Nova, OH: (VN) Tower: CSX/B&O vs. Aban/PRR/Lorain Ashland & Southern

(Satellite, nature has consumed the Pennsy RoW.)

Moses Zacharewicz posted three photos with the comment:

I am conducting research on tower VN which used to stand in Nova, OH.   I'd like to confirm some information.

- It was built in 1895 for the Lorain, Ashland & Southern crossing of the B&O.

-  The LA&S was abandoned in 1925 and the LA&S tracks pulled up in 1942.

-  The tower remained active to control the B&O tracks.

-  It was partially actively in in 1978, and closed ?

-  The tower was razed 11/22/2013, but not before the interlocking machine was removed and delivered to the Huber Valley Historical Railroad. 

One of the historical photos from North American Interlockings shows semaphores, while the other has CPL's.   That would date the second photo to after 1924.

Brian J. Smith: I’m not sure if it was built there on speculation that the LA&S would cross at grade in that location. The LA&S did cross the B&O on a big timber trestle west of town at these coordinates 41.0384799, -82.3358539.

I want to say it was active up until the middle 1980s for part of the time, often staffed by the clerk from the Lodi depot when traffic needed to be routed on the wrong main.

Moses Zacharewicz shared

David P Harrison: Never understood the reason for the tower, until researching the Lorain, Ashland and southern, I was able to find more evidence of the abandoned railroad throughout Ashland county south to funk, and then castlauga near shreve.

1

2

3

 

Nate Beal commented on Moses' share
Always liked stopping by there. Here it is 2 months before it got demolished.

Daniel C Carroll Jr. posted

B&O VN Tower at Nova OH 09-1988 photos description. Mr Leininger.

Mark Hinsdale posted

The "Leaning Tower of Nova..."

On the ex Baltimore & Ohio main line at Nova OH, "VN" Tower, long out of service and having seen better days, bears witness to the westbound CSX Roadway Inspection Train, as two CSX Maintenance of Way employees also briefly pause for its passing. In a couple of years, this part of CSX's key east-west route would undergo a massive upgrade in preparation for the increased traffic that would result from the joint purchase and division of Conrail between CSX and Norfolk Southern. September, 1995 photo by Mark Hinsdale

Dale A DeVene Jr posted
Nova Tower in Nova, Ohio April 1978. It was still open as needed to facilitate single tracking as needed.
G.A. Lauterbur Former B&O mainline to Chicago. It stood in very poor condition until November 2013.

Logan Detwiler posted
Nova Tower in Nova, Ohio April 1978. It was still open as needed to facilitate single tracking as needed. A former CSX/Chessie/B&O Tower. Dale A DeVene Jr photo
Thomas Wentzel shared

 

Logan Detwiler posted
1978-Eastbound B&O freight train in Nova, Ohio, on January 22, 1978 before the blizzard of “78 with CPLs and VN Tower in the backdrop.  Photograph by John F. Bjorklund

Christine-John Yontz: Crossing over to run wrong main. Wonder if they got some orders from VN? Looks like the guys on the rail are cleaning switches. Cool photo.

Craig Cloud: Christine-John Yontz that or discovered broken rail and need crossover

The CSX/B&O is easy to find because it still exists. I had more trouble finding the north/south route until I significantly zoomed out. It turns out that the crossing was west of Nova, and it was easy to spot the old tree lines of the Lorain Ashland & Southern (LAS) once I was zoomed out far enough. It was easy to follow the tree lines from Savannah to Wellington to confirm that it was the LAS.

In case a farmer clears out a tree line, I'm saving what I saw.

Satellite

Steve McMullen posted
"VN" Tower, Nova, OH.
No longer owned by CSX, some little group in UTAH has it and is planning to gut it and save what's possible for rebuilding out there.
8-19-13
Zachary C. Gillihan: Ha figures csx. I passed on that train wreck! To unstable to recover!!
Steve McMullen: someone got some of the bars and other bits out of it….. it's gone now, I know they kept some of the timbers, not sure what they pulled from inside….. but if it fell.. all the metal probably would still be intact lol
Steve McMullen shared

The above post is the first of several photos of the tower. Click the right-arrow to scroll through them. Here is his photo of the interlocking.

Steve McMullen posted

Another one of his interior shots:

Steve McMullen posted

CSX tore it down in November, 2013.

Darren Reynolds posted five photos with the comment: "B&Os Nova "VN" tower, Ohio."

Darren Reynolds posted again.

Chuck McAbee: Worked Nova off the Extra List in 1967 & 68 A few years later an Extra Operator was killed, was handing up orders to a Westbound, but did not hold the signal against an Eastbound and ended up getting rolled between the passing trains.

1

2

3

4
Chuck McAbee: Knife switch on the lower right side of the model board was to place the signals on 'automatic' during the hours the tower did not have an Operator on duty.

5
All images from North American interlocking States A to Z and Canada

Fritz N. Kuenzel commented on Darren's second post
Here is a westbound going by VN tower. The bottom right of the photo says Fremming collection.

Dale DeVene posted, cropped
Eastbound auto rack train Q278 is zipping past the long out of service Nova Tower in Nova, Ohio on October 7, 2000. The tower would last a few more years before being torn down. Photo by Dale A. DeVene Jr.

Comments on Dale's post

Bill Heater provided two photos in the comments on a post about the B&O Ohio Junction.

Logan Detwiler posted 8 photos. Are any of them new?

Chuck McAbee: Even when Nova was a manned location it wasn't always manned 24/7/365 there were scheduled shifts when it was closed. There was a knife switch on the model board that, when thrown, would have the signals of the plant operate as automatic signals in concert with the rest of the signal system.