Vanishing Towers

Comments · 125

• OD

  @oddjobz9858 · 5 years ago

  This woman is doing gods work. This is a lost generation. Thank you for posting this

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• KE

  @kenjstl · 7 years ago (edited)

  As a former Milw Road opr, 1970-79; 85-88, I'd like to thank you for documenting what we did. You made some great videos inside the towers too. The Hours of Service Law limits dispatchers and operators to working nine hours in 24, but after listening to Ms. Stanley reminisce about never being sure how long operators might be on duty in case of emergency I remembered how I got this habit of over-packing for every contingency everywhere I go. And, all these years later, I still have this uncanny sense of time and can often tell the time without looking at the clock.

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• SH

  @shortliner68 · 5 years ago

  Back in the 1960s and '70s, the operators at B&Os Halethorpe, MD tower (HX) were very railfan friendly and would invite you up into the tower. The B&O had four tracks going by the tower and it was neat watching the tower operator throwing all the levers to move a train from one track to another. Really miss the human side of railroading.

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• CH

  @ChadQuick270W · 7 years ago (edited)

  Railroading as it should be! Thanks for sharing this with us. We’ll never see it again. It always amazed me that whenever a tower closed they just left everything inside and ran away as if the plague was coming. All those papers were just laying there. The best part of this video is the interview with the operator. Those stories and information are priceless.

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• MM

  @mmi16 · 1 year ago

  Hired out as an Extra Operator on B&O's St. Louis Division in 1865, transferred to the Pittsburgh Div. for the Summer of 1967 and then transferred to the Akron-Chicago Division in September 1967.  Got qualified as a Train Dispatcher on the Akron-Chicago Div. and established my Seniority on July 28, 1970 and got promoted to the B&O's Officer Training Program on Aug. 1 1970.  After almost 20 years as a company 'official' I had to exercise my Train Dispatchers seniority at CSX's Dufford Dispatching Center in Jacksonville in June 1990.  I retired in December 2016.

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• AU

  @austinyingst5902 · 7 years ago

  In the mid 90s a notice appeared in the B&ORRHS Sentinel that there were  only 10 Armstrong towers in operation and many were pictured in the video.  Pictures of the 7 (B&O) of 10 named can be found in Facebook, all dating to the mid 90s.  Thanks for the memories and interior views.

  7

• SC

  @scotabot7826 · 5 years ago

  Thank you so so much for allowing us to watch this wonderful time stamp of American Railroading!! It kind of gets sad toward the end, as our hearts and minds harken back to a much, much better time in our country. How sad it really is!!!

  5

• SH

  @Shipwright1918 · 6 years ago

  Before they&apos;re all gone, it&apos;d be nice to take a page out of the book the British have done with some of their signal boxes (basically their version of an interlocking tower). Some of them have been preserved as museums, either on site or they&apos;ve been taken down and re-assembled somewhere else, and a lucky few have been put back to work on heritage/tourist lines controlling the signals and the switches just like in the old days. A few tucked away in museums have even been connected up to computers effectively making them big simulators to demonstrate how they work or for dedicated societies who like to operate simulated trains over a simulated working day just for fun.<br><br><br>Have to admit a bit of personal involvement in the latter, I have a few simulations of the old US interlockings and British signal boxes on my computer, it&apos;s quite a challenge sometimes when things get hectic, but I find it relaxing to go pulling the levers and sending the trains where they need to go.

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• NO

  @normsweet1710 · 5 years ago

  Great education for this “70 something” old guy who likes mechanical stuff ! &nbsp; &nbsp;Thank You ❤️

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• CL

  @Clynikal · 6 years ago (edited)

  Ginger&apos;s good on them levers, not an easy job.

  15

• ST

  @stripervince1 · 7 years ago

  I worked as a signalman at Santa Fe mission tower briefly in Los angeles about 30 years ago. What a amazing place. &nbsp;I was in awe at the tower operators. They were sharp as razors. They had to be. Kudos to you ginger. Amazing job....

  7

• RO

  @ronselliers6951 · 2 years ago

  I was fortunate to have worked from 1973 until 1985 in 8 different signal towers on the Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis(T.R.R.A.). I started in 1970 as a messenger boy when I was still a senior in high school, became a railroad clerk and then transferred to signal towers after the clerk and tower operators unions merged. I worked WR, SH, CP Jct., Southern Crossing, Valley Jct., Q, ID, and 23st towers. Because of my seniority and being on the extra board I was the last operator at 4 of those towers. I was blessed to have always been allowed to qualify as a train dispatcher and finished my 43 year railroad career spanning 4 &nbsp;different railroads in 2013. My best memories are working close to the tracks and trains as a Tower Operator.

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