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.

Roanoke and Lynchburg Trip Report

 I recently had to the privilege of riding Amtrak's second daily round trip to Roanoke, VA, allowing for single day excursions to the Star City.  A similar second round trip was added to Amtrak's Norfolk, VA service and together these two trains represent the only scheduled Amtrak service on former Norfolk and Western trackage and therefore the only way for one to experience N&W signaling in person. An added benefit is that the reverse peak Roanoke train uses the shorter NEC morning/overnight trainsets with 2+1 seating Business Class section on the rear of the train which provides a railfan view. This would also be my first opportunity to survey the former Southern main line with a unobstructed rear view since Amtrak reversed their LD trainsets in 2015.  

The first observation is that NS did not restricting signal capabilities to most of their interlocking signals during their most recent re-signaling protect in the mid-2010s. This allows a train to follow closely behind another in the same direction. Instead following movements need to wait for the leader to clear the block or get permission past the stop signal. Providing for Restricting likely adds a bit more signaling logic to establish direction of traffic. Another change from the former Southern arrangement was that equilateral turnouts have now been given an explicit straight and diverging routes even though both routes have the same speed. On the N&W there remained examples where both routes at the end of a double track segment could get a "straight" clear.

Equilateral turnout with "diverging" route and no restricting at RIVERMONT

Equilateral turnout with "diverging" route and no restricting at RIVERMONT

South of Lynchburg where the Regionals change between the former Southern and N&W Main Lines, there is an uncommon "full complete" Southern aspect system signal with three lamps with three lights each. The presence of a bottom head is due to the slow speed route to the double wye N&W connection in addition to a medium speed crossover route.  It is unclear how approaching movements are informed of the difference between the two routes, but it is likely that *Y*, Approach Restricting, is employed. Although the next signal will not display a Restricting, the former Southern RR rule book listed *Y* as Approach Slow.  In theory Approach could also be used. Regardless, this would be a good location to observe the scheduled Amtrak Roanoke movements.

Full complete Southern type signals on both tracks at MONTVILLE interlocking.

 In downtown Roanoke there was quite the amazing track and signal complex.  Although all of the N&W Position Lights and pneumatic point machines have been removed, the sheer quantity of appliances all visible from the Amtrak Station or public streets makes the location a must visit. Oh, there are also two N&W interlocking towers standing at either end of the corridor.

PARK ST tower visible past a variety of N&W pattern color light signals in downtown Roanoke.

 The N&W signal system has a few speed indications, specially in the area of dwarf signals due to the use of PRR type position light dwarfs. Slow Approach (*Y*), shown below for the departing Amtrak trainset, is only able to be displayed on a dwarf signal and also happens to match the NORAC version. Placement of the yellow lamp in the center of a R/Y/G arrangement also allows for Y/G Approach Diverging and R/G Diverging Clear.

On the former N&W Blue Ridge Sub, we had to do a pull-in pass due to long PSR specials hanging out on the main tracks.  At WEBSTER interlocking we pulled forward into an occupied block, waited for an opposing train of empty hoppers to pass by over a Diverging Clear, then reversed with a permission past the stop making it likely that the lower head Y on track #1 was for Y/Y Advance Approach and not R/Y Restricting as per the previous commend about lack of Restricting indications.

I'm sure I could go on, but those are the most relevant points from my first passenger train journey over signaled N&W trackage.

Failure of PTC Escaping Railroad and Railfan Circles

 The problem with PTC and railroad safety regulation in general is that, despite having a lot of interest from transportation planners, advocates and enthusiasts, rail is still a pretty niche industry so when a "Think of the Children" type moment occurs there's not much in the way of interest groups to push back on ill conceived regulation or legislation. The Positive Train Control law is the poster child for this sort of bad lawmaking, but because rail has made itself so less salient than air or road transport, the complaints were falling on no ears. Well, it appears that this may be changing as some more main stream publications are picking up on the massive waste of resources PTC has been. 

A recent article from the right leaning pro free market publication Reason actually puts the annual cost of maintaining the PTC system at a staggering $850 million per year to maintain.  To put that in context, that is the cost of a starter light rail system that is pretty much being set on fire instead of being used to perhaps build a light rail system. The article is quoted below, but just keep the $14 billion install cost and ~1 billion annual costs in the back of your pocket when someone trots out the old "safety is worth any cost" argument.

Railroads spent a decade and billions of dollars fulfilling a costly federal mandate, at the expense of addressing less eye-catching causes of rail-related deaths.

Reason.com
by Christian Britschki
June 28, 2022

The latest Amtrak crash near Mendon, Missouri, that left four dead and many more injured contains a tragic lesson about Congress' misaligned rail safety priorities.

The accident occurred yesterday when an eight-car passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago derailed at a grade crossing after striking a truck that was obstructing the tracks. Three passengers and the driver of the truck died, and 150 were taken to nearby hospitals.

The grade crossing was "uncontrolled," meaning that it had no crossing guard arms, warning lights, or other safety features that are typically employed to prevent accidents at road-rail intersections. Accidents at grade crossings are a large portion of rail-related deaths.

According to safety data from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), 236 of the 896 rail-related fatalities in 2021 happened at highway grade crossings. Of those, 33 involved Amtrak trains. The vast bulk of the other deaths involved trespassers on railroad property getting struck by trains. There were also 168 suicides by rail in 2021, which the FRA reports separately.

This particular grade crossing has apparently been on the radar of both state officials (who had a plan to install safety improvements) and neighbors. In the wake of yesterday's accident, one farmer who lives close to the crossing complained to local media about the lack of safety features and the steep climbs that made it hard to see down the tracks.

Despite the frequency of fatal grade-crossing incidents, the major rail safety push over the past decade has been to prevent train-on-train collisions, high-speed derailments, and other exceedingly rare high-casualty events.

In September 2008, a passenger train in California collided with a Union Pacific freight train, killing 25 people and injuring 135.

A month later, Congress passed the Rail Safety Improvement Act that mandated railroads adopt Positive Train Control (PTC), an expensive suite of automation and communications technology that can automatically slow speeding trains down.

A common feature of federal safety legislation is that it adopts a very expensive solution to solving the last, most media-salient incident while ignoring more modest safety improvements that could prevent the more ordinary tragedies that capture less attention.

The PTC mandate was no exception.

It cost railroads an estimated $14 billion (about $2 billion of which was covered by federal grants and loans) over a decade [OK?] to comply with the PTC mandate, which was eventually fulfilled in 2020. The cost-benefit analysis of positive train control has never looked favorable.

The FRA estimated that the technology would provide about $90 million in safety benefits each year while costing $850 million to maintain. An earlier estimate by the agency found that it would have prevented seven fatalities over the course of a decade. (The infrastructure law passed by Congress last year does, to its credit, create a grant program to help pay for much-needed grade crossing removals, which probably should have been prioritized sooner.)

That the money spent on PTC provided little return in terms of safety improvements is only one problem with the mandate. Each dollar that went to the technology was one that couldn't have been spent on more efficacious safety improvements.

According to local ABC affiliate KMBC, Missouri officials estimated the costs of improving the Mendon crossing at $400,000. So it's possible it could have been improved long ago but for an expensive PTC mandate.

Just remember that Safetyism is a bi-partisan affair. The PTC law was signed by GW Bush from a Democratic congress and subsequent Republican administrations did nothing to attempt to get rid of it.  Some might say PTC has been most successful policy to kneecap passenger rail that nobody has ever heard of.

 

Amtrak Pneumatic News

On the southern end of the NEC two increasingly rare interlockings with US&S A-5 pneumatic point machines are facing their final weeks or months.  The first is PAUL interlocking, formerly UNION JCT at the northern end of Baltimore Penn Station. The plant, with 11 switches, is slated for reconstruction as part of a larger Penn Station redevelopment project that will see the construction of a new platform and the relocation of station operations from the historic 1911 structure to a new Amshack across the right of way.  The existing building will then be converted into a hotel. The new platform is progressing rapidly and new pre-fab turnouts with the new M3 electric machines are on site.

The interlocking on the south side of the station, CHARLES, was converted to electric point machines a bit over 20 years ago.

A bit closer to Washington, DC, the new HANSON interlocking project intended to replace the existing LANDOVER interlocking is also nearing some kind of completion after nearly 3 years of construction.  The new 3 track crossover is located just north of the existing LANDOVER plant and will provide access to track #1 south of the New Carrollton Station as well as some additional 80mph high speed crossover moves.  The good news is that LANDOVER interlocking will remain, but the bad news is that it will only cover the current 91 switch combining the 1F and 2F Landover Line tracks. All 5 pneumatic point machines will be retired.

Both of these interlockings are challenging to document due to overhead bridges with catenary shields. Any plans to do so should likely be done quickly.

A Tale of Two British Railway Signaling Public Information Films

 The UK is well known for a certain style of public information film that were professionally produced up through the 1980's. A couple go into great detail into the ins and outs of Railway Signaling and served as both a way to increase the public standing of the nationalized railways network in a time of both austerity and modernization and as a recruiting tool to bring new workers with new skills into said modernizing rail industry. 

The first film, entitled Electrical Engineering on the Railway and produced in 1962, falls more on the recruiting side of things as relay based "electric" signaling replaced largely mechanical manual block signaling on the busiest unresignaled main lines of British Rail. While this may been a bit odd as North American signaling has largely discarded purely mechanical signaling by the 1920's, Britain might get a bit of a pass given the toll a pair of World Wars took on its railways and economy.  Point of note include:

• A general lack of safety practices including, but not limited to protective clothing and burn pits for demolished signalboxes.
• The appearance of pneumatic point machines and North American supplied GRA Model 5A electric point machines.
• Rather flimsily looking track circuit bonding wires.
• The continued construction of brand new mechanical lever type interlocking frames.
• Some components of interlocking hardware being hand forged in house.
• A general use of North American pattern glass case plug-in and shelf type relays.
  

The second film, entitled Points and Aspects, was made in 1974 and shows the leap in British signaling from what one might call an updated basic CTC plan to something that was making far more use of computer and telecom technology to enable the so called wire area "Power Box" era of British signaling with as much automation as 1970's technology could muster..  This film is definitely trying to sell the public on British Rail not being a basket case and is worthy of their continued support and patience.  As a result an emphasis is given to the higher tech elements.

What is especially fascinating is that these two videos appear to span the moment when  the UK went from a very North American leaning approach to signaling technology, to a more European approach. Despite very different operating practices, North America and the UK had very closely aligned signaling supply companies with both GRS and US&S licensing UK technology and then supplying their own products back through local subsidiaries like Westinghouse. In the 1970's we are seeing the end of the glass case relays and Model 5 and M3 point machine that stared in the 1962 film.

British Power Signaling Channel Heads Down Under

About seven years ago I discovered the Youtube channel of one Ian Ives, who had posted a variety of VHS era videos from inside British power signalboxes (PSB's) in the early 1990's, such as this one of Glasgow Central.  Well as the way things tend to go I lost track of the channel until a recent keyword search brought it back on my radar.  It turns out that Mr. Ives has had quite the exciting career as over the intervening years he posted a number of videos from Australian signalboxes.  These are especially interesting due to the mix of British and American influences. 

For example he has some video of the operation of a local Australian copy of the GRS pistol grip style interlocking machine, only in Australia it is paired with pneumatic point machines!

A British style lever frame at Hurstville.

A British style panel controlling a US style CTC layout at Salisbury.

A British style miniature level power frame at Sydenham.

An interlocked and manually controlled grade crossing with a modern panel interface at Parramatta Road.

And finally a modern signaling center at Wollongong.

Just like in the US, Australia has been seeing its own drive towards the elimination of manned signalboxes and non-video interfaces so most if not all of the videos capture railway infrastructure that has been now lost to time. 

In addition to the tower content, Mr Ives has also posted a number of industry training materials including instructions on manual operation of every model of power point machine in service with the railway including pneumatics. 

Please check out the channel as many of the above example videos came in multiple parts. New videos continue to be posted so it might be worth subscribing to.

NASSAU Tower - Gone But Not Forgotten

You may recall that some years ago I was sounding the alarm about the pending demolition of NASSAU tower in Mineola, Long Island. Well, New York being completely dysfunctional, the demolition to make way for the LIRR Main Line Third Track project took far longer than anticipated, eventually taking place sometime between August 2021. The demolition was just in time for the complete collapse of peak-period commuter travel in the NYC area rendering the third track capacity expansion completely unnecessary (😢). 

NASSAU interlocking, sans Tower, February 2022.

Anyway as the third track megaproject continues to creep forward, someone spotted NASSAU's late model interlocking panel dumped out back near some storage containers. It was unclear that the fate of this artifact was to be, as in museum preservation, scrapping, theft or vanishing into a railroader's basement, however it is worth checking out for any signal fans who happen to live in the area (and who might own a truck and some high visibility vests, wink wink).

Apparently this panel type interface was replaced by a VDU late in the tower's existence as plans were carried out for the transfer of operations to the Jamaica dispatching center as was done with QUEENS tower a few years ago. Thanks to multiple visits to the tower while it was in service along with some contributed interior photos I plan to post a more complete retrospecting on NASSAU tower in the near future, so stay tuned for that. 

In other news the pneumatic movable point diamond at the NASSAU flat junction has been removed. A major maintenance headache, the diamond has been replaced by a second Oyster Bay switch onto main track one, creating a bottleneck by forcing all Oyster Bay trains to platform on the westbound local platform. 

You can see the new configuration in the LIRR Main Line 3rd Track plan.

This type of 2-tracks into 1-track configuration is extremely rare as it doubles the chance of a switch failure impacting main line traffic compared with merging both branch tracks before a single main track switch. This will also end of ritual of inbound and outbound Oyster Bay train passing eachother at NASSAU to minimize impacts to Main Line service. The ideal solution would have been a two track flat junction using full turnouts and a mid-platform signal on the new eastbound track 3. That would have allow for the option to use both platforms if extended wrong running on track #1 was not available.