Towns and Nature: Kalamazoo, MI: BO Tower: NYC/MC vs. NYC/LS&MS

(3D Satellite, Street View)

(Update: 1914 Tower could be torn down (The video has more photos and info than does the article. The tower was used until 2016.). Save BO Tower Facebook page)

Peter Dudley shared Mark Hinsdale's photo
Amtrak's Detroit / Chicago TURBOLINER passes BO Tower in Kalamazoo, July 1976
Harold J. Krewer Who'd have thought then forty years later the turbos would be long gone but BO Tower would still be open!

3D Satellite

The east/west route was the NYC/Michigan Central and the north/south route was a branch of the NYC/Lake Shore & Michigan Southern. This is another reminder of how competitive these two Michigan railroads were before NYC aquired both that LS&MS would build a branch into MC's territory. (Our first indication of the intensity of the competition was the crossing war in Chicago.) Another reminder of the competition between railroads during the horse&buggy days is that NYC/LS&MS paralleled PRR/GR&I north of Kalamazoo. Penn Central abandoned the NYC route and kept the GR&I route. As of 2005, NS still uses this stretch of the GR&I.

The tower has a similar design as the one that used to be at Porter Junction.

John Peters posted
An overcast day in April of 1955, H5 class Mikado #1414 chugs through Kalamazoo. NYC’s steam time is short in Michigan, as the last steam facilities on the NYC in the state will close by year end . (Gene Van Dusen photo)
Nate Hatton Great find! Hard to find steam photos of Kzoo!

Three photos and a comment posted by David Daruszka with the text "BO Tower, Kalamazoo, MI. April, 2010."

David Daruszka shared with the comment: "The tower is now dust. My late friend Frank Szopo got me in for the tour."

Jon Roma: That tower was a few months shy of a century of service when it closed on October 25, 2016.

Comment: "Exterior"

A couple of pictures posted by Jeff Williams with the comment:

This part of Kalamazoo, MI, where BO tower sits, used to be a railfan mecca. Now, it has become a beer lovers mecca as well. A brew pub has opened up across the street, and now there are cars and people everywhere. BO sits on the former MC-LSMS diamond.

Update:

Charles Geletzzke Jr. posted
What you see here was not a normal move; but rather a rare occurrence! Due to previous Conrail track damage GTW's KSR (Kalamazoo Switch Run, Train #521/520) was required to take a different route to reach Checker Motors on the north side of Kalamazoo. Here we see the KSR with the GTW 7014 (the normal assigned unit) running against the current of traffic on the Conrail/Amtrak Westward Main Track at BO tower in Kalamazoo on July 25, 1978. In the train are empty frame flats and an empty GTW 60-foot boxcar all to be loaded at Checker.

Peter Dudley posted
Old BO Tower in Kalamazoo MI is scheduled to close October 20, 2016. It's one of the last interlocking towers in Michigan, still equipped with actual human operators.
CSX Delray Tower (built 1945), located in southwest Detroit (within sight of southbound Fisher Freeway motorists), lives on, for the time being.
The attached Super-8 home movie still was shot from the cab of the westbound Amtrak WOLVERINE at Kalamazoo, 1988 (the tower is on the right):

Google has some photos and Streetviews of the tower. But you have to experiment with different zoom and cursor locations to get a good selection of views.

Mark Hinsdale posted three of his favorite photos to mark the closing of the tower with the comment: "Some favorite "BO" (BOtsford) Tower images, in recognition of the now retired Kalamazoo MI facility's long years of service..."

Howie Castellucio One is left......Delray.
Harold J. Krewer BO = BOtsford. Not sure what the significance of "Botsford" is (can't find a street or body of water by that name on Google Maps) but the yard east of the tower across the river was known as "East Botsford Yard." As always, your mileage may vary.
Howie Castellucio PRR, GTW, and NYC all shared a common interchange yard named Botsford.
Maybe at one time there was a town of Botsford Mi.

Mark Hinsdale posted three photos with the comment:

"Niles Turn"
During the years when one or both of my daughters were attending Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo MI, there were plenty of trips back and forth to this city on the old Michigan Central main line. I wanted to capture what little freight activity remained west of Kalamazoo, but the Conrail job that served the line operated only on Tuesdays and Thursdays in that era. A Monday evening holiday recital that my daughter was performing in provided the "excuse" to hang around long enough to catch the westbound Niles Turn the following day, departing town with the usual pair of Conrail GP38's.. December, 1996 photo by Mark Hinsdale

David Daruszka commented on Mark's posting
Taken not long before the tower was shut down.

David Daruszka commented on Mark's posting
Inside

Curt Danielewicz shared interior and exterior photos. There are more photos in the comments on this posting.
Peter Dudley The original late-1800s vintage wood-frame tower was replaced by the current brick tower in 1945.
Howie Castellucio The very last manned interlocking tower in Michigan.
Hallett is the very last manned one in Ohio.
Ken Borg No Howie. NS Bridge, CR-DSAA Bridge and DCRR Bridge are al maned interlocking towers in Detroit except DCRR, that is in River Rouge.
James Price Was inside 2 years ago. All levers still in place and fully operational, they work switches below on the first level to control switches and signals

Greg Bunce posted
BO Tower Penn Central/New York Central/Michigan Central Kalamazoo, Michigan July 3, 1973.

Richard Koenig posted

BO Tower, Kalamazoo, Michigan

This was the site of a fairly interesting interlocking at one time. Looking at a USGS map from the 1940s shows several railroads in town, though I’m not sure they all were involved in the interlocking.

By my reckoning, the New York Central (Michigan Central), the Pennsylvania (Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad), the Grand Trunk Western (now part and parcel of the Canadian National) and a road called the Chicago, Kalamazoo, and Saginaw all crossed very close to this point. A site I just visited also said that there are possibly two more roads involved: Michigan United Railways and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern.

The tower was built by the Michigan Central in 1915 and was just taken out of service a year or two ago.

One image by Richard Koenig; taken August 5th 2011.

Tom Carter posted two photos with the comment:

Ex-NYC Conrail SW7 8903 leads a very short train past the infamous BO Tower in Kalamazoo on a late summer day in 1982, as the friendly crewman on the caboose waves at yours truly. Click to see both photos entirely.

Ray Peacock Nice. This was after CR reconfigured BO. This train is headed to International Paper. GDLK goes by this spot these days. Original trackage LSMS Kalamazoo Branch. Also, note BO still has its windows, for the most. Even then it was ripe for automation but it lasted another 30+ years as active. Back then we just joked that Philadelphia just didn't see it on their radar.

Ben Higdon Not aware of International Paper ever owning one of the mills up there-in Parchment was KVP-Sutherland and on Patterson was i think Brown, later Sutherland. Guessing this was an extra move with a hot car, as that job always had a decent number of cars on it

Greg Bunce posted
BO Tower, Kalamazoo, Michigan July 3, 1973.
Greg Bunce shared
Crossing of the PRR, GTW and the MC.
Ben Higdon Great picture Greg! Have any more of the trackage around BO from that day? PRR was/is a block behind the photographer, the single track in the picture was the LSMS, the GTW was between the LSMS and the road and removed at/by the time the new south wye to the LSMS was put in around 1969. The CK&S crossing was a block east and removed around 1980, the north wye connection to the CK&S is present in the photo directly in front of the tower.

Greg Bunce commented on his posting
From 1910 Atlas of Kalamazoo county

Greg Bunce posted
Looking west at BO Tower in Kalamazoo, Michigan on the Michigan Central in March 1973.

Mark Hinsdale posted
Via F40PH #6428 leads Amtrak Train #364, the eastbound "International," past "BO" Tower in Kalamazoo MI on a February, 1997 morning. The Chicago Toronto train left both endpoints in the morning, bisecting Michigan's Lower Peninsula during daylight hours in both directions. Amtrak and Via Rail Canada shared equipment on the route. Photo by Mark Hinsdale
Ray Peacock Interesting windows are simply covered in plywood when they became bad ordered yet the Tower itself was operating for another twenty years.
Mark Hinsdale Yes. The abandoned looking, un-abandoned tower...

Mark Hinsdale shared

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
On July 25, 1978 we find GTW Train 521, the KSR (Kalamazoo Switch Run) in route with the empties to Checker Motors in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Due to on-going track work, this was an unusual move. The KSR had to pull onto the Conrail's (former MC-NYC-PC) Eastward Main Track, shove west, then BO tower lined them onto the Westward Main Track, and then north on the former CK&S. They had the regularly assigned unit, the GTW 7014. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo)
Jonathon Leese: I wonder if there was any actual reason 7014 worked the KSR for as long as it did, or if it just worked out that way.
Charles Geletzke Jr.: Jonathon Leese: It was a good dependable engine, required little maintenance, and was not required to have a toilet. It was able to handle all of the chores we asked of it. A good engine at that time!
Oren J. Londo: 7014 still alive on the coopersville & marne

Charles Geletzke Jr. shared

Charles Geletzke Jr. posted
Amtrak Train 351 with AMT 226 was seen passing BO tower in Kalamazoo, Michigan on May 1, 1977. (C. H. Geletzke, Jr. photo)
Charles Geletzke Jr. shared

Dennis DeBruler commented on Charles' share
When I zoomed in to verity that the operator was hooping up orders, I noticed that you caught a crew member leaning out to catch the orders.

Darren Reynolds posted four images with the comment: "BO tower (Kalamazoo, Mich.)."

Bruce Muehlberger posted
My Home for 12 years. 3rd Trick.

They removed the tower Dec 28, 2021 so some railfans have posted some of their photos of the tower.

Mark Hinsdale: 4 photos (source)

Richard Koenig: 2 photos "RIP: BO Tower, Kalamazoo, Michigan. The tower was built by the Michigan Central in 1915 and was taken out of service around 2016 or so. It was torn down today (December 28th 2021)."

Thomas Bowers: 1 photo

Steve Marshall: What did BO refer to?

Ray Peacock: Steve Marshall BOtsford (the name of the yard nearby)

Richard Koenig: 3 more photos

Todd Dillon: 4 photos

David Daruszka posted five photos with the comment: "Many years ago my late friend Frank Szopo managed to finagle a tour for me of Tower BO in Kalamazoo, MI. I read today that the tower was demolished despite preservation efforts. Time marches on, leaving dust and debris in its wake."