Roll Call for interlocking towers in Michigan

[Todd Cline]

I haven't seen this topic addressed lately. I live in Battle Creek, the only active interlocking tower I am aware of is BO Tower in Kalamazoo. I'm guessing there are a few around the Detroit area, but I don't know.
Anyone here know of an active, manned, Interlocking tower in Michigan, let's start a list. As I said, my only confirmed active tower is BO in Kalamazoo, so I'll start the list with that one...
I suppose a description should be included as well.
BO Tower controls the crossings of the ex-MC main with the ex-LS&MS, and ex-GR&I in downtown K-zoo. Used to be much more than that, but that is another topic.

1. BO Tower. Kalamazoo MI.

[GP30M4216]

2. Delray, Detroit. Controls the crossing of the CSXT/NS (C&O/Wabash) with the Conrail Shared Assets (NYC) mainline to Toledo and the junction with the Shore Line "Old Main" CN line (DT&StL). Also controls crossing protection at Dearborn Avenue (CSX/NS side only after about 2006)

3. Conrail (Rouge) Bridge, Detroit. Controls the bascule lift bridge over the Rouge River. Former NYC mainline. Also controls FN in Trenton by remote when that tower closed ca. 2002.

4. NS (Rouge) Bridge, Detroit. Controls the bascule lift bridge over the Rouge River. Former Wabash. Also controls the adjacent junction with the CN "Shore Line" route, and a portion of the Foreman Wye. I'm not sure if they control anything going into Oakwood Yard or anything near the Salt Spur.

Delray, CR Bridge and NS Bridge all coordinate regularly to move trains through the area and to allow river and rail traffic to try not to tie up nearby yards or grade crossings.

5. Shortcut Bridge, River Rouge. Controls the bascule lift bridge over the Rouge River, connecting Zug Island to River Rouge. Delray Connecting route. Operators also drive across the island to raise the 141 bridge, or the swing bridge (rarely, if ever), as needed. I think they also control a couple switches or something as well.

The only other "tower" I know of is the operator's tower on the St. Joe Swing Bridge, CSX Grand Rapids Sub. An operator is on-duty 24 hours a day during the shipping season. Up until recently they also controlled the west end of the double track through Benton Harbor, but I believe all they now control are the bridge itself, the home signals and the derails.

Besides BO, I think that's it. Sad. FN (Trenton), Schaefer (Dearborn) and Milwaukee Jct. (Detroit) were among the last to shut down, but even those were around a decade ago. BO was built ca. 1887. Happy 125th birthday!!!

[Notch 8]

What is instore for the BO Tower, Still controlled by NS ? Why does the NS still have their hand in this ? Amuses me really but neat to see a tower none the less.. However I would not enjoy that job. looks a little boring !

[GP30M4216]

I can't tell you what's in store for the tower, but yes, NS still operates it. No NS trains come within miles of the tower's location. This strange fact has to do with NS current operating practices and the lease to the Grand Elk:

If I recall correctly, Grand Elk either owns outright or has a long-term lease on the Elkhart-Grand Rapids main line, and a few branchlines connected to it (BO 2ndary, Otsego Branch, etc.). NS retains ownership of the Michigan Line, and Botsford Yard, and Grand Elk has trackage rights over the portion from BO to the east end of Botsford, so their trains can get from the mainline to the yard and back. So the mainline the NS still owns is beside the tower which NS still operates. Prior to the Grand Elk changeover, NS ran four daily road freights through Kalamazoo, plus several locals. Once Grand Elk began, two road freights became GDLK (the Elkhart-GR trains), while the Elkhart-Kzoo-Jackson-Wayne) NS trains began taking a routing via Toledo and Dearborn to serve he remaining NS traffic east of Kalamazoo. NS traffic west of Kalamazoo on the Michigan Line, which had been held by longtime NS job B-1-G (the namesake of this original website), became based out of the west end at Burns Harbor, instead of the east end at Kalamazoo. So local jobs approach Kalamazoo down the Michigan Line, but the Burns Harbor job turns back west at Lawton, and the Battle Creek job turns back east at Augusta. So no NS traffic passes to or through Kalamazoo. I'm not sure why NS wanted to keep operation of the tower and didn't want to turn that control aspect over to Grand Elk as well. I expect there was some kind of a good reason.

Pre-Grand Elk, yes, BO was not "busy" per se, but there were enough trains on all shifts (probably 18-20 total moves per day, fewer on weekends, although not all of these trains directly passed the tower) to keep the operator awake. At least a couple road trains (NS 38J and 37E) typically ran after dark, as would NS local B56 and B17, during the 11pm-7am trick. Today's night shift would probably see just the southbound 302 job to Elkhart.....unless there's another job that runs in the wee hours. All Amtraks, the CN, and most GDLK traffic seems to run in daylight, last I heard, which is only a few less moves in total than in NS days.

Remember, BO controls more than just the diamond beside the tower. It controls the Grand Rapids branch diamond one block west, operations on the entire BO 2ndary up to Parchment, the Upjohn 2ndary to Portage, the Gibson switch, the PJ switch to the CN, the crossovers at Harris and View (hand throw), and the West Botsford switches and signals, plus the crossing protection from 1 block east of the Amtrak station to Harrison. The Gibson switch is part of the reason BO was not eliminated during NS days - the operator would have to go "mobile" and realign the switch by hand from normal (to BO) to reverse (to Grand Rapids) any time a road train were going that way. With Grand Elk's current operating practices, I'm not sure that's much of an issue. Also, in NS days, the BO Tower op would be required to "hoop up" (via a home-made iron-man) track bulletins to 38J for their brief trip on CN eastbound through Battle Creek, probably one of the very last places in the country this happened. Now that nothing regularly goes north then east on the Michigan Line beyond Kzoo, this has stopped as well. I'm not sure if it was necessary when NS ran their re-routes through here at various times since then or not....

[tsinoms]

The only other "tower" I know of is the operator's tower on the St. Joe Swing Bridge, CSX Grand Rapids Sub. And operator is on-duty 24 hours a day during the shipping season. Up until recently they also controlled the west end of the double track through Benton Harbor, but I believe all they now control are the bridge itself, the home signals and the derails.

Sadly they don't use the box on the bridge anymore. It's all in a small box near the signal where the operator sits.

[GTW6401]

There have been over 50 interlocking towers across the state over the years. Some lasted longer than others.

[M.D.Bentley]

The NS bridge controls Ecorse jct . Lincoln Industrial, Junction Yard running track, EB & WB mains(NS.CSX.CR.CN.CP) and Victoria jct.(CN) Conrail bridge controls #1 & #2 mains between YD and Delray and Delta yard and the bridge lead from Rouge yard. As well as the St Marys lead and the former interlocking known as "FN".(NS.CR.CSX.CN)

[JANGAJONGA]

I can't tell you what's in store for the tower, but yes, NS still operates it. No NS trains come within miles of the tower's location. This strange fact has to do with NS current operating practices and the lease to the Grand Elk:

If I recall correctly, Grand Elk either owns outright or has a long-term lease on the Elkhart-Grand Rapids main line, and a few branchlines connected to it (BO 2ndary, Otsego Branch, etc.). NS retains ownership of the Michigan Line, and Botsford Yard, and Grand Elk has trackage rights over the portion from BO to the east end of Botsford, so their trains can get from the mainline to the yard and back. So the mainline the NS still owns is beside the tower which NS still operates. Prior to the Grand Elk changeover, NS ran four daily road freights through Kalamazoo, plus several locals. Once Grand Elk began, two road freights became GDLK (the Elkhart-GR trains), while the Elkhart-Kzoo-Jackson-Wayne) NS trains began taking a routing via Toledo and Dearborn to serve he remaining NS traffic east of Kalamazoo. NS traffic west of Kalamazoo on the Michigan Line, which had been held by longtime NS job B-1-G (the namesake of this original website), became based out of the west end at Burns Harbor, instead of the east end at Kalamazoo. So local jobs approach Kalamazoo down the Michigan Line, but the Burns Harbor job turns back west at Lawton, and the Battle Creek job turns back east at Augusta. So no NS traffic passes to or through Kalamazoo. I'm not sure why NS wanted to keep operation of the tower and didn't want to turn that control aspect over to Grand Elk as well. I expect there was some kind of a good reason.

Pre-Grand Elk, yes, BO was not "busy" per se, but there were enough trains on all shifts (probably 18-20 total moves per day, fewer on weekends, although not all of these trains directly passed the tower) to keep the operator awake. At least a couple road trains (NS 38J and 37E) typically ran after dark, as would NS local B56 and B17, during the 11pm-7am trick. Today's night shift would probably see just the southbound 302 job to Elkhart.....unless there's another job that runs in the wee hours. All Amtraks, the CN, and most GDLK traffic seems to run in daylight, last I heard, which is only a few less moves in total than in NS days.

Remember, BO controls more than just the diamond beside the tower. It controls the Grand Rapids branch diamond one block west, operations on the entire BO 2ndary up to Parchment, the Upjohn 2ndary to Portage, the Gibson switch, the PJ switch to the CN, the crossovers at Harris and View (hand throw), and the West Botsford switches and signals, plus the crossing protection from 1 block east of the Amtrak station to Harrison. The Gibson switch is part of the reason BO was not eliminated during NS days - the operator would have to go "mobile" and realign the switch by hand from normal (to BO) to reverse (to Grand Rapids) any time a road train were going that way. With Grand Elk's current operating practices, I'm not sure that's much of an issue. Also, in NS days, the BO Tower op would be required to "hoop up" (via a home-made iron-man) track bulletins to 38J for their brief trip on CN eastbound through Battle Creek, probably one of the very last places in the country this happened. Now that nothing regularly goes north then east on the Michigan Line beyond Kzoo, this has stopped as well. I'm not sure if it was necessary when NS ran their re-routes through here at various times since then or not....

is there any sort of interchange between the GDLK and NS? like a Hinman to Botsford interchange

[SD80MAC]

Grand Elk interchanges with NS at Elkhart.

[bctrainfan]

Nope, no NS/GDLK exchange between Hinman and Botsford (now called Gearhart yard i think?). A few months ago, Kellogg's had a string of old boxcars in Battle Creek headed to the torch in Kalamazoo, and NS would not just have their local (B57?), which already goes all the way to Augusta most every night, take 'em directly to Kalamazoo, and insisted on routing them BC/Wayne/Toledo/Elkhart/K'zoo which caused a pissing match between NS and Kellogg's over the cost. I am pretty sure they did eventually go the long way though

[westdetroit]

FN (where my dad once worked until they closed it) is now called Rodney. I don't know why they changed the name since my dad is now retired. Obviously it's named after someone but I don't know who.

[M.D.Bentley]

There is a thread about the name change, I do not know how to link it . The real question is when did FN become FN and what do the initials stand for ? I've looked back about 100 years and all I could find was that it was called FN. Your dad might have some insight.

[cbehr91]

FN was probably its telegraph code

[M.D.Bentley]

I know that all towers were reduced to 2 letters during the telegraph era to speed thing up. And there is more than one FN interlocking out there ( but not in MI any longer ). But everything has an origin or local tie i.e. Mill st.(CR/NS/CN) is near Mill st. Ecorse. Coolidge (CN) is near Coolidge ave. River Rouge. Beaubian, (CR/CN/NS) is at Beaubian st. Detroit. etc etc etc. The 64 dollar question is.................What is FN short for ? Queue jeopardy music.

[Fred]

It is my understanding that Alexis Tower was N, the tower at Pleasant St was YD, and the tower in Trenton was FN and Nasby was AV due to their "call" on the telegraph key.

[Ypsi]

Does anyone know the call sign for DELRAY tower? Been looking online and can't find one.