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| 20141013 0094 |
While taking pictures of grain elevators in some of the towns along US-45, I discovered a railroad tower that is still standing in Ashkum. I took this overview picture to include the signalling bridge because it will shortly be history because of the government mandated installation of Positive Train Control. That little "SOUTH ASHKUM" signalling shed and colored lights is what replaced the tower and mechanically controlled semaphores or searchlight signals.
I got some closeups of the north side and confirmed that any signalling rods going from the tower to the signals and switches had long since been removed. There used to be an outside staircase (more info below) that went up to the door in the northeast corner of the second floor.
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| Northeast corner |
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| Northwest corner (trackside) |
I didn't get a closeup of the south side because, as I can show from this overview of the depot, elevator and tower, the south side was just one big window in the second story.
Normally, towers are at junctions where one railroad crosses another. Why would there be a tower out in the "middle of nowhere?" When I found the following reference, I got an answer --- the tower controlled crossover switches for the mainline.
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| Excerpt from PDF at 25% |
(I spent some time looking at the details in the PDF. In addition to the outside stairwell excerpt on the right, you see the roof was slate, the gutters and downspouts were zinc (won't rust), concrete mixes of 1-2-4 and 1-2.5-5, maple flooring that is 13/16" thick, how the signalling rods left the building, two 3.5" rods for telegraph cables, etc.)
But, as is typical when doing research, when I find some information that answers a question, more questions arise. In this case, For example, was the turnout to another track on the east side for another passing track? And I'm still surprised how big the tower is given that it is controlling just a few turnouts and some diverging road signals. It not big because they just built a standard size. The PDF indicates a detail design was drawn for this location. But the design does reference standards for such items as the cove moldings.
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| A close-up of the signalling heads in the picture at the top. |
The crossovers still existed when they upgraded from tower control to remote control because you can see that they just sawed off the masts that held a second signal for each track. Two signalling heads are used to display the status of the through track and the status of the diverging route. (I noticed that the order of the colors in the signal head is opposite of the order in a traffic light.) I looked at a satellite image to confirm that the crossover switches are now gone.
To my surprise, the double track main becomes just one track south of the tower. The double track main extends north for just over a couple of miles.
The "passing track" on the above location plan is now a service track for the
elevator.
(
Facebooked)
Update:
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Mike Sypult posted
The long inactive Ashkum, Illinois interlocking tower on the former Illinois Central Chicago District. Electric interlocking was installed in 1924, tower was closed in 1951 and replaced with CTC installation at the Gilman station. October 3, 2019.
Mike Sypult photo
Mike Sypult From Trainorders: In the early 1920's the IC had 3 main tracks as far south as Otto which was 60 miles from Chicago. Between Otto and Gilman there were two main tracks. To increase capacity of the two main track section the IC built 4 interlockings at approximately 5 mile intervals. Those interlockings were located at Otto, Chebanse, Clifton, Ashkum and North Gilman. Between interlockings both tracks were signaled in both directions. |
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Mark Hinsdale posted
Its an overall nasty, cold, wet winter day at Ashkum IL, as the sleet falls and Inland Steel empties head south. 12-29-81 |
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