C&O In Trouble at Montgomery, WV

With CSX running roughshod on the old C&O multi track mainline west of Charleston and Huntington for years the eastern bulwark was the interlocking at Montgomery, WV with the eastbound mast signals equipped with Darth Vader types and the westbound cantilever of glorious C&O design.  Well just caught a pic of a new cantilever in place at west end of the interlocking.  If this is just a one off replacement or a sign of things to come over the New River Sub remains to be seen.  Looks like I might not be able to afford to wait a year for the dome to get back on the Cardinal in 2012.

NYC 5-Track Gantry to Fall at NASBY

The great 5-track New York Central signal gantry just west of Toledo at NASBY tower (currently known as CP-292 since the tower closed in 1998) is the latest victim of Norfolk Southerns pointless re-signaling plans.  Just 13 years ago that same gantry and its beefy steel lattice construction was perfectly fine when Conrail decided to leave it in place, but this time NS feels its better to spend the money to erect a completely new Darth Vader gantry than just re-wire the color light signals already in place.

Of course this isn't the first signal replacement at NASBY, the eastbound signals were replaced in the conrail era by a tubular cantilever, but the NJC G-head signals were re-mounted as there was nothing to be gained replacing one tri light with another.  This time around I wouldn't be surprised if NS doesn't resignal that end as well, even going as far to replace the modern style cantilever mast.

NASBY tower used to feature the diamond crossing of the Toledo Terminal RR and the Chicago Line.  The tower closed in 1998 when the TT had no more use for its trackage and abandoned the diamond crossing.  A brief history of the tower and of the more recent CP-292 can be found here.  A more detailed PDF presentation of the tower, its operations and closure complete with inside photos can be found here.  Like other NY Central towers it was a GRS plant controlled by a Model 2 wood paneled pistol grip machine.

PHOTOS: ALTO TOWER

Seeing as how my 2009 PRR Main Line Survey has reached the Golden City of the PRR I thought it appropriate to reach back into my archives and post some photos on the famous PRR interlocking tower that still routes trains around the large yard and shop complex 24/7 as it has for the past 100 years.  I am talking about ALTO tower, but unfortunately I had not been intending that this post serve as a memorial to an icon tower which now faces closure later this fall.  While efforts are being made to preserve the tower, even if it does somehow manage not to fall down or catch fire , this living tribute to the PRR will be at best mounted and stuffed, the tracks it oversaw sterilized of character and rendered completely generic.

About 5 years ago I took a little trip there when Amtrak still ran two train services on the main line and it was possible to get out and back in the same day. This trip turned out to be very special because I was able to not only take pictures of ALTO tower on the outside, but also inside ALTO tower and after a sufficient waiting period I am free to put them up for public consumption.

Before we begin I should mention that the full set of photos from this trip can be found here

ALTO tower was rebuilt to its current configuration in 1915 (and possibly existed in some form for many years prior to that) in the typical PRR style of all-wooden main line towers with the trademark bay windows. Over the years CTC control of the entire Altoona terminal area was transfered to ALTO and in the 1970's the interlocking was somewhat rebuilt by the Penn Central. Because of the CTC ALTO survived as an active interlocking tower far longer than almost all its brethren and currently controls ANTIS, HOMER, ROSE, WORKS and SLOPE interlockings.

So here is ALTO tower from the front. It had been last painted in Conrail colors in the 1980's and at this point is looking somewhat shabby. In 2009 NS came by and provided a nice re-paint job in an overall flat gray which gave the false impression that ALTO had a long life ahead of it.

ALTO from the side showing the side bay extension that was added because of the need for a longer interlocking machine inside. Access to the tower is across the tracks, not from the road behind.  In the future the new ALTO interlocking will begin just west of the tower's current location and run to about where SLOPE currently sits.

From this rear view you can see a newer steel external stairway, fuel tank for either the heater or emergency generator and the old style relay cabinets for the signal gantry. 

It's amazing some of the architectural details that went into these old towers. 

ALTO interlocking is made up from two logical parts. There is the main interlocking controlled from the original 27 lever US&S electro pneumatic interlocking machine, and a smaller extension controlled from a partially independent 11 lever machine next to it. The PRR pedestal signals at the west end of the Altoona station platform are part of the extension, while the large signal bridge controls access into the interlocking proper.  A complete track chart of ALTO can be found in this large (30MB) pdf of Conrail interlocking diagrams.  ALTO is on page 23.

Here is a historic photo showing the Penn Central era configuration with PRR PL mast signals at the east end of the interlocking.  The 38L signal is displaying Slow Approach over the  reverse 31 switch towards a Clear indication on the 2L.  If this doesn't make sense, a 1985 head end video shows the track between the 32R and 2L being used as an additional helper pocket.  Regular movements from Track 2 to 3 were made over the 1 switch with an Approach Medium displayed on the 38L and a Medium Clear on the 4L.  When the east end was reconfigured in the Conrail era, this pocket concept was eliminated.

Bellevue, Ohio Re-Signaling

Apparently NS isn't just out to ruin the spiritual heart of the PRR, but has also decided to go after their Nickel Plate Road heritage as well.  The major NKP freight classification hub and junction at Bellevue, OH is seeing further further resignaling efforts that will see the fall of many of the classic NKP signals including the bracket mast at the Slaughterhouse Road hotspot south of the city.  Ok, I get it that position lights and interlocking towers cost more and one can save money by eliminating them, but why is NS replacing traffic light signals with more traffic light signals?  Did they get a special discount on a bulk order down at the costco?

Re-Signaling at CP-308

While the former New York Central Main Line has been an absolute sanctuary for signaling compared with the other eastern routes, it cannot be completely immune from CSX's wrath.  Currently up on the chopping block is CP-308 near Jordan, NY, just east of Syracuse.  This was small target searchlight country last re-signaled by Conrail in the 1980s and like the PRR main there are a great many classic signal bridges still standing in service.  The New York Central was a great believer in CTC and the presence of Rule 261 operation and no pole lines has made this route a real survivor.  In fact CSX has even replaced searchlights with like at CP-293 and CP-175 on new masts and cantilevers.  This time the Darth Vaders are going in for a pair of NYC gantries so if you are in the era hike out and document the old equipment while you can.

ALTO Tower to Close :-(

I guess I'm a little behind in the news, but as you might guess I don't try to seek this information out as it will only serve to depress me.  Anyway after seeing some more photos I discovered that the work at CP-WORKS is not isolated as I had thought and that is one part of a larger project to completely re-signal everything around ALTO tower.  This will mean the closure of ALTO tower after 100 years of service and the destruction of an amazing of pure PRR signaling.

I don't have a lot of photos to post, but as I know it ALTO, SLOPE and WORKS are all to be completely re-signaled.  There will be new track arrangements to facilitate movements in and through Altoona Yard as well as the application and removal of helper power.  The PC era beam signal gantry may be re-used in the new arrangement and some of the pneumatic switch machine might survive as well at WORKS and at ALTO.  There are plans to re-locate and preserve the tower itself at the Railroaders Museum across the street, but there were also plans to preserve MO tower which came to nought when the wooden structure fell apart. The current schedule has the new signals, which includes the 228 auto) being cut over in November so I might have to actually drive out there for this.

Fortunately this occurs at the point where I will be posting photos taken inside ALTO tower during a visit in 2005, but the new is still a disaster for the railroad signaling community as the last tower on the non-Amtrak PRR Main Line is about to close.  Fucking punch in the gut.

UPDATE:   Another day, another photo and more bad news.  Looks like HOMER is also on the chopping block with its PC era cantilever that juxtaposed an all amber automatic next to red eyes absolute signals.  At this rate I wouldn't be surprised if ANTIS and its two 3/4 track PRR signal gantries is in the mix as well.  Basically everything covered by ALTOs CTC machine.

Here are some photos.  More detailed ones are on the password protected Trainorders.com, but I am sure there will be no shortage in the coming months.

PRR Main Line Survey 2009 Part 6 (CP-LONG to CP-WORKS)

Picking back up at CP-LONG just west of Lewistown you can follow along
on the track diagram here

Also if anyone is interested in the official interlocking diagrams you
can download them here.

http://www.multimodalways.org/docs/rail ... %20Charts/

You'll want the 1998 Pittsburgh Division one.

Next up is the 172 automatic which uses position lights and distant to
CP-LONG. A mixed freight train is seen having just passed the signal
on the opposite track.

174 automatic is also position light masts and the 1tk signal is still
displaying Approach due to the freight train.

The 176 automatic and its position light masts is another distant, this time for CP-McVEY. On CTC territory interlockings are spaced ever 8-10 miles to allow efficient single-tracking / wrong railing
operations. This has the effect of making signals that aren't distants or home signals the rule rather than the exception as in times past when interlockings were installed much more sparingly.

Like CP-THOMPSON, CP-McVEY was an infill crossover installed in the late 80's CTC project. Here are the westbound position light mast signals set to the engineer's side of the track, which was still the style at the time. CP-THOMPSON and CP-McVEY are actually named after locations (Thompsonville and McVeytown), not people. An advantage to early settlement in the New World was being able to have whatever patch you set you farm up on after yourself which was later incorporated into more interesting things such as railroad interlockings.

The generous space between the two tracks belies the right of way's 4-track pedigree. As I mentioned before, most of the turnouts on the Conrail upgraded PRR main line are #20 and are good for Limited Speed (45mph).

The 2E signal at CP-McVEY was replaced sometime after 2000 with a
grand new position light. Unfortunately I pulled the trigger a bit
too early and got a close up of the original 4E signal.

But I managed to pull in a long shot that included the new signal. Thank god for steep regulatory requirements regarding alterations to interlocking logic. Of course recently that means when an interlocking is re-signaled old signals are just replaced instead of being wired into the new plant. Oh, note the new health and safety enhanced maintainer ladder.

Replacement ties have been dropped along 2tk at the 182 position light
automatic and distant to CP-McVEY.

Color lights at the 184 automatic. The left handed placement on 1tk
is a bit odd for an automatic signal.

186 automatic position lights. Note the Hot Box-Dragging Equipment Detector which used to announce itself as Newton-Hamilton. To replace the human eyes of tower operators, automated defect detectors are spaced about every 10 miles.

182 automatic is the distant to CP-JACKS and is mounted on a classic PRR gantry. The wb tk2 signal has a full lower head backing.

CP-JACKS is named for Jacks Narrows and includes a connection to the Mt Union yard. Mt. Union was the interchange between the PRR and the narrow gauge East Broad Top railroad, which now operates as a well known steam preservation line. Although currently out of service, Mt. Union has some of the last dual gauge trackage left in North America and it is slowly being restored.

The westbound PRR signal gantry is about 6 tracks wide to accommodate the old interchange tracks. The Mt Union connection uses a dwarf signal.

The interlocking used pneumatic points until about 2003 when they were replaced with US&S M23s.

Uh oh, it looks like the eastbound PRR signal gantry has reached the end of the line. The foundation is in place for another NS cantilever mast. While the amount of rust on the signals and gantry certainly belie some structural defect, the replacement of this particular signal is a real loss because the alignment of the two main modern tracks matched the alignment of the two old westbound tracks so the signals on the gantry did not have to be altered during either of the two major re-signaling projects. They are accessed via a short maintainer catwalk and the lower heads use the original PRR economic backing on the | array only. I was lucky to get such a good photo of it as CP-JACKS is isolated and does not have many ground railfans to document changes like CP-MIFFLIN did. Also note the now disused air tank to the left of the gantry.