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| Mark Mitscher posted Pitken, Colorado on the DSP&P RR. |
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| Photo 14 from Classic Trains, Henry J. McCord New Orleans–St. Louis Rebel motor train at North Cairo, Ill., July 1946. [Comments on a posting disagreed with "North Cairo." It was Illinois.] Paul Turner It sits (or did sit) right above the Cairo Water Treatment plant, now Illinois American. Looking down on Bunge and the former Burkhart plant. Paul Turner Those folks at Classic Trains are great, and I’m a subscriber, but that’s not North Cairo. In RR timetable parlance, that’s, as the shanty indicates, Illinois. But that is Cairo, geographically in the general sense. I’ve climbed those stairs, there are 99 of them, as we counted them in High School. |
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| 1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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| Andrew Waldo posted Cairo, Illinois: Interlocker Tower, Mobile & Ohio Railroad/St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway. This Interlocker Tower was located at Levee Junction near Cairo, built only two years earlier. It was photographed on 1 May 1916. Credit: National Archives & Records Administration, ICC Engineering Field Notes, Mobile & Ohio Railroad, Illinois. Digital Image Collection of Andrew Waldo. [Note the signalling pipelines on both sides of the track.] |
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| Andrew Waldo posted Davis, Illinois: Interlocker Tower, Mobile & Ohio Railroad. This Interlocker Tower was located at Davis, near Cairo. It was estimated built in 1900 and was photographed on 23 May 1916. Credit: National Archives & Records Administration, ICC Engineering Field Notes, Mobile & Ohio Railroad, Illinois. Digital Image Collection of Andrew Waldo. |
Two views of the interlocking tower at Cairo Junction, Illinois. Located about 3 miles north of downtown Cairo, the tower protected the junction between Illinois Central's north-south mainline and Mobile & Ohio Railroad's line from St. Louis (the M&O had trackage rights across IC's Ohio River bridge; on the south side of the river, the M&O joined the IC at Winford Junction, KY).Cairo Junction also was the location where IC's line into the city of Cairo itself joined the mainline.The tower seen here was built in 1902. According to an article in the June 6, 1902 "Railway Age", the tower controlled 15 turnouts (a.k.a. "track switches"), 14 signals, and 1 movable point frog. This was an electric interlocking plant. In other words, when an operator turned a lever, a signal was sent to an electrical motor connected to the turnout or signal, causing that device to move.The signal equipment was supplied by Taylor Signal Company. Apparently IC was not happy with this equipment. The December 24, 1909 issue of Railway Age Gazette says the old equipment was replaced by new signal equipment supplied by General Railway Supply. The old building was kept, however.The tower had a short life. Disastrous floods hit the Mississippi River in 1912, and the Ohio River in 1913. The city of Cairo itself was spared thanks to several miles of levees and a downtown floodwall. But IC's track north of town was heavily damaged. In response, several miles of track were raised between Cairo and Villa Ridge. The tracks at Cairo Junction were raised about 5 feet, necessitating the construction of a new interlocking tower.Both photos, IC photographer, Cliff Downey coll.
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| EarthExplorer: Feb 21, 1952 @ 23,600; AR1SW0000010137 Dennis DeBruler commented on Cliff's share It appears that the replacement tower was in the middle of the curve of the connector. |
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| Chris Johnson posted North Cairo IL depot interior, 11/30/36. Larry Candilas: Would this be what is officially called Cairo Junction? Chris Johnson: Larry Candilas Probably so |
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| Mike Sypult posted North Cairo, Illinois on the IC. Clyde L. Anderson photo. Undated. |
Two views of the interlocking tower at Cairo Junction, Illinois. Located about 3 miles north of downtown Cairo, the tower protected the junction between Illinois Central's north-south mainline and Mobile & Ohio Railroad's line from St. Louis (the M&O had trackage rights across IC's Ohio River bridge; on the south side of the river, the M&O joined the IC at Winford Junction, KY).Cairo Junction also was the location where IC's line into the city of Cairo itself joined the mainline.The tower seen here was built in 1902. According to an article in the June 6, 1902 "Railway Age", the tower controlled 15 turnouts (a.k.a. "track switches"), 14 signals, and 1 movable point frog. This was an electric interlocking plant. In other words, when an operator turned a lever, a signal was sent to an electrical motor connected to the turnout or signal, causing that device to move.The signal equipment was supplied by Taylor Signal Company.Apparently IC was not happy with this equipment. The December 24, 1909 issue of Railway Age Gazette says the old equipment was replaced by new signal equipment supplied by General Railway Supply. The old building was kept, however.The tower had a short life. Disastrous floods hit the Mississippi River in 1912, and the Ohio River in 1913. The city of Cairo itself was spared thanks to several miles of levees and a downtown floodwall. But IC's track north of town was heavily damaged. In response, several miles of track were raised between Cairo and Villa Ridge. The tracks at Cairo Junction were raised about 5 feet, necessitating the construction of a new interlocking tower.Both photos, IC photographer, Cliff Downey coll.
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| 2 Jon Roma: There's a lot going on in this photo. From left to right: The stove door is wide open, and there are a couple lumps of coal on the tower's floor. The interlocking machine lacks a cover. Above the window at left is the model board; unfortunately, the track layout isn't visible. I see the ammeter and voltmeter to the right and below the model board on the left wall. At right background, I see someone's lunch basket. There's a CB&Q calendar on the right wall, and below it is a salt shaker. At near right, I see the three handles used to operate the three train order signals depicted in the exterior scene. There are three telegraph keys and a couple of sounders on the desk at right, but I don't see where they're wired in. There's more telegraph equipment on the leverman's desk. The blurred person who sits front and center is left-handed but doesn't look old enough to work for the railroad, though I could be wrong. Though I have seen this image before, it's one I never grow tired of. |
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| Stephen N. Brannon posted North Cairo, Illinois Tower. Junction of IC north-south main with GM&O St. Louis-Mobile main. Photo looks northward, IC on the right and GM&O branching off to the left. GM&O used IC bridge across Ohio River to Kentucky, then with joint double track a few miles south to Winford Jct. where GM&O split off on its own rails. |
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| Tommy Sowell posted Dad doing his thang. This was one of the motors ,that ended up being used for some merger advertisement pics. Jimmy Smallwood I remember one day we were standing out in front of the callers office and you dad had his grip setting on the ground there and Glen McCullar came up in his vehicle and ran over it. John P. Kohlberg posted a copy of Clyde's photo above pointing out that the rip-rap cars above look similar to the rip-rap cars in the background to the left of the Cairo Tower. |
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| John P. Kohilbert commented on Tommy's posting. [Note the GM&O marking. They had some yard tracks along the river back then. I wonder if these cars are kept here on standby in case they need to do any emergency repairs of a washout somewhere in Southern Illinois.] |
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| 1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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| Photo from HABS SC,10-CHAR,330A--1 from sc0394 EXTERIOR, NORTH END AND WEST SIDE |
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| Photo from HABS SC,10-CHAR,330A--2 from sc0394 GENERAL VIEW, NORTH (left) AND WEST SIDES |
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| Photo from HABS SC,10-CHAR,330A--3 from sc0394 NORTH SIDE, LOOKING SOUTHWEST |
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| Photo from HABS SC,10-CHAR,330A--4 from sc0394 NORTHEAST ENTRY PIER, FROM NORTHWEST |
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| 1977 South Carolina Department of Archives and History |
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| 2007 South Carolina Department of Archives and History |
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| Street View |
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| BestFriendOfCharleston |
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| safe_image for Do You Know Your Lowcountry? Charleston’s Union Station |
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| 1919 Charleston Quad @ 21,120 |
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| 3D Satellite |
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| Andy Wellman shared An aerial view of the Nahant roundhouse in west Davenport. At one time, there were about 6 of these in the Quad City area. This one and a trace of another exists in Moline. J Pete Hedgpeth This RH is former Milwaukee. RI and MILW joint track from West Dav. to Culver Tower at Muscatine. Morgan Bush The Roundhouse is still there. It was the home base of the Iowa Chicago and Eastern. Now it's Canadian Pacific. John Mennenga I live in the quad cities now and am fascinated by the Milwaukee road what presence did they have here? Ray Peacock You're looking at it, Nahant Yd. (but not the mains at the top of the pic, this was RI trackage starting at West Dav). MILW was half owner of the Dri-Line (Union Station Dav) running to Clinton, with the CB&Q. Crescent Bridge was DRi Line too, meaning Milwaukee had access to the Rock Island side and upriver at one time all the way to Savanna IL via E Moline and Port Byron! MILW ran on trackage rights from the Rock Island west of West Davenport to Muscatine (Culver Tower). At one time they ran to Eldridge and beyond on a branch.which CP uses to Eldridge. BTW, CP shut down the roundhouse last year for locomotive servicing. The fuel racks are still there but not nearly as much power is seen as in this pic as during the DME era or assimilation of it by CP as seen here. The DRi line was dissolved in 1995 today owned by CP and BNSF. Ray Peacock The way it was in the 60s/70s.http://godfatherrails.com/photos/pbl.asp... Here is a more recent Davenport environs collection from the Soo->IMRL->DME->CP era. http://heartlandrails.com/photos/pbl.asp... |
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| Mark Hinsdale posted Over & Under at "MO" When the secondary trackage to the west of Cresson PA still connected to the eastbound side of the ex PRR main line via the flyover. The entire plant was under the control of the operator at "MO." The bridge and tower are long gone, today. Dale V Rockwell: Cresson is still cool, but not even close to THIS cool!! Model board for MO now resides at The Station Inn. Mark Hinsdale posted again Today [Apr 1, 2024,] marks the 48th anniversary of the creation of Consolidated Rail Corporation, or, Conrail, as it came to be known. The U.S. railroad map, and indeed, the entire industry, would be forever changed, for better or worse. Here is a view of "Big Blue" I captured in August, 1994, at Cresson, Pennsylvania, on the ex Pennsylvania Railroad's main line across the Allegheny Mountains. Photo by Mark Hinsdale John Eagan: I never was able to get an angle like that! All of mine were west of the flyover so MO was barely visible. Kudos on a great shot Mark! Mark Hinsdale: Kind thanks, John. Almost an over/under but that eastbound was struggling uphill a bit too much to make it in time. [Gallitzin Tunnel is just a little east of here, so this town is just a little west of the summit.] Mark Hinsdale shared Mark Hinsdale shared Robert Singer: I got paid to watch the trains go by! I had a window seat at Alto, MG, AR, Mo, So, and C! Mark Hinsdale: Robert Singer, I did too! Started as an operator on the C&O in Detroit in 1971. I suspect your views at the towers you mentioned were better than mine, though! 😆 |
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| Craig Hensley Photography posted A set of patched Conrail helpers shove on the back of an eastbound freight passing MO Tower in May of 1977. Emery Gulash Photo. |
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| Satellite plus Paint |
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| safe_image for Conrail’s Cresson – Summit of the Alleghenies "A pair of SD40-2 helpers shove eastbound PIAL-3 over the mountain on October 24, 1994. Most of this Conway-to-Allentown freight is now moving downgrade, with the summit of the Alleghenies just east of this location." "Three mainline tracks of Conrail’s Pittsburgh Line, with PRR position light signals mounted to a railroad overpass. MO Tower’s operator could be heard barking out orders to mainline helper sets of SD45-2s to tie on or cut off, fuel and sand at the pit, and so on. Two coal branches radiate out from the area; Conrail’s Irvona Secondary to the northeast and the Cresson Secondary which connected a network of former PRR and NYC branches as well as Bethlehem Steel road Cambria & Indiana." The flyover was removed in 1995 to make room for doublestack container trains. [Two of the photos are of a 15 locomotive consist that arrived and shoved into the engine terminal.] |
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| Viral Media posted On one of the longest days of summer, Penn Central train No. 33, the westbound Juniata, drops down into Cresson, PA, after cresting the Alleghenies behind the usual ex-PRR E8. This New York-Pittsburgh day train was basically an ancestor of Amtrak's Pennsylvanian. The following day the troubled Penn Central would declare bankruptcy. June 20th, 1970. Photo Credit to Tom Nelligan. |
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| 1954 Ebensburg Quad @ 62,500 |
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| 1989 Cresson Quad @ 24,000 |
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| Apr 4, 1958 @ 28,000; AR1VTC000010030 |
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| May 12, 1972 @ 24,000; AR1VCYN00020174 |
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| Street View, Jul 2023 |
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| Yetemar-Kenyell Cross, Oct 2022 |
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| StormySky Rail Productions posted Pennsylvania Railroad caboose at the railfan park in Cresson, PA. Photo taken in 2022. |
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| Mark Hinsdale posted A rare, quiet moment at "Jay" interlocking, looking west from the platform at MTA Long Island Rail Road's Jamaica (Queens) NY station. May, 2008 |
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| Mike Pedian posted David Clapper Sr.: What are the 2 white buildings? Mike Pedian: David Clapper Sr. One right behind round house is the new back shop and the other is the Richmond Hill car shop and Back shop that was built when they shut down the original Back shop till 20 years later they built a permanent replacement. |
It’s cold, which means it’s time to set the switches on fire to keep one of the USA’s busiest interlockings running, with bonus M7 trains in the background.Taken this morning (2/17/24) at Jay Interlocking in Jamaica, NY, USA.
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