75th Street, Western Ave and MO Videos

Not sure how I missed these gems.  Both of these videos have been on Youtube for a number of months and I am just getting to them now. The first is an old school video tour of the B&OCT 75th St tower shortly before it closed in 1996.  This was one of the last major "all mechanical" interlocking plants that even had a number of mechanically worked signals. It was located on the joint B&OCT/PRR Panhandle trunk line that snaked its way up along the western part of the city through Dolton Jct, Brighton Park, Ash Street and many other complex crossings and junctions.

By 1996, the PRR was gone, both both the Wabash and Belt Railway crossings were in place. The videos shows movements passing by the tower, but also the operator manipulating the 132 lever S&F mechanical frame. One interesting thing to note is how the facing point lock levers were stored in the unlocked position, instead of locked as seen at most other North American towers.   Make sure you have some time booked, because even at 46 minutes you'll want to watch the whole thing.



The second video is an inside tour of METRA Tower A-2 shot in 2015.   I have previously covered this tower on this blog and I was actually able to use info from the video to solve a few mysteries such as where the rundown timers were. So check out the video and feel free to check back with the Tower A-2 page on this blog for the updates.



Lastly I found some vintage clips of MO interlocking and tower in operation in a 1975/76 public information film on railroad operation.  Begining at the 8:13 mark is a segment on signaling that includes film of the big old GRS Model 5B machine being manipulated inside MO tower, along with its model board showing switch position indicators. Fancy stuff!

Bonus PHOTOS: Amtrak HARRISON ST Tower

So a few weeks ago I talked about Amtrak LAKE ST tower at Chicago Union Station and how it served as the control center for almost the entire CUS complex (excluding 21ST ST).  Well before the large US&S NX panel was moved in, control of the South Side was handled at HARRISON ST tower.  The tower was located on a pedestal above the terminal fan adjacent to the mail and express terminal just before the Post Office overbuild began. While located near the station end of the interlocking, the big Model 14 machine controlled everything from Roosevelt Ave to the bumper blocks.  In the mid-1990's the old Lumber Street hand operated switching plant near the CBQ wye was interlocked with control being placed at HARRISON ST.

Hemmed in by buildings, the best view of HARRISON ST could be obtained from the Polk Street bridge as seen below.

In the mid-1990's the old post office building was replaced by the new Cardiss Collins Processing & Distribution Center located one block to the south.  Here we can see the new USPS center seen from Roosevelt Ave.  It's the thing that looks like a parking deck.  The old post office can be seen behind it.

If you look at the first image you night notice the lower the tower is located adjacent to the terminal ladder tracks, but here that part of the interlocking has been covered over by the new post office.

Oh well, towers get demolished all the time when something needs to be built over.  After all, that is the same fate that befell LAKE ST after it had closed.  But wait, the new post office was opened around 1995 and the tower was closed in 1999.  Those dates don't seem to add up.

Actually, what happened was that the  Cardiss Collins Processing & Distribution Center was built arround HARRISON ST interlocking tower.  In fact even though it is trying hard not to be seen, HARRISON ST was right where it always has been and I have some photos taken inside of it!

First up we see the original model board, as seen above in the black and white photo.  It is painted in the same style as the model board in LAKE ST.  As you can see both the terminal fan and the quad ladders north of Roosevelt are controlled from the interlocking machine. Tracks are numbered zero through...whatever, from west to east.

Which is a sister to the machine in LAKE ST tower.  Evidence from the 1999 interlocking cutover can still be seen as the colored levers were spray painted white as they were taken out of service.  The final active levers appear to have been spared this treatment.  The whole setup is reminiscent of what happened with Tower A in New York Penn Station after it was closed in 1994.  Note how all the lever status lamps have been cannibalized for their bulbs.

In this final pic we see the interlocking machine and model board together. At this end of the machine some care was taken not to paint over the lever numbers and we can see that the machine contained at least 114.  I have never found an interlocking diagram of either this or LAKE ST in their "tower" days so you'll have to go by what can be gathered from the model board. Note one of the 1927 vintage lamp diffusers laying on the interlocking machine.

It is interesting to think that just outside those white painted windows on all four sides are the exterrior walls of the new Post Office building.  Because of its location tucked all away above busy CUS tracks and below the Post Office I expect the zombie remains of HARRISON ST to linger on for years to come.  It's a shame the same think couldn't have been done with LAKE ST.

PHOTOS: Amtrak LAKE ST Tower

It's been a while, but it is finally time to conclude my METRA Tower series by looking at a tower that wasn't METRA's at all, but played a large role in METRA operations.  This would be Amtrak's LAKE ST tower, situated (until recently) at the north end of Chicago's Union Station.  The tower was built by the same PRR/MILW/CBQ consortium that built the entire Chicago Union Station complex in the mid-1920's.  Despite its prominence I have not yet been able to locate any period interlocking diagrams or other information that could better inform my talk, but since when has that stopped me before ;-)

Built during the roaring 20's, LAKE ST exhibited all the opulence of the era with a tile roof, copper gutters and all brick construction.  During the Amtrak era is was actually upgraded with modern picture windows and ample exterior lighting.  LAKE ST was closed in 2005 after 80 years of service and then demolished in 2013 due to an overbuild project to cover the tracks with either condos or a park. Until then it was a fixture of the north side railfan scene, viewable from the adjacent Lake Street bridge and easy to work into all sorts of photo angles. This may seem like the typical story of a classic big city tower, but LAKE ST was something special and one tip off is the windows.

Like many Chicago area towers, LAKE ST was equipped with an emergency exit.

The south side of Chicago Union Station is far more complex and sees far more traffic.  With road bridges providing an unobstructed view of the action it is what people think of when they think about long distance passenger rail in Chicago.  That part of Chicago Union Station was controlled by HARRISON ST tower, an elevated affair that was eventually surrounded by the new post office building in the mid-1990s.  At the time Amtrak also embarked on a large scale re-signaling project on the south side replacing the old Model 14 machine in Harrison Street with modern relay logic and the PRR position light signals with B&O style CPL dwarfs and high color lights.

What main people failed to realize was that the north side interlocking controlled by LAKE ST was left completely untouched and moreover, control of the south side plant was moved to a large NX panel in LAKE ST tower.  Thus LAKE ST wasn't just a tower, but was the control facility for the entire Chicago Union Station complex. Thus, nice new lighting and big picture windows.

 In 2005 time finally caught up with LAKE ST as a $45 million, 2-year project to re-signal the north end finally came to fruition.  This saw the replacement of the PRR PL dwarfs with LED searchlights, the implementation of a new CANAL ST interlocking to replace what had been a number of hand throw crossovers north of LAKE ST interlocking proper and the consolidation of all Chicago signaling control into the CUS office complex.  This included the closure of Amtrak's 21ST interlocking at the southern gateway to the CUS complex as well.  The interior photos I have of LAKE ST were taken just before and then a few years after its closure.

Here we see a post closure photo the 95-lever US&S Model 14 interlocking machine originally installed in 1925.  The large number of white painted spare" levers is due to the rolling closure where successive parts of the interlocking plans were cut into the new vital logic.  At the time of its closure the LAKE ST Model 14 was down to 9 signal levers, 4 switch levers and one traffic lever.

The model board shows the layout as it originally was with 11 station tracks that fanned out from a three track main line.  9 of the tracks are stub end with 2 additional through station tracks and 1 bypass track.  Station tracks are given odd numbers as even numbered tracks are on the south side of the station.  The model board is 4-colored in accordance with Milwaukee Road practice and uses green lamps for track occupancy.  Displayed signals are not shown on the model board.  Alterations have been made with a combination of black tape and hand painted lines.  On the through tracks a number of signals that are controlled from the NX panel are indicated with the N/S suffix opposed to L/R.  A quick count indicates 7 doubleslip switches, 11 single turnouts and 5 crossovers.

 In this opposite view of the model board we can see the entrance to the interlocking at the grade crossing with Canal St.  Most of LAKE ST interlocking is located underground a block or two north of the tower itself.  The tower only had direct sight of a few hand throw crossovers near Canal St and the outer crossovers between Lake St and Randolph St.  One of the reasons for the rolling cutover was because the interlocking was not only resignaled, but also reconfigured.  Compare the model board above with a facing point ladder track, stub end track 5 and a non-circuited track passing close to the tower to the current layout below.

Here we see a parallel trailing point ladders, one of which employs a doubleslip, the other a scissors crossover between the two center tracks.  The non-circuited track has been removed leaving the single station bypass track.For a more complete view of the current interlocking layout please refer to this computerized model board of the Chicago Union Station area. 

Back inside the tower we see an odd blank patch on the interlocking machine where lever spaces 1 through 32  had been removed.  This does not appear to have been part of the re-signaling effort given the age and condition of the metal.  Looking at the model board I suspect there was some spare capacity at the lower end of the machine in addition to some of the northern part of the plant being made redundant through hand operated switches. Without lever positions on the frame I am unsure how the 16L, 18L, 20L, 24R, 26R and 28R holdout signals at Canal street were controlled.

 

 Closeup view of the levers looking down the frame towards the emergency exit door.  The bay window is to the left of the photo.  Last active lever is 94, but the frame has space for 95.

Another view of the levers this time showing the mix of 1920's and modern track lighting fixtures. 

Moving back in time to 2004 we see the tower towards the end of the re-signaling project.  The Model 14 machine is still in service, but most functions have been transferred to a pair of NX panels sitting over the blank section of the frame. The remaining part of the interlocking still controlled by the Model 14 is covered over on the panels.

PHOTOS: Brighton Park Crossing

Brighton Park Crossing appears on collections of interlocking charts, but it isn't an interlocking. It appears on lists of Chicago Rail Junctions, but it's not really a Junction either. What it was was a mess, a throwback to a time when railroading was a confusing and messy affair, a piece of living history that became a somewhat sanitized museum before vanishing into our rapidly homogenizing rail environment. Now largely remembered as unique, Brighton Park during its heyday wasn't anything special, especially in the Chicago area, but it still represents an important case study not on the history of railroad signaling and how it developed in North America.

 For those of you who don't know, Brighton Park Crossing was a non-interlocking railroad crossing at grade between the compass east-west Chicago and Alton main line, and the three parallel compass north-south main lines of the New York Central – Chicago Junction, Baltimore and Ohio Chicago Terminal and Pennsylvania Railroad Panhandle Route. There were 8 tracks crossing 2 tracks that gave the plant a total of 16 diamonds with three wye legs and a number of crossovers thrown in to boot. The obvious question is of course, how did this complex crossing between three of the richest railroads in the country stay a non-interlocked manual operation during an era when the same railroads could and did afford to make something better at other similar locations in the region. Now of course I haven't been able to turn up the exact decision making process that lead to Brighton Park's ultimate configuration, but we are in a position to make a few good guesses.

The first, and perhaps foremost reason, was that this was simply not a priority route into Chicago. For the New York Central and PRR, this was not used by the streamliners making their grand entrance into Chicago from New York, but instead something more like the service entrance used by delivery vehicles. For the NYC all this route did was act a way to interchange freight with "western" roads. For the PRR the situation was essentially the same except for a smattering of passenger trains using the "back door" at Union Station to reach such thrilling destination as Indianapolis and Cincinnati. Only for the B&O was this their primary route into a downtown passenger terminal, but the B&O had long since given up trying to compete on time with its larger rivals, instead focusing on luxury. While the crossing did affect the Alton main line, the Alton was the priority user with the Pennsylvania Railroad being responsible for maintaining the crossing protection as the Panhandle railroad was built after the Alton. However being first is not always an advantage as whatever agreement was struck with the PRR would remain in effect even if conditions later changed. If the Alton had signed off on a non-interlocked crossing and did not wish to renegotiate then a non-interlocked crossing it would stay.

As you can see Brighton Park was not the B&OCT's biggest problem in reaching downtown Chicago in a timely fashion.

The second reason is the simple fact that interlocking technology was still very expensive back in the day and a similar interlocking plant at the 4x4 75th St interlocking (aka Belt Crossing) required a 132 lever mechanical frame that was not retired until the late 1990's. Making matters worse is that diamond crossings are notoriously tricky to signal properly because you cannot use traditional track circuits over a long string of diamonds. Because diamonds are already impractical to incorporate into track circuited rail single diamonds are simply excluded from the circuit. However multiple diamonds can potentially allow cars to "hide" in the dead section so in that case a construct called a "trap circuit" must be used. This works sort of like an axle counter before such things existed and basically makes sure that a diamond is marked as "occupied" as long as the train that tripped the circuit on one side of the diamond, also trips the circuit on the other side, in sequence. Multiply the logic over 16 diamonds and 10 tracks in both directions and you have quite the headache. Furthermore Brighton Park did not stand in isolation. Similar crossings existed at Ash St (8x4), 26th St (8x1) and 12th St (7x2 + 2x5) and all would have needed to have been interlocked to realize any of the benefits. Finally, speeds on the north-south trunks were only about 20-30 mph, so having to stop and proceed at crossings did not add significantly to the schedule.

The third reason is a bit softer, but one that I believe is still a strong unconscious motivator to preserve a status quo. If Brighton Park were to be interlocked, it would become more susceptible to policy capture and with the PRR pulling the levers the other railroads preferred leaving routing decisions in the hands of low level employees instead of higher level managers. Because it was not an interlocking Brighton Park was worked by switchtenders, which is even lower on the totem pole than a tower operator. They would be out and about, in full view of the crews and even switchtenders from other railroads. In the absence of some high priority passenger train there would be strong social pressure to be as fair as possible with regard to which train was allowed through the diamonds.

So lets take a look at Brighton Park as it was in its heyday before looking at what it eventually became.  Before it was retired Brighton Park was known for its switchtender's shanty, 10 diamonds and that semaphore bracket.  Back in the day however there was not one but two primary tender shanties, four semaphore locations and and three additional tender shanties.  Of all the manual crossings on the Panhandle trunk Brighton Park was easily the most complex in terms of the train control apparatus and this was mostly because this wasn't just a simple crossing like Ash Street, but actually had some switches that needed tending.  These consisted of two western wye connections between the B&OCT and the Alton, a southeastern wye connection from the NYC to the Alton and a twin pair of facing crossovers between the Panhandle and the B&OCT.  Operation of each of these crossovers was assigned to a specific switchtender with the Alton, PRR, B&O and NYC all employing tenders at Brighton Park to throw their assigned switches.  The diagram above actually marks which switches were assigned to which tender.

Of course the mechanically operated semaphores at Brighton Park became its most iconic feature.  At the time of its closure there were 8 signals still in operation, 5 on the central bracket mast and 3 on a secondary mast in the northwest corner of the crossing.  These were directly operated from an 8 lever S&F mechanical frame via pipelines.  The system was simple.  When it was time for a train to proceed across the crossing the switchtender would raise the semaphore corresponding to the line and direction.  The B&O, PRR, NYC and Alton each had 1 semaphore for each timetable direction for a total of 8.  The B&O, Panhandle and Northbound Alton signals were mounted on the bracket, NYC and southbound Alton on the single mast.  After Conrail abandoned the PRR Panhandle main line, a single ex-PRR running track was left in place for industrial work and it inherited the Panhandle semaphores. The lever frame provided basic mechanical locking to prevent conflicting movements from being routes (ie Alton xor anything else). Check out Jon Roma's Flickr page for additional photos of the semaphores and pipeline system.

I mentioned before that the B&OCT had wye connections with the Alton.  As you can see, with the Panhandle route standing in between the B&OCT and the Alton something had to be done.  This came in the form of two additional semaphore signals which would protect the diamond crossings of each wye track with the Panhandle main line.  The south wye was protected by an additional 4 semaphores worked from a 4 lever mechanical frame at the opposite end of the "A" tender Shanty.  The north wye was protected by a similar set of 4 semaphores, this time worked by a miniature lever frame next to the mast outside of the "B" tender shanty.

Since the 1940's and the resulting contraction of rail traffic, Brighton Park has been rationalized into the form we know it today.  You can find a complete rundown of the current state of Brighton Park on its own Chicago Rail Junctions page, but in summary, the former PRR Panhandle main line was completely ripped out leaving just the single industrial track behind with Conrail shifting traffic to the former New York Central line.  The B&OCT dropped its wye connections to the Alton as that route decreased in importance and other interchange points became available.  This reduced the number of diamonds to 10 in a 2x5 configuration.  Without the wye tracks all the many switchtender positions and tender shanties were eliminated including the PRR "B" shanty and the two semaphore masts protecting the wye tracks.  This left behind the "A" shanty and the 8 semaphore signals guarding the Alton crossing itself.

Like i said before Brighton Park isn't an interlocking and without the need to either house relays and electronics or keep them dry, the operating environment is rather minimalist.  There is a door, some windows, an air conditioning unit and an external portable toilet.  Even calling this a "cabin" would be generous and just about the only thing Brighton Park  has in common with an interlocking tower is "Tower Window Syndrome".  In this view you can see the pipelines emerging from the shanty's lever frame and passing through a set of cranks before running out to the two masts.

PHOTOS: METRA TOWER A-2 (Western Ave) Part 2 - Inside

So back in Part 1 we explored the history behind TOWER A-2 and the layout of the interlocking plant.  Here in Part 2 we will venture inside the tower to see how it functions as a critical part of the Chicago area commuter rail network.  Just for a quick reference I am going to throw up the link to the original interlocking diagram again so you can open it in a second tab or window for reference.

So we will begin with another quick look outside the tower at the entry stairway which was clearly updated at some point after construction.  The PRR tended to prefer internal stairways for its late model interlocking towers, but in this case Milwaukee practice seems to have prevailed with an external stairway and door.  As is typical the relay room has been provided with its own entryway.  The upper story of the tower has been retrofitted with new siding and new replacement windows, but fortunately seems to have avoided the worst aspects of Tower Window Syndrome with none of them being boarded up.

Here we see the venerable US&S Model 14 electro-pneumatic interlocking machine.  This is an 83 lever frame that contained 69 active levers in its original configuration with 45 for switches, derails and movable point diamonds, 22 for signals and two release levers that I believe set traffic direction over the crossing.  As this tower is following Milwaukee practice the model board is of the more colourful variety with color coded track circuits whereas PRR practice used a white on black scheme with diagram symbols to indicate circuit boundaries.  The other Chicago Union Station towers, LAKE and JACKSON streets, also used this multi-colored style.  Due to the four color theorem US&S only needed pastel versions of red, green, yellow and blue to represent all the circuits without having any one color touch another of the same type.

While the model board has had all of the removed trackage blacked out, those altering it did a good job blacking out what was gone and re-painting what could not be simply blacked out.   Moreover all of the original text labels like C.&N.W. RY and C.M.S.P.&P. RY are still present along with the control city of Logansport on the since removed PRR Panhandle track.  BTW, I believe that the model board is in fact fitted with three clocks, one old analogue, one new analogue and one digital.

Builder's plate on the Model 14 machine.  Constructed in 1938 this is a fairly late model frame, although production would continue up until the 1950's.

Wider view of the Model 14 machine.  You can see that when the tower was renovated it was fitted with a drop ceiling and track lights to illuminate the model board.

Opposite side angle view of the Model 14 power frame.  You can see that the lever 83 position is still occupied to control a switch.  Of the 69 original active levers about 45 are still in service.  Those switches that do not see frequent movements are affixed with Rusty Rail tags which remind the operator that trains working over those switches may not shunt and therefore the operator should verify that the route is clear before making any conflicting actions.  Probably due to a noddle incident there is now a sign on the interlocking machine advising people not to put food or drink on top of it.

As would be expected the levers at the far right of the machine handle the position light signals and crossovers in the east end of the interlocking plant. The 77 turnout is set reverse with a blocking device applied which would imply that track #2 east is out of service at that time.

Here in a closeup of levers 29 through 49 we see the standard US&S setup with switch levers pointed upwards and signal levers pointed downwards.  Unlike PRR practice, the levers here have also been painted in the normal style with switched black, signals red and lock levers blue.  The PRR tended to leave all of its power frame levers painted black.

PHOTOS: METRA TOWER A-2 (Western Ave) Part 1

METRA Tower A-2, also known as Western Ave, is one of the most epic interlockings in North America.  Unlike many of the well known east coast interlockings like ZOO or UNION or JAY/HALL, Western Ave doesn't have networks of tunnels and flyovers artfully sending trains to their required destinations.  Western Ave does things the Chicago way with brute force using diamonds, diamonds and more diamonds.  Furthermore, the interlocking plans survives with an active tower and many original appliances from its heyday in contrast to many other large Chicago area interlockings which have fallen prey to resignaling and simplification in recent years.

Tower A-2 and the interlocking complex known as Western Ave is located a few miles to the west of downtown Chicago where the present day METRA Milwaukee District crosses the  METRA UP West Line. However back in the day the interlocking actually involves three railroads.  The heart of the interlocking was where the Milwaukee Road's trunk line to the North and West crossed the former Chicago Northwestern Railroad's main line to the west through Iowa.  There is where one four track main line met another four track main line at grade and the only solution was a set of diamonds.  Actually, diamonds would have been simple blessing, sort of an Englewood of the north side, as the lines cross at about 30 degree angle which required a set of 16 double slip switches and movable point diamonds to be constructed.  This is perhaps the largest such application of double slips and movable point diamonds to ever be installed in North America outside of a terminal location. 

Just when you thought it couldn't get any better the Pennsylvania Railroad got involved.  You see, the PRR didn't just have one route into Chicago.  Aside from the familiar route via Fort Wayne, passing through the Quad Draws and 21st St Tower (aka Alton Junction), the PRR operated what was known as the Panhandle Route, named after the West Virginian panhandle through which its main line passed after splitting off the usual main line at Pittsburgh.  The line continued on via Columbus, Richmond and Logansport, entering Chicago through the back door, running parallel to the B&OCT up through 75th St Junction and the Brighton Park crossing until it hit the CNW main line where it made a sharp right hand turn to curve back in toward the loop and the Chicago Union Station complex, rather ironically traveling the final miles to Chicago heading due east.  This right turn is located at Chicago's Western Avenue and is also the point where the PRR Panhandle Route would merge with the Milwaukee Road's Chicago main line.   Due to the PRR's 50% stake in the Chicago Union Station enterprise, this part of the line was equipped with position light signaling, making the junction at Western Ave a real Chimera with PRR, CNW and Milwaukee Road signals.

So let's take a quick look at Western and as you can see in this thankfully clear interlocking diagram, its layout borders on the insane.  It is similar to the interlockings at either ZOO or Janacia in function, a major sorting and junction point where two trunk lines meet on their way downtown, but like I said this one takes the brute force approach instead of something more elegant with ramps and flyovers.  The 83 lever US&S Model 14 interlocking is large, but still modest in size falling well short of at century mark at 83 total levers with 69 active.  Like I mentioned before the real hallmark of this interlocking are the doubleslip switches and movable point diamond (MPD) crossings.  Aside from the 4x4 crossing with its 7 doubleslips and 8 MPD's, as built there were two additional doupleslips for a trailing point ladder track on the CNW trunk and three additional MPD's where the Milwaukee Road track join with the PRR tracks.  All told there are 11 MPD's and 9 doubleslip switches, amounts not normally encountered of outside of terminal interlockings. 

It is also interesting to note how this interlocking was zoned.  As you can see there is the Milwaukee /CNW crossing zone and the Milwaukee/PRR junction zone.  In the PRR Zone the PRR was of course calling the shots and all of the signals were position light.  The CNW tracks of course has CNW type ssearchlight ignals and the last entrance for the Milwaukee Road was equipped with Milwaukee searchlights.  As the interlocking plant was built in 1938, all of the signals were of the most modern type (ie no semaphores) and those original signals remain in service to this day, for the most part.

At this point I wanted to mention that the photos used for the essay come from a series of my own trips to Western Ave (exterriors) and from a source at METRA (interriors).  My own trips were taken in 2007  on an inbound UP West Line train, 2009 on an inbound Milwaukee District train and 2010 on a trip to the Western Ave METRA station.  This first photo of the tower was from the 2007 set.

I Can't believe It... Chicago Line CP-175

The greatest tragedy is when recently installed classic signals are replaced...putting a premature end to what could have been a valuable item of living history for decades to come.  The Chicago Line is no stranger to this odd bit of decision making with NS replacing the 1980's vintage tubular cantilevers with the small target Michigan Central style searchlights.  It this time it's CSX's turn in a more heartbreaking decision to replace the same type of small target searchlights at CP-175 in Amsterdam, NY  which was re-signaled by CSX itself only a few short years ago.  Back when CSX actually cared about saving money they installed brand new three-head small target semaphore masts for eastbound movements and re-wired the signals on the 3-track westbound New York Central signal gantry.  Well the construction crews are out with new relay huts and Darth Vader masts going up.  I suspect they are spending stimulus funds earmarked for the Empire High Speed Rail corridor.  Anyway, if you live in the area get your pictures while you can, especially of those brand new eastbound masts.

And of course the real shame....the brand new small target searchlight masts being replaced by Darth Vader heads.  Is it really cheaper to just splice the new interlocking wires into the existing equipment??

PHOTOS: METRA KENSINGTON Tower

During a trip to Chicago back in 2009 I posted a number of photos in the area of METRA's KENSINGTON interlocking in a non-signaling related essay. Today I will take a more in-depth look at the tower and signaling equipment and will make use of photos from that and a previous trip along with interior photos taken by another another tower enthusiast.

METRA KENSINGTON tower is located on the Electric Division on Chicago's South side at 115th St. It was built by the Illinois Central Railroad as part of their electric line improvements in the 1920's. Unlike some of the other towers I profile I don't have as much exact historical information on this tower except, so I'll muddle through with what I do know and if anyone has corrections they can let me know. Up through the early part of the 21st century the Metra Electric division was still primarily a tower controlled line with control locations at Randolph Street Station (some sort of panel), Weldon Yard (non-interlocked with switch-tenders on all main tracks), 67th St (GRS model 5 electro-mechanical) and Kensington (CTC and direct wire panel). Metra first moved control of Randolph St into its central control room, followed by Kensington and its territory and finally in March 2009, 67th Street was cut over. The non-interlocked portion between Van Buren and Roosevelt is still controlled by switchtenders and of those three closed towers, only 67th St was technically re-signaled as its interlocking was electro-mechanical, not relay like the others.

Between Roosevelt and 115th St the electric line has 4 tracks and sits adjacent to the CNIC freight main line where 67th St handled operations at the flying junction with the South Chicago Branch of the electric division and Kensington handled the junction with the Blue Island Branch and the begining/end of the 4-track local/express operation as well as the leads into the Kensington yard and maintenance facility.  When METRA took over the commuter operations on the electric line the integration with the IC freight line was removed, with the notable exception of Kensington. This was because the Chicago, South Shore and South Bend interurban line to South Bend joins the IC line into downtown Chicago. The CSS&SB crosses the 4 tracks of the former IC freight main line on 4 diamonds, but also has switch connections with the freight line. METRA was not at all interested in having to beg the freight railroads for lineups for the South Shore trains so it retained operation of the interlocking.

As a quick note since the original CSS&SB went bankrupt the passenger service has been operated by the Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District or NICTD (pronounced Nicht-Dee) and I will be referring to it as such.

The photos I will be presenting come from two sources. The first are my own taken on a trip in Summer 2009 from the Metra station platform within the limits of KENSINGTON interlocking along with a smaller number of photos taken during a trip in 2002. The second are from a railroad insider and are being posted with permission. These photos are being left in their original resolution so please do not hesitate to right click and view those images in their unreduced state.

As you can see on the right there are 4 Electric Line tracks and 4 CNIC tracks coming in from the north. The 4 electric line tracks squash to 2 for the single island platform. Then south of the platform the NICTD line crosses the CNIC on 4 diamonds and we see the ladders to reach the Blue Island branch and the KDY yard lead. There remains a single switched connection from CNIC to Metra, probably for freight moves to reach either the yard or the Blue Island branch. NOTE there is a complete set of crossovers on the CNIC and there is a considerable distance between the Kensington interlocking proper and the Blue Island Branch / Yard junction. It will be worthwhile to keep this photo handy to refer to as I show various points and signals.

https://www.redoveryellow.com/position-light/Towers/KENSINGTON/KENSINGTON-old-panel.jpg

We begin with the tower itself which is mostly of brick construction with a tile roof, typical for a power-frame tower built in the first half of the 20th century. Here we see a view of the north side with a pair of C&S employees walking the track.

Here is a slightly wider view. While the tower may have been closed it was not re-signaled as the relay hut in front still houses some or all of the vital components and those thick bundles of wires on the pole line still work the field equipment. The tower was re-signaled sometime earlier in its life with the power frame being replaced by a direct-wire panel which I will show later. As METRA was interested with operations, not replacing life-expired equipment they saw no need to re-interlock the complex plant, but instead remote controlled it from a downtown office building.

While the tower retains its bay window, something must have happened at some point in its life to require the entire facade to be replaced with plywood and two small replacement windows. This counts as an example of "tower window syndrome" and was probably Metra's solution to fixing a problem with the original floor to ceiling windows. Fortunately the other windows don't see quite as affected.

Fortunately the other windows don't see quite as affected. Also note that there is no external difference between 2002 when the tower was open and 2009 when it was closed.