Weverton, MD: B&O (VO) Tower: mainline vs. Hagerstown Branch

(Satellite, the Hagerstown Branch now contains a parking lot for the C&O Canal Trail)

In the background I can see a water tower. The dark building this side of the water tower might be the B&O depot. The white building on the right was probably the lock house for Lock #31, and it is still standing.

Darren Reynolds posted

Looking west at B&Os "VO" tower

Weverton, Maryland

5/1933

By:Henry Wilhelm

David Paul: Wow a movable point crossing inside of a double crossover.
Randall Hampton shared
Gary Elder: Was there once a branch that went up to Hagerstown? From weverton.
Dennis DeBruler: Gary Elder Yes. I would include the map from a 1967 employee timetable, but the "photo" icon on Facebook comments no longer works for me. I found the map on pdf page 30 in https://wx4.org/.../1967-04-30B%26O_Baltimore95-seabass.pdf
Darren Reynolds posted
I'm sorry but I forgot to add B&Os "VO" tower..Weverton,MD .. this tower Tower was closed in the early fifties and the interlocking machine moved over to WB Tower in runswick,MD.. you can see the interlocking machine if you go to the Brunswick railroad museum.. it's definitely worth the trip..  May 1933. Note: this is where the line cuts off and goes to Hagerstown... Other tracks going straight go to Harpers ferry,WV "HF" tower...
Wesley Paulson: When was the Hagerstown branch abandoned?
Darren Reynolds: Wesley Paulson late '70s early '80s

This is the map that Facebook would not allow me to add to the comment.

1955 Harpers Ferry Quad @ 24,000

The above topo shows the branch leaving the mainline significantly west of the lockhouse. But this 1969 topo shows the branch did leave down by the lockhouse. I always thought that the topo maps made in the 1950s were rather accurate. These maps teach me that I have to pay more attention to the maps made in the 1960s.

1965 Harpers Ferry Quad @ 24,000

The more I looked at the photo, the more signalling pipelines I saw. There is a massive number of pipelines along the outside of  the left track. And I put a red rectangle around some pipelines that are crossing under the tracks to operate pipelines along the sides of the middle tracks.

Darren Reynolds post plus Paint

The B&O Hagerstown Branch. 

1954 Baltimore Quad @ 250,000

I accessed a 1965 aerial photo to try to confirm the location of the tower.

EartExplorer: Mar 28, 1965 @ 24,000,  AR1VBDO00010144

But I could not find it even though the photo had well defined shadows. So I got the only older photo that was available, 1959. Unfortunately, its resolution is not near as good. I can see a couple of black lines north of the lockhouse and south of the road. I think the western line must have been the shadow of the tower. It looks like the tower was removed between 1959 and 1965. 

EartExplorer: Dec 12, 1959 @ 60,000, ARB593502702519

Darren Reynolds posted two photos with the comment:

The Baltimore and Ohio Railroads 

"VO" tower 

Weverton,  Maryland

Shu Mitsui: When did VO go dark?

Darren Reynolds: Shu Mitsui around the late 50s it was closed and the model board was put in "WB" tower...

1

"VO" tower was a Standard B&O design( But much bigger) the tower Controlled movements in and out of the entrance of west Brunswick yards..and Controlled the Hagerstown branch..After the tower closed the Interlocking was Controlled from "WB" tower

Photo by: Frank Garon Collection

2

Looking West at "VO" tower and the town of Weverton

(If you zoom in) you can see the station and hotel

Photo by: Henry Wilhelm NRHS May 1933