The CSX/B&O branch goes north to Cleveland.
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Daniel C Carroll Jr. posted B&O-RU tower at Sterling OH 10-1988 photos description. Mr Leininger. |
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| Mark Hinsdale posted We've had two days of dark fog and drizzle in Chicagoland, with at least two more forecast to be on tap. In thinking about a vintage view that conjures up the exact state of the "pea soup" weather around here lately, this one immediately came to mind. Appearing out of the gloom, an Erie Lackawanna (EL) eastbound manifest train passes "RU" Tower in Sterling, Ohio during February, 1975. The engineer's arm can be seen stretched out of the window, preparing to grab orders out of the delivery staff. At Sterling, EL's east-west main line crossed Baltimore & Ohio's (B&O) own, parallel east-west route, on four shallow angle, movable point diamonds. Additionally, B&O's branch northward to Lester, Lorain and Cleveland broke off the main here, providing plenty of train action in a decidedly rural setting. Sterling was also the scene of a horrific derailment and fire ten years earlier, in January, 1965, after a westbound B&O train slammed head on into an eastbound EL freight at the crossing, killing all five railroaders on the locomotives of the two trains involved. February, 1975 photo by Mark Hinsdale Mark Hinsdale shared |
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| Doug Hefty shared DigitalDurf's photo On of my favorite hang outs in my "formative years" was Sterling, Ohio. The EL and B&O mains crossed each other and traffic was always plentiful. The tower had friendly operators that were willing to explain railroad operations to a novice including what the "iron man" was. In this 1975 photo of 2ndNY100 the engineer is leaning out of the window to grab his "19's" on the fly. The 19 orders were how such things as slow orders and meets were relayed to a train and were typed out on a thin onion skin type paper. The rear end crew would also pick up a copy the same way. The iron man was the tall pole that the op could string the orders on in lieu of standing next to the train and "hooping" them up. This was everyday railroading back then, but it's basically a lost art these days. |
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| Roger Durfee posted Erie Lackawanna 816 leads a westbound at Sterling, Ohio in late 1975. Richard Fiedler shared |
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| ICC Photo from Accident Report [This photo shows how the Erie went from 70' to the south to 70' to the north. (The B&O engineer ran a red stop signal and a "pick up train order signals.")] Rick Shilling posted Aftermath of 11 Jan 1965 head on crash of Baltimore and Ohio and Erie Lackawanna trains at Sterling, Ohio crossover that cost the lives of 5 crew members.
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| Trainbook posted Erie Lackawanna Railway-Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossing at RU Tower in Sterling, Ohio, on October 11, 1975. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-55-13-19 Here it is: https://railphoto-art.org/.../erie-lackawanna-railway/... |
Mark Llanuza posted two photos by Don Ellison that were marked Ohio City. Someone pointed out B&O's CPL (Color Position Lights).
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| Logan Detwiler posted CSX train R136 blasts eastward past Sterling tower at mp BG155.5 on the morning of June 3rd 1989 with a trio of ex-SBD B36s and 1 Chessie GP40-2. This junction is where the Erie and the B&O once crossed, and where the CL&W subdivision still branches northward for Lorain and Cleveland. The tower, which was staffed by the Erie and then Conrail, has since been torn down and the Erie rails have been pulled up. Roger Durfee photo |
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| 1961 Rittman Quad @ 24,000 |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Logan's post Apr 4, 1960 @ 19,000 https://earthexplorer.usgs.gov/scene/metadata/full/5e83d8e4870f4473/AR1VZJ000020089/ |
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| Logan Detwiler posted Free For All Friday-It is Summer 1985 in Sterling and the operator from Sterling Tower is about to hand something, probably train orders, to a crewman on Western Maryland 4317. Credit to Robert Farkas. J.B. Rail Photog shared |
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| Roger Durfee posted Another one from the vault......Western Maryland SD35 #7436 wears a pretty fresh coat of Chessie in August, 1976. The location is Sterling, Ohio where the B&O and Erie Lackawanna (far side of the tower) crossed and the CL&W headed north for Cleveland and Lorain (track in the foreground). |
Logan Detwiler posted two photos with the comment:
Richard Jacobs spent a lot of time over the years photographing the Erie Lackawanna and Baltimore & Ohio mainlines west of Akron. One of his favorite places to hang out was Sterling where the two railroad crossed at RU Tower.Here are two images of B&O trains passing the tower. The top photo was made in July 1974. The tower operator is giving the westbound train an inspection as it passes the tower. Note the railfans also getting their photographs to the right. Perhaps Jake and these guys were railfanning together.The bottom image of an eastbound was made in February 1972. Today the former B&O mainline is the CSX New Castle Subdivision. The tower and EL tracks are gone.
Tim Shanahan shared
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| Steve LaConte ommented on Logan's post 11-06-1990: From Amtrak Broadway/Capitol inaugural train in dome car. Sterling Tower |
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| Logan Detwiler posted A Westbound Baltimore and Ohio Railroad freight train heads west through Sterling, Ohio, on May 21, 1977 with EMD GP40 4053 and EMD GP40-2 4192 running elephant style on Main 1 passing RU Tower in the backdrop. This line at one point was the former B&O mainline from Washington to Chicago. This line is now the CSX New Castle Subdivision. RU tower is now gone. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2015, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund Curtis Tate: Someone should know this: When there was a serious discussion about Chessie taking over much of the eastern end of the EL, isn’t Sterling where they planned to cut it over? Michael Schwiebert: Curtis Tate yes. Chessie didn’t need the EL west of there. |
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| Roger Durfee posted A bit of a rare bird got to lead a SeaLand doublestack train. GP39 4280, the former C&O 3900, is seen at Sterling, Ohio, 09-04-1988. The tower was former Erie Lackawanna, then Conrail for a while before CSX took it over in it's final years. Russell Wiggins: Being that there were only 23 GP39's built (and 2 of those had DC generators), the C&O's 20 units make this model almost unique to the railroad. |
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| Bill Rettberg Jr. posted Different view of grabbing orders. Eastbound on CL&W, coming onto B&O main at Sterling Ohio. Crossing over the EL mainline as well at this point |
Darren Reynolds posted six photos with the comment: "Conrails (Ex-Erie Lackawanna)
"Sterling" tower
Sterling, Ohio"Tim Shanahan shared
Jim Kelling shared with the comment: "RU tower at Sterling Ohio (B&O/Erie Lackawanna)"
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| 1 "Sterling" tower with a fresh coat of Conrail blue paint... After Conrail abandoned the EL the B&O took over... Photo by: Scott Wertans May1980 |
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| 2 The operator at "Sterling" copies train orders.. Probably for the B&O as that railroad used a lot of train orders... Photo by: David P. Oroszi (No Date) |
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| 3 The model board at "Sterling" tower May 1980 Photo by: Scott Wertans |
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| 4 The old days at "Sterling" tower as an EL train passes by the tower. Photo by: David P. Oroszi (No Date) |
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| 5 B&O F-7s are passing by "Sterling" tower with a long Train. Photo by: David P. Oroszi ( No Date) |
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| 6 [The description is wrong. This is obviously a track diagram.] Chad Winans: 1909 on bottom left corner. Not the way it was in the 1980’s. |
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| Logan Detwiler posted Erie Lackawanna Railway-Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossing at RU Tower in Sterling, Ohio, on October 11, 1975. Photograph by John F. Bjorklund, © 2016, Center for Railroad Photography and Art. Bjorklund-55-13-19 Dave Ori: Sterling was equipped with a US&S 88 lever multiple unit frame machine. It had 73 working levers which controlled signals and derails within the interlocking limits. Tim Shanahan shared Thomas M Dupee: The site of a horrible collision involving an EL train and a B&O January 11, 1965. Bob Zoellner: You can see the Pollard moveable-point diamonds in the foreground. Trains would move through here! Bill Haines: Looking west on the EL. |
Rich Gunther posted 14 photos with the comment:
The Marion Union Station Museum in Ohio is a pretty special place if you’re into the interlocking details this group thrives on. I spent hours there on Saturday with the legendary Pete White, going over the impressive collection in detail. The variety of machines is really impressive, and I saw stuff that I had never seen the likes of before. As an operator back east, I worked mostly with Model 14’s, a couple of US&S CTC machines and one GRS TCS machine. Getting to see the stuff i never worked with, described in great detail by Pete was pretty special. Some of the machines are set up to work with their model boards, with the interlocking functions set up to demonstrate the operation, and also some operate signals next to the machine. It’s the kind of place that if you’re into it, you’ll want to spend hours.
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| 1 Machine from Erie’s RU Tower, Stirling, OH. US&S machine, built to a spec from another company they took over in the early 1900’s. Evidently, one of three know to have been built. Jon Roma: Rich Gunther, this was a US&S product called the "multiple unit electric interlocking." The Erie/B&O plant at Sterling, Ohio (which was operated by the Erie) was written up in "The Signal Engineer" in 1910. A PDF of the article can be found on my website at https://tinyurl.com/4z8dck9z. I missed my chance to see this machine at Sterling by a year or so, but I got to see it several decades later at Marion. I'm not quite sure why US&S decided to create a model that competed with its successful Model 14 electro-pneumatic machines and its electrical counterpart, which was largely identical to the Model 14 except for the method of power used to operate switches and signals. Whatever the reason, I think they only sold two or three – the machine at Sterling being the first one – hence the above-linked writeup. Rich Gunther: Jon Roma Maybe to compete with GRS pistol grip machines. From my point of view, this design has one advantage over the operation of a typical machine where if an operator throws multiple switches for a move and throws them all over in rapid succession normally he would have to wait till each switch went over and locked in the field before finishing the throw on the lever, thus touching each lever twice. This machine automatically finishes the throw with that “trigger” function once the switch is lined, so you’re touching each lever once instead of twice to complete the alignment. Good for lining multiple switches at once. Jon Roma: Rich Gunther, the flaw in that theory is that Taylor and GRS pistol grip machines in vogue during that era (1910) relied upon dynamic indication to operate switch levers from normal or reverse indication position to their respective full normal or full reverse positions. So the US&S Model 14 would have been on equal footing with the GRS Model 2 unit lever machine. It was only in 1930 that the mammoth 576-lever GRS Model 5 machine at Cleveland Union Terminal dispensed with the lever locks that prevented the levers from completing their stroke. One could make the entire line-up in one interrupted sequence; the SS circuits would only clear the signals when the complete route was properly lined. Perhaps, on the other hand, Union's multiple unit electric interlocking was intended to do what GRS couldn't – a full two decades before the Cleveland installation. By this time, of course, the handwriting was already on the wall for new installations using mechanical locking. I don't suppose US&S considered their multiple unit electric interlocking a success; given all the engineering that went into its design, to see only two or three installations must have made it a money-loser. Though I imagine the self-indication mechanism may have been troublesome, I still wish I had ventured over to Sterling to see this in operation. At last I have seen the preserved pieces in Marion! Rich Gunther: Jon Roma Great description! Not bring too familiar with the GRS machines, the ones I had seen had the “interrupted” sequence. |
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| 2 GRS pistol grip on the left, partial machine from the NYC Berea Tower, RU to the right. |
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| 3 Pete with US&S S-8 machine from the PRR tower in Warsaw, IN. The model board is from the tower in New Paris, OH, and is a composite material from Western Railroad Supply Co manufactured on 3/23/45. The PRR contracted with them to make model boards in the early 40’s, maybe due the metal normally used being needed for the war effort. |
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| 4 F Tower (Fostoria, OH) NX machine. Most of the trackage there is intact. |
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| 5 US&S Table top machine from Ohio City (Erie tower). |
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| 6 Stanley Tower’s board. Jon Roma: I was up in Stanley Tower exactly once – what a bizarre track layout it had! Jim Sinclair: Jon Roma, Stanley tower was one of my regular "haunts" during the mid to late '70s. The regular afternoon operator (Bob Sipe) was friendly and didn't mind occasional visits. It was fascinating listening to Bob converse on several telephones, multiple block lines, several dispatcher lines, and run the machine! 😲 This guy knew his plant well, and he never missed a beat! 👌👏☺️ |
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| 7 Cool CTC style machine, but actually used in directional ABS (251) territory. Panel blocks right on the machine. New to me. Also had the graphic train movement sheet function. |
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| 10 Hiles Tower board, New London, OH. |
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| 11 Worthington, OH remote board. Early GRS, love those blocking devices. CP56 board on top. |
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| 12 AC tower’s Taylor machine and board. |
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| 13 Pete at the machine. It’s set up so it’s interlocking functions operate as it did when open. |
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