Tower, Original: (
Satellite, half way between Union Valley Road and the McKee Run Creek)
Tower, Preserved: (
Satellite)
It was built between 1890-1900, and it had 32 levers. [
angelfire]
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Robby Beck posted
EB departing New Castle, Pa
[The tower operator is holding a hoop with train orders. I wonder if that conductor was supposed to grab his orders instead of waving to the railfan. If someone from a window had already taken the orders, I don't think the operator would still be holding the hoop near the caboose.] |
Note the yellow panel hanging out between two windows. It could be replaced by a red panel. There were also yellow and red lights for nighttime operation. Yellow meant "19" orders and red meant "31" orders. [
TrainOrders]
"Yellow to signal the train crew that orders were being hooped up to them and Red to signal the train had to stop, collect, and read their orders before proceeding." [
angelfire]
Darren Reynolds
posted seven photos with the comment: "B&Os "UN" Tower West Pittsburgh, Pa."
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[I always appreciate a view of signalling pipelines. These pipelines were replaced by powered switches that were controlled by the armstrong levers. The interlocking plant still controlled the levers even after the pipelines were removed.] |
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Darren Reynolds
posted eight photos. Let me know in the comments which one is the new one.
UN also controlled movements of trains to and from the junction with the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad on which the B&O had gained trackage rights between McKeesport, PA and New Castle, PA in 1934 to run P&LE's level river route along the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers avoiding their own hilly and winding P&W route north of Pittsburgh, PA. The Pittsburgh and Western was a former narrow gauge line bought up by the B&O and converted to standard gauge during the B&O's push westward to Chicago.
The P&W and P&LE Routes converged near West Pittsburg allowing for an interchange of traffic between the P&LE and B&O in New Castle Yard. CSX would eventually take over the P&LE on September 12, 1992 giving dispatchers two routes through the Pittsburgh area.
Because UN Tower was built in a strategic location B&O, Chessie System, and CSX management always saw to it that only the most experienced tower operators were assigned to work UN. Mr. Don Piccirillo was the last operator to work UN Tower for CSX and he recalls that four operators worked UN around the clock with a fifth man working the extra board.
Mr. Piccirillo states that "UN was a complicated place to work". "All trains got orders at UN and that kept the operator on his toes". An operator would have to contact three different dispatchers (New Castle Sub, P&W, and P&LE) just to move a train through the interlocking. Likewise the P&LE dispatcher would have to call the UN operator to move his trains into New Castle Yard.
Movement past UN Tower required three sets of train orders depending on how the train was routed. Generally more orders were needed to go East to the P&W or P&LE than West toward Ohio. "When hooping orders, you could catch an Eastbound from the first landing on the stairs and the caboose three steps up from the ground" Said Mr. Piccirillo.
P&LE is on the left, and B&O is on the right. Today, CSX has the P&LE route and
Buffalo & Pittsburgh has the B&O route.
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| 1958 New Castle South Quad @ 24,000 |
"This was one of the last 'armstrong' towers in operation on the former B&O lines. After it closed, it was moved to nearby Mahoningtown where is has been cosmetically restored for display." [
TrainOrders]
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| Todd Dillon Flickr, Jun 2012 |
I saw a comment that suggested it needs to be preserved again. Other comments indicated that the interlocking plant was probably not preserved.
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HawkinsRails
It was built in 1907. "Today the station is the official home of the Beaver-Lawrence Railway Historical Society." |
They have been adding track to their exhibit.
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