The Enthusiasts Step Up

Unlike Europe, Heritage railroads in the United States never developed a vintage signaling component beyond what one might describe as display items. The big reason for this is that in service signaling and interlocking appliances have significant regulatory inspection, testing and documentation requirements that are beyond the reach of most tourist train operators. The result has been that most preserved towers are completely inert, with just a handful having interactive elements such as operable interlocking machines (SS43 BERK) or full on simulations (HARRIS). However, in recent years it seems that the private collector/enthusiast space has been stepping up to fill the gap as exemplified by the small YouTube channel Laser 711.

Signal and signaling equipment collectors have been around for some time, snapping up such items as model boards, CTC cabinets, full size signals and even interlocking machines. Until recently, railroad signaling departments would tend to keep their retired equipment, as similar vintage hardware was still broadly in service and the parts to maintain them were no longer being manufactured. However, the PTC related re-signaling push rapidly phased out so much of the relay era railroad signaling that the equipment is now being sold for scrap or offered free to anyone with the capacity to haul it away. 

In the context of interlocking towers, model boards and CTC cabinets have been widely collected for some time as switch to video display in a dispatch office had long ago destroyed their reuse value. Somewhat ironically, it was the older mechanical and electro-mechanical interlocking machines that retained the most value as a source of spares for their kin.  (For example a major reason LENOX tower near St. Louis was closed was to supply parts to the CNW LAKE ST machine in Chicago.) However as the number of these in service interlocking machines hit zero, anyone with a large enough truck could cart the survivors away for their own personal amusement. This is where Laser 711 comes in, having apparently set up not just a HARRIS style PLC backed simulation, but the full hardware stack including relays, point machines and signals.

 He has also restored an ex-Erie CTC console from BK tower along with its original code system, and now appears to be in the process of implementing as much field functionality as possible "in relay".

Of course it would be great if more publically accessible museums were able to step up to the plate with functional period correct signaling equipment, but the signal enthusiast community, powered by recent advances in the "maker" scene and high capacity pickup trucks, seem to be taking up a lot of the slack. Just like we have seen with the extensive telecom switch collection of Step by Step Phil, these private efforts stand a good chance of eventually finding their way into durable preservation.

Attempted CTC at the Seashore Trolley Museum

I will also mention that non-FRA regulated streetcar/transit museums have the best capacity to implement "live" historic signaling. When visiting Shoreline Trolley Museum I was shown their "in-progress" CTC system that they were building from thousands of relays donated by Amtrak and Metro North.

 

The fact that I have not heard much if anything about that project in the past 20 years hints at its priority in the greater scheme of things, but all it takes is the right team of enthusiasts to get a project off the ground.

PU Tower Restoration Update

Former Central RR of New Jersey PU (Phillipsburg Union) tower in Phillipsburg, NJ recently held an open house to shot off the state of the tower's restoration effort. It is affiliated with the NJ Transportation Heritage Museum that, amoung other artifacts, has an operable triple expansion steam pump. I had last visited the tower in 2017 where it was clear that a lot of work had already been carried out, however the Model 14 interlocking machine was a long way from being restored due to massive stripping as you can see below.

I found some photos from the event and starting on the operator's level the Model 14 has recovered a significant amount of levers. We can also see wires indicating plans to reactivate some functionality.

The operator's desk now hosts all sorts of artifacts.

The lower level features a full suite of air compressors and the power board.

 There is also some documentation discussing how the tower was closed and reopened several times by the CNJ as is desperately tried to abandon its operations in PA. I definitely need to get up there again, but I might want to pace myself and wait until more of the Model 14 is functional, just to avoid having to make extra trips. 

Livonia, Avon and Lakeville's Captive Signals

There's a concept in preservation that's analogous to the world of wildlife conservation. In the ideal scenario animals are present in and fully engaged with their natural ecosystem. Far less ideal is when they are in simulated ecosystems in zoos or similar managed preserves. The least desirable state is where the creature is stuffed and mounted in an exhibit, fixed in place and time. For vintage railroad signaling technology the ideal is when equipment is in active everyday service. Next best is when it is still functioning, but used mainly for display instead of operations. The least desirable is of course when the equipment is on display but otherwise dead. Unfortunately in the world of heritage railroading, the most common way to treat signaling equipment is the latter, often in the form of a line of vintage signals around the entrance or parking area. Sometimes lit, sometimes not, they're better than the alternative, but still just stuffed specimens. 

Every so often a heritage railroad will make the effort to get vintage signals or interlocking equipment into some kind of working order. Often times it is officially non-functional due to regulatory costs, while still effectively working as intended. I recently discovered that the Livonia, Avon and Lakeville Railroad, via the on-prem Rochester & Genesee Valley Railroad Museum has been installing and activating a number of vintage signals. The specific ones that caught my eye were a pair of PC or Conrail era Michigan Central style small target searchlights that appear to have been salvaged from one of the CSX re-signaling efforts in former New York Central territory. One is a two offset head mast that can at least display a R/Y Restricting indication, while the other is a three offset head mast (used to display Y/R/G Approach Slow)  with an unknown indication repertoire. 

Around the museum station area is an active PRR position light on a cut down mast that was likely salvaged from the Buffalo Line during its recently de-signaling as well as some sort of home brew searchlit dwarf stack. 

While not on the level of the Reading and Northern that went as far to install fully functional main line CTC, the effort to install working signals in an approximation of their natural habitat is certainly appreciated. 

The Final Months at AC Tower

Looks like the Railroad Media Archive has done it again with a video covering the last few months of operation at the former Erie AC tower in Marion, Ohio from November 1994 to just before its closing on January 18, 1995. AC tower was located at the crossing of the compass east-west Erie and Big Four (NYC) with the compass north-south N&W and C&O.The Erie and Big Four alignments would be merged into Conrail and eventually became the Indianapolis Line on a largely Big Four routing with the Erie RR main being largely abandoned. By the mid-90's it was finally time to retire the old Taylor Model 2 machine.

In the video the things of note are the various communications duties of a tower operator and the lever manipulation sequences, specifically the use of crossing lock levers to set the direction of travel through a diamond. 

AC Tower model board and manipulation charts as preserved.

Although the tower was closed in 1995, it was moved to the nearby station grounds and preserved as a semi-restored museum. Hopefully they will get the expertise to restore it in a similar fashion to HARRIS. Because of the "lateness" of the conversion, the N&W and C&O signals were retained on the two non-Conrail routes until about 2012.

A Window on ZOO's Future

 If you recall my musings on Tower Window Syndrome, you might recall that as towers age, their original windows are replaced by cheaper replacements from the local home improvement store or just plywood.  The famous ZOO tower in Philadelphia wasn't the worst example of this, but it was an example as its once full compliment of windows was slowly reduced in size and number. 

Over the last few years ZOO tower was given a brand new set of windows and a set of replica PRR keystones to boot. This seems strange for a tower is facing closure within the next decade or so unless someone at Amtrak is just really into historic preservation.

Well while talking with some folks at the Harrisburg Chapter NRHS I was informed that there are plans afoot to not only preserve ZOO as an ancillary railroad structure (like a signal maintainer base), but turn it into some sort of museum. I am not sure how far along these are, but it would explain the new windows and historic markings.

While certainly a possibility and also an amazing location near the actual Philadelphia ZOO where tourists could view the NEC, there would be a few hurdles creating marking from the Amtrak employee lot and providing a walkway across the active NY-PGH Subway track as well as additional fencing and whatnot for liability purposes.  Still, the idea of a preserved ZOO with a restored 230 lever US&S interlocking machine and model board would be a fantastic end to a century of service.

Harrisburg Power Dispatcher's Office to be Preserved!

 Amtrak's Harrisburg terminal complex has not one but three signaling related landmarks of great historic value.  The first is HARRIS tower, closed in 1992 and completely restored by the Harrisburg Chapter NRHS to simulated working condition, it represents the absolute pinnacle of signaling preservation.  Th second is STATE tower, closed by Amtrak in 2016, it remains preserved, but not restored or open to the public and is likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. Finally there is the Harrisburg Power Dispatcher's office. Constructed in 1937 to manage the PRR's great westward electrification expansion, it remained in operation until 2012. Not only is the preserved hardware remarkable due to its age, but it is also one of the first wide area electric power SCADA systems ever installed

Amtrak's Harrisburg Power Dispatchers Office in 2008

While a Power Dispatching office isn't exactly Railroad Signaling, it is certainly in the same wheelhouse seeing as it was both essential to railroad operations and made use of very similar relay and electro-mechanical age technology.  The same Harrisburg Chapter team that restored HARRIS is now currently working to restore the Power Office after having obtained a 10 year lease from Amtrak.  From what I have been told, the office is pretty much as it was when the door was locked in 2012.  Everything is there, but the equipment was worn out after 80 years of operation and quite a bit of modification.

Amtrak's Harrisburg Power Dispatchers Office in 2008

This is in contrast to recent developments at the Baltimore Power Dispatchers Office that handled NEC electrification between Perryville, MD and Potomac Yard in Alexandria, VA. Located in the offices above Baltimore Penn Station, the office was gutted except for the large display board and other interface equipment. Unfortunately some very long term plans to convert the old PRR office space into a hotel have finally come to fruition and instead of preserving the space as an attraction, all remaining equipment will be sent to likely the B&O Museum where it will sit out of view or as a static display, devoid of context. 

Telecom type SCADA relay bank at Harrisburg PDO

Hopefully the Harrisburg PDO will be restored to the same level as HARRIS tower with simulated events and a fully working display and interface. If anyone thinks they have the skills necessary to help out please contact the Harrisburg Chapter NRHS.

Swindon Power Signalbox Restoration

Hopefully most of you are familiar with the excellent job the crew at HARRIS tower has done reactivating its US&S Model 14 interlocking machine with the help of a lot of PLC's and Train Dispatcher 3.  Well over in the UK a project is afoot  to do the same thing to the old NX panel from the Swindon Power Signal Box.  The "PSB's" were a generation of British area signaling control centers that replaced the most hard pressed mechanical tower in the 1960's and 70's.  They used a lot of relay logic to implement push button N-X operation and many eventually came to feature integrated train description.  A tour of Swindon PSB can be seen below.



Swindon, like many other PSB's, are being removed from service because many of the telecon grade relays that drive the user interface and other ancillary logic are becoming nearly impossible to maintain.  Here below is a video showing the "domino" style panel board being re-assembled after it arrived at its preservation site.



Here is a brief demo of the old panel UI hooked up to some modern electronics.  And yes that is indeed the Danny Scroggins who is so well known for his comprehensive documentation of vintage British signaling and signalboxes.



Of course there is an entire Youtube Channel devoted to the project, with videos like this one showing the progress of the custom PLC components.



In fact the panel has its own preservation society and as of now they are projecting an grand opening date of June, 2018, plenty of time to score that cheap transatlantic airfare.