BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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Conrail Quality
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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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NS3322 wrote:
Sat Nov 20, 2021 6:10 pm
Conrail Quality wrote:
Sat Nov 20, 2021 1:24 pm
PatAzo wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 3:47 pm
The fundamental problem is what to do with the tower if it were moved? Lacking a renewed purpose there isn't the financial backing to save it. If there were a IRM or Strasburg in west Michigan it could be a historic addition. To just move it to an empty lot somewhere would leave it's future in the same jeopardy it is today.
Just a thought, would this tower be of any use to the Greenfield Village Railroad/Henry Ford Museum? I mean if I remember correctly, Greenfield Village has a few historic railroad buildings that were relocated to their property.

Edit: of course, I realise had this organization been interested it would had been done already. Just seems like a neat addition to their railroad and a way to save a piece of railroad history. Wonder if they even knew about the tower coming down?
The rumor is they looked at it, and decided against bringing it to Dearborn. Although, they may have ended up with the interlocking machine?
Thank you for the info, sorry for my late reply. That would be cool if something got saved if the tower can not.

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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The interlocking machine sets on the concrete at ground level and extends up to the second floor running almost the length of the tower. The rack that does the mechanical logic function sets just above the second floor. The lower half is mostly the lever mechanism that used to go out the track side. The retrieve the interlocking machine you would have to disassemble the building from around it. That is part of the problem with moving the tower. It's not as easy as a house.

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by chapmaja »

justalurker66 wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 6:00 pm
12Bridge wrote:
Mon Nov 15, 2021 11:24 am
They got a $49,800 FEDP grant for the demolition.
Granted September 2020: FRA's Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements (CRISI)

Michigan – Trespass Prevention and Pedestrian Safety Enhancements on the Michigan Line (Multiple Opportunity Zones)
Up to $15,619,365
Michigan Department of Transportation
Seeks to eliminate trespasser hotspots along the rail line from Dearborn to Kalamazoo, Michigan, owned by the Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT), by improving eight grade crossings, closing another crossing, and installing approximately 157 miles of right-of-way fencing. The hotspot locations are found in downtown Dearborn, Ypsilanti, Ann Arbor, Albion, Augusta, Galesburg, and Kalamazoo. Trespassing incidents have resulted in 12 deaths between 2016 and 2019.

This $15.6 million was applied to the $89,949,191 FY21 budget.

So ... removing the tower is "trespasser prevention".
Unfortunately trespassing incidents (aka suicides) have added two more deaths of UofM students this week alone near Ann Arbor. One was near Gallup Park and the other in Scio Township near Delhi Rd.

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by ~Z~ »

BO Tower ripped down today, 12/28/21, per a post by Schteinkuh.

When I lived in Kzoo, I'd often hear BO tower talking to 49J or B19 as their tail end went by, saying they were clear of BO with a marker. It was then time to head out of the apartment near Kilgore to watch the train come by 10ish minutes later.
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Conrail Quality
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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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Sad day indeed. 😔

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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Can confirm BO is no more. Just went by where it used to be.

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by GTW Dude »

Does anyone have photos of the demolition or the current site?

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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GTW Dude wrote:
Wed Dec 29, 2021 10:31 pm
Does anyone have photos of the demolition or the current site?
There’s been a ton plus some livestreams shared on Michigan Railfans on Facebook

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Farewell BO Tower

Unread post by Tom49801 »

A nice almost 11 minute video about the BO Tower in Kalamazoo with an interview of a former Tower Operator & then the demolition of the Tower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGLq8YPLJys

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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by GTW Dude »

Writer for Classic Trains Kevin Keefe wrote probably one of the nicest gut wrenching goodbye notes to any railroad item I’ve seen in a long while.

https://cs.trains.com/ctr/b/mileposts/a ... tower.aspx

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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by Robertrains »

Here's a video of BO Tower's during the latter days of operation in 2016! I never got the greatest picture at the Tower! I tried in 2009 and 2014! Video © MQT1223: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7kENFTyPdw
Robert Jackson (Extreme Railfan/Bluewater and Michigan Transit Museum member)

http://cooltrains.rrpicturearchives.net/

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by GP30M4216 »

PatAzo wrote:
Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:40 pm
The interlocking machine sets on the concrete at ground level and extends up to the second floor running almost the length of the tower. The rack that does the mechanical logic function sets just above the second floor. The lower half is mostly the lever mechanism that used to go out the track side. The retrieve the interlocking machine you would have to disassemble the building from around it. That is part of the problem with moving the tower. It's not as easy as a house.
This was exactly the problem. The building was almost built around the interlocking machine, which is technically two stories in height and rigid as a battleship. Meanwhile, the wooden tower structure around it was being held together by tension rods to try to keep things square and upright. To preserve it, you would almost have had to carefully disassemble the entire tower structure, disassemble the interlocking machine, move it to the new site, and reassemble, replacing things that were broken, worn, or too deteriorated in the process. Asbestos, likely lead paint, and minimal maintenance for so long made it a challenge. Such close proximity to a busy passenger rail line made that almost impossible, even with interested preservation groups.

I was told that some parts of the interlocker had been offered to another railroad museum that has an interlocking tower/interlocker equipment. I don't know if that ever came to pass.

As a side note, from the almost 5 years of living in Kalamazoo, the one thing I wish is that I had made some audio recordings of the tower communicating with train crews. Copying Form D's, giving roll by inspections "clear BO with a marker!", talking with the dispatcher, throwing the switch at Gibson as "mobile BO."

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Re: Upcoming BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by PatAzo »

GP30M4216 wrote:
Sun Jan 16, 2022 11:10 am
I wish is that I had made some audio recordings of the tower communicating with train crews.
Last edited by PatAzo on Sun Nov 12, 2023 3:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Proto48Patrick
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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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"around the wye with a marker"

I'll never forget it.
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Ben Higdon
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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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I always appreciated Bob Biddle answering calls as "B.O. in the tower" or "Bo Tower".

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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by Ben Higdon »

I wonder how many times I heard "keep'm coming ELLA" and was out the door within a few minutes...
I can't remember the terminology used when BO would tell a crew the CN bulletin was out to be picked up. "order's in the hoop" or something like that

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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by MQT1223 »

Very little if anything was saved from the tower when it came down. The interlocking machine was destroyed in the demolition process. My guess is whoever got the contract to bring BO down knew they weren't going to make anything on it unless all of the Interlocking machine was left to scrap given the rest of the building was rotten wood and asbestos.
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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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Some of the Conrail old-heads running Amtrak trains would crack the whip west of Kalamazoo. That is until they caught Bernie Potts go through Lawton at 100+MPH.

The Decatur Police Department called BO threatening to start writing tickets if trains didn't slow down. Bill Pontius replied "Well if you can catch one go ahead" and started laughing. He said he got a call from the train master a few days later about being more polite when answering the city phone.

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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

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PatAzo wrote: "Before they single tracked the mainline the OS for unmanned stations were a mircophone along the track in Parma and automatic OS in Albion and Marshall. The dispatcher could turn them on to follow a trains progress. When they passed Parma you would hear the train. At Albion and Marshall a Morse code like tone would come on until the dispatcher turned them off."


Those audible O.S. devices came in handy before radio communication was prevalent. They were not "official", though, and could not be used as verification that a train had actually cleared a specific location. For example, if 10 minutes after you "heard" a train pass a location, say a hi-rail wanted to occupy the main track at that location. Unless the employee could actually verify the lead engine and had observed the marker, you could not issue authority for the hi-railer. On the C&O, we had audible (microphone) devices at Yale on the Port Huron Sub and at Paines, Breckenridge and Greenville on the Elmdale Sub. On the train sheet, we would put the "passing" time in parentheses to indicate it was not official. When I worked at Carleton tower, we copied orders for the PC trains between Carleton and Penford. The PC dispatcher for that line also handled their Detroit-Toledo lines and I could often hear one or more of the Morse-style O.S. codes going off in the background. It was quite a cacophony at times!

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Re: BO (Botsford) Tower Demolition

Unread post by GAP »

Once when a northbound NS was approaching KAL and Amtrak was already at the depot the tower operator told the NS to "ease it on down" knowing that Amtrak would be gone by the time the freight got to downtown. After the Amtrak had left, the tower instructed "ease it on down a little more." I'm still confused if that meant go faster or go slower.

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