Harrisburg Power Office Is Now Mostly Up and Running

When we last checked in on the Harrisburg Power Director's office about a year ago in 2024, the Big Board had been fully illuminated and most of the Westinghouse "Visicode" SCADA equipment had been reactivated with the help of modern technology simulating the presence of the field equipment like substations and such. However, because the 1930's PRR electrification projects had been funded with depression era WPA loans, the PRR had to spread the wealth and about half the office used GE "Code Selector" hardware that was more complex in operation and not as well documented. 

Well between March and September 2024, members of the Harrisburg Chapter NRHS managed to locate the documentation for the GE gear (it was sitting on a storage shelf) and were then able to restore most of the GE panels to operation, which is especially useful that represents the bulk of what was still operational on the old PRR Main Line up through 2013. The GE gear brings the added fun of step switches being used to store digits instead of all-relay registers for the Westinghouse part of the office.

As if step-switches weren't enough, between September 2024 and March 2025, the team also reconnected the alarm lamps and bell which further adds to the effect.

Still to be addressed are the metering circuits along with programmed simulation elements that would allow visitors to participate in directing flows of 25hz power to virtual train movements. Still, the Harrisburg power office  is mostly complete in terms of being "a thing that functions as it once did" so watch out for planned opening dates as the chapter is still trying to figure out how to manage regular hours.

PHOTOS: Inside SEPTA's Last Towers

Over the last 20 years North America has seen the virtual extinction of "Paper Dispatching", the practice of railroad dispatchers being totally reliant on field tower operators as their eyes and ears. Operators report movements to dispatchers, dispatchers mark down train progress and inform the operators of any necessary changes. Depending on the railroad the dispatchers and operators may have more or less authority and in others the while two level hierarchy may not exist at all. Anyway, in this time period there has only been one rail system that I am aware of that went from Tower controlled to Dispatcher controlled in one fell swoop and that would be Philadelphia's commuter railroad SEPTA. 

Founded as an umbrella funding organization in the 1960's, for its first decade and a half SEPTA contracted with the legacy carriers Penn Central and Reading and later the government supported Conrail that emerged from the bankruptcies of both predecessors, to provide service on the Pennsylvania and Reading Railroad's vintage electrified suburban districts. The PRR side of the house was generally worked on the interlocking tower system with single towers controlling one or a few adjacent interlockings. The Reading on the other hand developed a taste for CTC schemes controlled by panels within existing towers. In the mid-1980's a series of events would combine to create SEPTA's unique tower culture. First, Conrail was forced to pull out of contract suburban operation in favor of direct operation by SEPTA. Second, SEPTA completed construction of the Center City Commuter Tunnel that linked the PRR and Reading networks, eliminating the stub terminals and third, SEPTA built the brand new Airport Line along with a number of "state of good repair" projects like the rebuilding of the Reading trunk line and improvements to the West Chester and Chestnut Hill West lines.

The result was that all of SEPTA's rails were controlled from 7 interlocking towers. The first two, WIND and WAYNE, were co-located within the old Reading WAYNE tower building at Wayne Jct and consisted of two 1960's vintage CTC panels that not only controlled practically all of the Reading suburban network, but also parts of Conrail freight lines due to the shared Reading System heritage. The next two, BROAD and MARK, were built as part of the Commuter Tunnel Project and replaced two large Model 14 legacy terminal plants with modern N-X panels. The next two, MEDIA and CHESTNUT HILL (WEST), were direct PRR legacy towers that controlled terminal operations on the West Chester and Chestnut Hill West lines with their original interlocking equipment. Finally A TOWER was constructed new in 1985 to control the Airport Line with a contemporary unit level panel.

Beginning our tour at Wayne Junction, WAYNE tower was the most traditional of SEPTA's diverse rail control locations being located inside the former Reading WS tower, a 1920's era Model 14 powered facility that controlled the double junction between the New York/Bethlehem main line, Chestnut Hill East branch and Tabor Branch freight link. Unlike the PRR, the Reading wasn't afraid of new technology and in 1965 it implemented a wide-scale CTC project that consolidated control of its Suburban network inside WS/WAYNE tower. (Note, by CTC I mean remote interlocking control as there was only a limited amount of actual Rule 261/CTC operation in this territory.) In the tower the old Model 14 machine was supplanted by two high end General Railway Signal NX panels installed in adjacent corners of the operator's floor.

Operator lines a route at 16TH ST JCT on the WAYNE panel in 1991.

Other half of the WAYNE panel in 1991.

This gave rise to WAYNE Towers's unique "Two Towers in One" layout with the "WAYNE" panel and operator controlling everything between 16TH ST JUNCTION at the top of the Viaduct to TABOR JCT (Fern Rock) on the Main Line and the Fox Chase branch (via Newtown Jct and Cheltenham Jct). The WAYNE panel saw one major alteration with the "south" end of the panel being extended to accommodate the insertion of the new HUNT interlocking and reconfiguration of WAYNE interlocking to support the mid-80's opening of Robert's Yard. Compare the above and below photos to the original 1965 configuration (NSFW).

 

South end of the WAYNE panel in 1994

North end of the WAYNE panel in 1994

The second panel and its operator was known as WIND and was interesting for not only being a virtual tower located about 6 feet away from the WAYNE panel, but also not actually controlling an interlocking named WIND. WIND's territory was everything north of Tabor Junction including the R5 route from Jenkintown to Doylestown, the R2 to Warminster, the old New York Branch/R3 to Woodbourne and even the previously signaled Stony Creek Branch to Norristown. WIND also had control of the New York Short Line that would become the Conrail Trenton Line north of Cheltenham Jct which included a single controlled siding and various joint interlockings between Neshaminy Jct and Woodbourne. 

WIND panel 1991 with WOOD interlocking and Fairless Branch.

Between 1991 and 1993 the first state of the Conrail SEPTAration began with a re-signaling and track re-alignment project on the Trenton Line transferring control of Conrail trains between CP-CHELTENHAM JCT and CP-WOOD (exclusive) to the Conrail dispatcher. You can see in the following 1994 photo of WIND how the north end of the old New York Branch has been deleted off the panel as an active element. 

WIND panel in 1994 w/ WOOD interlocking etc blanked out.

SEPTA's WIND would retain control of both CP-WOOD and gain control of CP-TRENT after TRENT tower's closure in 1994. Unfortunately my photos do not reveal the method of control, but it would most likely be a computer terminal seeing as how CP-WOOD and CP-TRENT was re-signaled to 90's Conrail standards. The only remaining portion of the Reading Suburban network I have yet to cover is the Norristown terminal area that was originally controlled from a CTC panel in NORRIS tower. NORRIS tower closed some time after 1988 and by 1994 the CTC panel had appeared in WAYNE tower (likely under purview of the WAYNE operator). A 1991 photo shows a non-operable mimic board installed in the tower which may have operated to inform the WAYNE operator of R6 terminal movements before NORRIS closed. 

1991 Norristown area minic board.

 

1994 Norristown area CTC panel.

If you were wondering how two operators could handle all the train movements on the Reading side of the SEPTA network on an NX panel without any form of automated train labeling, I was told that at peak times each "tower' each would support at least two panel operators working in a non-socially distanced manner. Based on the recollections of a visitor, it was also likely that the physical WAYNE tower operation included a train director to call some routes and handle communications with the SEPTA dispatchers. By the turn of the 21st century SEPTA WIND and WAYNE had a very distinct presence on the scanner scene with their VHF transmissions registering loud and clear at least 10 miles distant in South Jersey. It was a truly modern rail dispatching operation in all but name.

MARK tower panel.

Looping through Center City, the next tower encountered on the SEPTA trunk was MARK. Part of the Market East station complex, I believe it was located somewhere around the ticket counter / station master's office on the east end. MARK arguably replaced the 111 lever Model 14 RACE ST interlocking plant that controlled the Reading Terminal complex. The Center City Commuter Tunnel shows the gross inefficiency of stub terminals as a the 13 track Reading Terminal complex was able to be replaced by 4 through tracks. MARK "tower" consisted of a US&S unit lever panel in an office controlling VINE, a 4-track full crossover hear the north end of the tunnel, and MARK, an interlocking without any appliances (aka switches, derails, etc) that spanned the length of the Market East station platforms. It did not control the adjacent JUNIPER interlocking located between Market East and Suburban station on tracks 2 and 3. MARK opened in 1984 with the closure of Reading Terminal.

BROAD tower center panel with 20TH ST and SCHUYLKILL interlockings.

Another Secret Stash of Signal and Tower Videos

It's always been interesting how few tower videos there are compared with like aircraft stuff where Youtube can not only provide videos of every approach, but also how to start up and steal most types of commercial airliner as well xD  I guess part of it was that much of the towers vanished before the smartphone revolution, but it's still interesting given how many fans are also railroaders and how it was clear since the 1980's that all the 1930's tech was going to vanish sooner rather than later. 

Sometimes it turns out that these sorts of videos may just be hiding in plain sight.  One such nondescript channel goes by the name of M. P. Hicks and contains all sorts of general VHS-quality railfan content from around the globe.  However Mr. Hicks also appears to have been a railroad dispatcher and was able to fenagle all sorts of cab rides and tower visits.  Here we see a 1990 video showing a Conrail run from Pavonia to Abrahms Yard via Arsenal.  Of course in 1990 this route had not yet been separated from Amtrak so SHORE, NORTH PHILADELPHIA, ZOO and ARSENAL towers were all manned and were controlling the movement.  Moreover, even the pure Conrail parts had vintage signaling and some closed towers were still standing, like NORRIS. 



In this video we have a METRA cab ride on the MILW-West line that ends with a visit to TOWER A-5.



In this video with no description and a completely non-rail related title, are embedded 7 minutes of footage showing the operation of an 80's vintage computerized dispatching system complete with a lamp based model board display!



Mr M. P. Hicks has scores of videos uploaded, but there isn't always a good way to find it without skimming through them all.  Of course some are explicitly labeled as cab rides like this one on the Chicago to Milwaukee MILW route that starts with a slow tour of the vintage CTC machine in the Chicago CP dispatch office.



Anyway, happy hunting and enjoy the ride :-)

Caught on Camera: Original BART CTC Dispatch Center

Control centers with non-video displays are a true work of art and are vanishing just as quickly as the interlocking tower.  Wiring up a custom, semi-immutable display with all sorts of tiny lamps and pieces that could become obsolete within a year just cam't compete with a giant display wall that costs a couple thousand dollars and can be driven from an off the shelf TV.  However there was a time between the advent of centralized control center and the cheap video display wall that all sorts of these one off boards were constructed.

One such modern, but not too modern control center was that of the Bay Area Rapid Transit, which opened for business in 1972.  I've actually seen photos of it's control center in a number of 80's vintage rail transit books that would always feature BART and WMATA as examples of the future of rapid transit.  Here is the best example of those photos.

Click me, I'm high res.

I'm not sure if Westinghouse means it is a US&S product as US&S was a part of WABCO at the time, but WABCO was not the same as the "Big W" Westinghouse so they might have gotten the contract as more of an industrial control thing as opposed to a railroad signaling thing.  Anyway, note the spartan NASA style consoles with integrated phones and displays (and probably ash trays).  All of that and the wall sized model board is pretty distinctive so there was little chance I'd miss it when it appeared in the 1971 George Lucas Science Fiction film, TXH 1138.

Yeah, there's no mistaking that is the BART system!  Filmed in 1970 or 1971 the BART control center would have still been in the shrink wrap, with much of the system still under construction or still on the drawing boards.  Still, BART knew enough about what they were going to do to have the whole model board cut and dry 4 years ahead of time.

If you are wondering why there are two copies of the BART layout on either side of the room, it's not because the dispatcher have poor eyesight.  The display on the right is for rail operations, trains, signals, etc.  The other one on the left is the power dispatcher's diagram that shows the sections of third rail, substations and feeder lines. If you loo closely you can just about see the power distribution lines apart from the track sections on the power board.

Well chosen camera angle to disguise anything actually written on the special purpose interface. 

 

They've even got those snazzy phones!

 Probably hitting a key on the telephone concentrator.

Great view of the train movement board, but I'm interested in how in 1970 the entire operation could be staffed by just three people (although maybe each desk would support multiple persons at peak times).  Also, if you go back to the first picture note the size of the room vs the small number of dispatch desks.  I suspect one desk was for the power director, another for the train director and the one in the middle was some sort of chief or a service coordinator who could make announcements and such. 

THX 1138 used a lot of the to-be-opened BART system as locations for it's dystopian underground society.  In fact, the climax was filmed in a BART tunnel where the tracks had yet to be laid.  The rebar formed sort of a ladder effect so to simulate climbing up a shaft the camera was rotate 90o and the actors made to "climb" horizontally.  Amazing what good old George Lucas could think up when he didn't have CGI as a crutch 😏

NS Dispatching Desks Moved to Atlanta

Following the lead of CSX consolidating all of it's dispatchers in Jacksonville, NS is moving all of it's dispatchers to Atlanta.  This will result in the closure of the Conrail era Harrisburg office on Interstate Drive as well as the Fort Wayne office.  NS will also be re-adjusting a number of territories to coincide with the move because one might as well have one period of screwed up service instead of two. 

Now I previously discussed this in the context of CSX which first consolidated it's dispatching offices and then unconsolidated them only to re-consolidate them again. The benefits of consolidation are reducing manpower requirements with a single extra board, reducing overhead and placing operations next to management.  Downsides are reduced territory familiarity and vulnerability to natural disasters, including mild snow storms which frequently paralyze Atlanta. An ancillary benefit is forcing higher paid veteran workers who are tied to a specific area to quit or retire.

In the case of NS they are actually moving all of their corporate offices too Atlanta with the corporate HQ making the move from Norfolk, VA.  You might recall a post I made about the demolition of the Terminal South interlocking tower in Atlanta.  Well this was to clear the space for the construction of the new NS HQ, which will at least be located vaguely near some railroad tracks.  Will NS decide to reverse the decision at some point?  Probably, new management always needs to do something different and after a couple snow storms or hurricanes snarl freight traffic, some institutional investor might complain loudly enough.  At least for now everyone is jumping on the consolidation bandwagon.

ATSF Amarillo Dispatch Office 1985

I recently found this wonderful little video on Youtube that offers a rare glimpse of a CTC office in the brief period between the advent of wide area CTC and before computer interfaces.  Before computers not every railroad was "paper" dispatched like the PRR with its frequent block stations.  As far back as the early 1940's dispatchers had been given direct control of inderlockings through super sized versions of the same unit lever style CTC machine that had also shown up in towers.  This was also the advent of radio communications allowing for direct interactions with the trains, but just before the complete phase out train orders.. 

Forgive the rather amateur production values and just take in how these clunky old offices worked with fully wrap around CTC machines and the microphones pointed on pantograph arms. If you watch the video all the way through you can see a first generation video display office c. 1992

North American Signaling Jargon

 Over the years I have come across many interesting terms and expressions related to railroad signaling and railroad signaling control and I thought it might be nice to share a few of them with all of you.  Now of course the North American rail scene is large and varied so many of these terms might only see use only in certain areas or with certain railroads.  The PRR is one such road with a lot of its own unique terminology and since I spent a lot of time in PRR towers more than a few of the terms will come from there, however this isn't to say that other terms of either incorrect are aren't used elsewhere.

Hanger -  This an alternate term of a Call On signal on the PRR.  The Call On condition would be represented by either a Restricting \ on the lower head or a single Stop and Proceed marker below the main head.  In both cases the displayed  signal appeared to hang below the --- on the upper head.

The literal implementation

 The Goat - The "Assistant to the Train Director" was known as "The Goat" in those PRR towers large enough to have that position.  Note that an Assistant to the Train Director was not the same as an "Assistant Train Director".  I found this time in a 1948 book on PRR operations and later heard an Amtrak operator mention that the third man in ZOO tower who was in charge of all NEC movements (before those parts of ZOO were spun off ~1999) was called "The Goat", but he didn't know why.  Well now you do.

Pot - PRR position light dwarf signal.

On the Light - A train is inside the approach block as shown on the tower model board.  In PRR cab signal territory most interlockings had approach locking which required time to be run only when a train was actually approaching the interlocking.

Stick and Non-Stick Signals - These are alternate terms of controlled and semi-automatic signals.  "Stick" signals were those which would drop and stay at Stop after a train movement and stay that way even if the lever was not reversed.  Non-Stick, aka "semi-automatic" signals would have the signal act automatically as long as the lever was left reversed.  I have encountered this term a few places, but it was standard in New Haven railroad operations.

Vertical - Slang term for a PRR position light Clear signal indication used by Long Island Rail Road crews,

Stacking - A feature of modern CTC dispatch systems that allow dispatchers to queue up routes at interlockings in an ad-hoc fashion.

Double Barreling - Running two parallel movements in the same direction on a double track main line.

Giving 241 - Reference to NORAC Rule 241 for giving permission past a stop signal.

Paperwork - Train orders, track authority and mandatory directives of all types that have to be copied down or received on paper.



Dark Territory - Anything that doesn't show up on the dispatchers screen, signaled or otherwise.

The Railroad - A point running from one controlled signal to the next.  is "given" to the engineer when it is time to get to work.

That's all I can think of right now.  I might occasionally return to this post to add more.  Feel free to make your own suggestions in the comments.