Harrisburg, PA: Museum/Pennsy HARRIS (HG) Tower

(Satellite)

Smokestacks are becoming as rare as railroad towers.

Street View, Sep 2011

This tower handled trains at the Harrisburg Pennsy Depot. The Rockville Bridge is just a little (timecard) west from here.

Harrisburg Chapter NRHS posted two photos with the comment:

SOON! Harris Tower opens for normal Summer hours starting on Saturday, May 31st at 9 AM. Then open every Saturday (9 to 3) thru the end of October. 

Be sure to visit our PRR position light (PL) that you can control from your 'smart phone' device.

As a reminder, the Power Director's Office is still a work in progress, and only available for pre-arranged tours or events.

Jim Kelling shared with the comment: "HARRIS tower museum in Harrisburg Pennsylvania is open this summer."

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Eric Victor, Jun 2024

 

Eric Victor, Jun 2024

I think this is the interlocking machine.

Nikki Salov, Sep 2023

John Purbrick posted three photos with the comment: "A couple of weeks ago I completed a bucket-list item: I went to Harris Tower in Harrisburg. It's open every Saturday in summer, and the National Railroad Historical Society guys will show you around and let you pull the levers yourself. I only did that very experimentally, because I had to find each lever's corresponding number on the board! Of course an experienced leverman would know all of that. The guide will point out how there is a worn-down strip in the floor in front of the machine, but not right at the center. That's because the two levermen walked back and forth in front of the left and right halves of the machine, but usually didn't walk the whole way. Apart from the levermen, there would be a train director calling out the orders to them, a tower operator in contact with the dispatcher, and an assistant to the director who was obviously the office gofer (but usually responsible for keeping the lists of equipment in passenger trains, so that the director could form a plan for changes in train makeup as needed)."

Jim Kelling: Also visit the power director’s room in the station (usually open when the tower is open, or check with tower staff) for an excellent interpretation of how it operated. I posted some photos of it last March.

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