Springfield, IL: Ridgely Tower: UP+Amtrak/.../GM&O/C&A vs. IMRR+UP/.../Chicago, Peoria & St. Louis

Doug Hefty posted
Four GM&O units pass through Springfield IL 1976

It took some detective work to find the location of this junction. I put dots in the Chicago & Alton name because the corporate history, including bankruptcy, after ICG sold it has been discussed before, and I'm too lazy to find that discussion. I put dots in the CPStL name because the full name is evidently Illinois Midland/Jacksonvile & Havana/Chicago & Illinois Midland/CCStL/CPStL. The SPV Map does not have an entry in its Appendix for CCStL.

Update:

Nick Goedecke posted
Steve Smedley North-bound at Ridgely

Stephen Perrette posted
ICG F3A 1615, leads a train over the C&IM diamond, by Ridgely Tower in Springfield, IL. The engine leads a BN F7, and another GM&O F3. This was one of 3 F3's to get the ICG treatment. This scene captures the essence of 70's railroading, with quite the variety of color. 9/7/74 original photo by Richard Wallin. Part of my slide collection.

Randall James: Ex GM&O F3 #805A with a precision national great northern F7A leasing unit followed by a GM&O F3, the 1946-1947 built EMD F3's stayed in active freight service until 1978, some of those old units had over a million miles on them by the time they were retired or sold off GM EMD💪

Niels Dale: I've never seen an ICG livery F unit... nice. Also love the semaphore signals.

Stephen N. Brannon posted
Order Board is set and Orders are hung on the forks for a northbound GM&O at Ridgely Tower, Springfield, Illinois where the GM&O St. Louis-Chicago main crossed the C&IM.
Richard Fiedler shared

Stephen N. Brannon posted
Several in this group said they worked Ridgely Tower in Springfield, Illinois. Here is another shot of it with the order board set for orders for northbound GM&O and a southbound C&IM crossing the plant.
Richard Fiedler shared
Richard Fiedler shared

Rick F posted two images with the comment: "Was looking some of my collection of unbuilt kits and located this paperwork about Ridgley Tower. Shows what levers to pull to route trains thru the plant."

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Bob Guhr posted
Chicago Ridge, IL, ca. late 1950's. Indiana Harbor Belt and Wabash. The train is on the Belt; a fan trip hauled by Dick Jensen's ex GTW 5629.

Keith Bunner posted
Bill Edrington Northbound at Ridgely Tower, crossing the C&IM

Steven Kent posted
Ridgely Tower Springfield, Illinois
GM&O crossing the C&IM off Sangamon Ave.
John Mann Ridgely had the last manual Armstrong lever in Illinois I think

Bob Rusciolelli posted three photos with the comment: "Back during the days of the GM&O, Ridgely Yard was a beehive of activity. Today, there is nothing there. Don't remember what was going on in the second photo, but that was a spurt of activity. Must have been some major track repair work going on. The old switch chart from inside Ridgely Tower. Notice how many switches were abandoned. Note the top of the chart "Ridgely, ILL. This area at one time was a suburb of Springfield. Annexed in to Springfield in 1907."

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Bob Rusciolelli posted nine photos with the comment: "A variety of photos of the old Ridgely Tower when it was still in operation in Springfield, IL. I had a photo of the lower section of this tower, but beats me where it went."

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Steve Drassler posted seven photos with the comment: "UP Ridgely Tower bit the dust on August 8, 2011 after serving under a long list of railroads. Exterior views are to the north, across the Illinois Midland RR (former Chicago and Illinois Midland Ry). Photos from about 2010."
[This is another town claiming to have the last staffed tower in Illinois. There are still a few in the Chicago metro area. UP itself has the JB Tower in West Chicago.]

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Don Wetmore posted six photos with the comment: "A visit to Ridgely Tower in Springfield, IL on Sept 4, 2009.  It was the last Armstrong tower in service in the US.  It was demolished in Aug 2011.

Photos by Don Wetmore"

Do

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Dennis DeBruler: Thanks for the closeup of the signalling pipelines.

Larry Senalik posted

Illinois State Fair - Springfield - unknown date

#sangamonvalleycollection
Bill Edrington Ridgely Yard (Chicago & Alton/Alton Railroad/GM&O/ICG, with B&O as a tenant) is visible at the right. Just south of it, across Sangamon Avenue, is Ridgely Tower, where the GM&O and C&IM main lines crossed.
Rick F This photo is before 1935 as the Sangamon Ave underpass at 16th St. hasnt been built yet and it was dedicated in 1935. If you look you can see that it is a grade crossing at this time.
Rick F There is even a street car on Peoria rd just south Sangamon Ave.
William Ankrom Thornton's gas station on the west side by fairgrounds main entrance. Ns took out 15th st crossing next to C an IM diamond 1985

Bob Rusciolelli posted
Nothing exciting here. Just a couple of U.P. engines sitting on the siding in what looks like and early spring day at Ridgely Tower in Springfield.
Dennis DeBruler Actually, I'm kinda excited about the nice view of the signal pipelines.

I'm parking this coaling tower in these notes because I can't find a Ridgely, IL and because it is a rather unique looking coaling tower.

Dave Durham posted
Coaling Station, C&A R.R., Ridgely, Il., 1907
Brian Wilcoxon Ok thanks I'm guessing just south of the yard where Peabody mine was.Dennis DeBruler Wow, there are coal mines under most of Springfield: https://www.isgs.illinois.edu/.../topo-mines/springfield.pdf

Dennis DeBruler commented on Dave's post
Google Maps doesn't know about "Ridgely, IL." Would it be near Ridgely Tower in Springfield? But the only towers I can find in a 1938 aerial are at the north end of the yard. The south tower looks like the water tower in the photo. But the other tower looks like only one side of the coaling tower. http://clearinghouse.isgs.illinois.edu/.../0bhd02114.jpg
Dave Durham Dennis DeBruler yes ridgely tower is the general vicinity of the Coaling tower.
Dave Durham If you Google Ridgely Illinois, the 3rd link gives a really good description of the boundaries of Ridgely; more info as found...
[I was not able to find the documentation of boundaries that Dave mentions, but he confirmed this yard is the correct area for the tower.]

safe_image for Barriger Flickr
[The comments imply this is an ALCO FA and discus the termination of passenger service.]

Noah Haggerty posted
CMNW GP38 #2043 leads a northbound manifest through Ridgely Tower in Springfield, Illinois. The short-lived Chicago, Missouri & Western was the operator on the ex-GM&O from 1987 to 1989. John & Roger Kujawa Photo, Thomas Dyrek Collection.
[You can see an Iron Man and signalling pipelines in this view.]
Bruce Schreiber: So what’s happened to the tower since CMNW ?
Noah Haggerty: Bruce Schreiber Torn down in 2011. Here’s a cool video of it
 https://youtu.be/NM3QdlNVTtQ?si=ZI1wFzKl2Vp6uWkd [21:02 video of the demo. Removes a big chunk at 6:49. Another big chunk at 12:05. I think he is lifting the interlocking machine at 13:24. And at 18:08 I think we see the signalling pipelines that left the building.]

safe_image for HighHor$epower Flickr

UP grain train at Ridgely Tower

An empty Pontiac grain train thumps across the Illinois & Midland diamond at Ridgely Tower back in April 2010.

This northbound train will hold at North Ridgely to meet Amtrak 301 and get runaround by the Texas Eagle.

UP 5700 - AC4400CW

UP 6159 - AC4400CW (rear DPU)

UP 7202 - AC4400CW (rear DPU)

Ridgely Tower - Springfield, Illinois

April 29, 2010

Springfield rewind posted two photos with the comment: "Ridgely Tower (photo 1)  demolished in August 2011 and replaced by a railroad switch (photo 2) operated from Omaha."

Robby Huffman shared

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Noah Haggerty posted two photos with the comment: "CMNW GP38 #2036, one of three locomotives painted in a scheme honoring the former Chicago & Alton, is seen at Ridgely Tower in Springfield, IL, switching cars in the yard. Given the pellet hoppers and Caterpillar load, this may be the Springfield to Mexico, MO train. John & Roger Kujawa Photo, Thomas Dyrek Collection."

Richard Todd: Ridley was a great spot to watch trains. The operator on weekends was usually willing to tell us when something was running.

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Los Angeles, CA; Union Station

If you are here because of "Sterling, OH: CSX/Chessie/B&O RU Tower vs. CSX/Chessie/B&O," then you need to go there.

West: (Satellite)

East: (Satellite)

Jenni Phoebe commented on the post below
come on. The AI bot posting this should know this image is reversed.

Historical Los Angeles USA posted
Birdseye View of Los Angeles Union Station Under Construction (1936)
[The rest of the description is just platitudes.]

Marilyn Bidwell commented on the above post
My grandfather was a Civil Engineer in Los Angeles and worked on the track design of the Union Station. This is one of his aerial photos.

Martinez Rodrigues: Backwards image of the 45 acre site that was soon to be LAUPT. If you look close you can see the structural steel skeleton of the main waiting room and concourse and nearly complete clocktower. In addition to the terminal and tracks and sheds, was construction of a Pacific Electric LCL Railway Express facility on the Aliso St South end, a LARY yellow car trolley loop on the Brooklyn Ave. North end and construction of a new US Postal "Terminal Annex" adjacent to LAUPT to handle mail, package and Express, since most shipments went by rail. The three tennent railroads Southern Pacific, Santa Fe and Union Pacific would also have ticketing and passenger agent, baggage and express facilities and offices. The layout design had it's limitations as it was a stub end terminal with no through tracks all arriving trains had to be backed out or broken apart and hostled out, and departing trains had to be backed in for departure. This design flaw is soon to be rectified with construction of new through tracks with fly over of 101 Frwy. to speed up Metrolink and Amtrak service.😉

Doug Evenson: Seems they are building more than ten landings.

Today’s station has five!

Sailor Pahl, Mar 2022

Has it been permanently converted to an event space or can it be converted between a waiting room and a space?

Joshua Keith, Apr 2023

West side:

Street View, Dec 2020

East side:

Street View, Aug 2024

This image was moved to "Sterling, OH: RU Tower: Erie vs. B&O vs. B&O."

This image was moved to "Sterling, OH: RU Tower: Erie vs. B&O vs. B&O."

This image was moved to "Sterling, OH: RU Tower: Erie vs. B&O vs. B&O."

This image was moved to "Sterling, OH: RU Tower: Erie vs. B&O vs. B&O."

This image was moved to "Sterling, OH: RU Tower: Erie vs. B&O vs. B&O."

This image was moved to "Sterling, OH: RU Tower: Erie vs. B&O vs. B&O."

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Logan Detwiler again posted 8 photos. (source)

Terre Haute, IN: Dewey Tower: INRD/Milwaukee vs. CSX/C&EI

yyy

Eric Berg posted
[Comment was replaced by the following comment.]
Eric Berg posted

A northbound Milwaukee Road train comes over the C&EI diamond at Dewey Tower in the summer of 1969.  The engineer reaches out for his train-orders that are in the fork.  Dewey Tower was located on the north side of Terre Haute at MP 174.75.  Call signs for the tower were "DE" and run by Milwaukee men.  The 31-lever plant (13 levers for switches & derails, 6 levers for 8 locks and 2 crossing bars and 13 levers for 13 signals) was a Saxby & Farmer Machine installed in 1907.  Maple Avenue spur came off and around the southeast quadrant of the diamond.   I would say that the photo is looking south from 25th street.  Photo by John Fuller.

My guess is that this Milw southbound train #82, but I don't know for sure.  It's a great shot.  In those days, this was the clutter for railfans shots...cars, M-O-W trucks, telegraph poles and maybe even the train order signal.  Nowadays, we love this stuff in these old shots.

Leader appears to be MILW F7A #79-A which was built by EMD in December of 1949.

Southbound Milw #82

Dewey Tower

Terre Haute, Indiana

Crossing of Milw/C&EI

Circa Summer 1969

John Fuller Photograph

Richard Fiedler shared
Tim Shanahan shared
Ronald Boles posted
A northbound Milwaukee Road train comes over the C&EI diamond at Dewey Tower in the summer of 1969.  The engineer reaches out for his train-orders that are in the fork.  Dewey Tower was located on the north side of Terre Haute at MP 174.75.  Photo by John Fuller.

Caden Love: Would the semaphore have been for train orders? Looks like the colorlight signal in the background may have a round TO sign on it.

 

Eric Berg commented on Caden's comment
That was a call on signal under the tri-light head.

safe_image for photo
Dewey Tower, Terre Haute, IN

Satellite

To my surprise tracks still exist on both routes. But the rail has been cut south of the diamond on the CSX/C&EI route. The east/west route is now Indiana Railroad (INRD), which was the CP/Milw/CTH&SE.