Nostalgia & History > C&WI Wednesday - State Line tower log book

These are pages from the C&WI State Line tower log book for a few days in
September 1966.  I have looked at the pages a few times over the years but never
really studied it until now.  The first thing I noticed is that not all the trains are shown.
No E-L, Monon or C&O!!!!     This log book looks like it was for recording only some non-C&WI
traffic that passed through the plant - mostly B&O and N&W (NKP).  The towerman most
likely kept a separate train sheet for C&WI trains.
 
Each train entry begins with the railroad initial, followed by the engine number and the time
the train cleared the interlocking.  Each page starts at midnight and even though
the 24 hour clock was not in vogue then, it is easy to discern the AM’s from the PM’s.  Maybe it was a
basic intelligence test on the railroad back then.  If you can’t figure this out – goodbye.
 
I think the few entries in the book for C&WI railroads (EL, Monon, C&O) are for movements that
didn’t enter the CWI main line.  They were probably transfers to Burnham Yard or the IHB.
Each operator has his own style of recording trains in the book.  Some include the symbol
along with the engine number.  I notice two B&O trains with a note “Dixie” and “Pitts”.
There are also notations for “blocks” put on tracks by other railroad’s train dispatchers to
protect  trackwork, etc.  A “can” was the blocking device that fit over the lever to prevent
moving the latch to the point that would allow the lever to move.
 
If the B&O traffic looks light remember the passenger trains, Trailer Jets and Pere Marquette traffic
went via the Main Line Subdiv.
 
I don’t think any log was kept for the CSS&SB trains.
 
Here is a link that I found on T.O member nkp759’s TO website that has some pictures and
a diagram of State Line.  The diagram misidentifies the C&WI west of the interlocking as the Chicago and Erie. 
Otherwise it looks pretty good.
http://www.signalbox.org/overseas/usa/stateline.htm
 
There are also some great pictures on the Flickr Barriger Library site but some are backwards.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/barrigerlibrary/albums/72157640505227503
 
 Questions for TAW:
Did State Line OS B&OCT trains to the B&OCT dispatcher?
 
I recall that a jackpot was possible if an eastbound got past the gauntlet (B&OCT spelling)
bridge before State Line was ready for him.  Any stories?   See page 8 item 12 of
the 1961 timetable for info on operation of bridge signals.
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,3830458,page=1
 

---

---

---

.

---

---

---

..

---

---

Man, there is some really interesting reading!  And fun for me to see what was happening at State Line on my 16th birthday too.  On one of the pages note the J 418, likely headed for US Steel Supply.  Marty has a photo of it near there on railpictures.net . A few entries for B&OCT to the Monon; I wonder if they delivered to South Hammond Yard?  Surprised to not see N&W MC-15 shown as it ran B&OCT Clarke Jct. to State Line.  Some of the B&O Trailer Jets made the pages, and look at all the GP-30s they ran.

As for the gauntlet bridge, it was finally replaced and double tracked in about 1973.  The dispatchers I knew pronounced it that way, but in the signal gang it was " gantlet " to us.

I enjoyed several hours visiting the tower one day in '73 on first trick.  Old timer named Dick was day man, and was amazingly (to me) relaxed while surrounded by hordes of trains.  He gave o.s.'s and delays (if any) to the B&O disp.

The two links you gave are excellent, especially the Barriger photos which are all show-stoppers.  On the color track chart, we see two Harbor tracks going from Burnham Yard to the City; I had never seen or heard of two tracks across all of State Line before.

Thanks for this excellent addition to the website !   And have a safe day, all.

rantoul Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Do the references to 'block' or 'blocked' mean a
> train stopped over the junction, or the junction
> was taken out of service for an equipment
> maljunction (page 1, left column seems to say
> somethin was wrong with lever 57).

Spatch told the operator to not let any trains pass in that direction - State Line block west.

That could have been for a wrong main move, for the operator to call when the west man hit the bell (some railroads required the operator to announce every approaching train to the dispatcher. Most of the railroads in Chicago did not. If the dispatcher wanted to know when a train was showing, he notified the operator in advance), or maybe to ensure that an east man got through the gauntlet bridge first.

The reference to leaver 57 is putting a blocking device (can over the top of the lever or a collar slipped over the lever, either of which had a wedge that fit between the lever and the latch handle), on the lever to prevent clearing the signal. The dispatcher would say block west. The operator couldn't respond until the blocking device was on the lever - block west State Line.

TAW



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/03/15 11:33 by TAW.

Englewood Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
 
>  Questions for TAW:
> Did State Line OS B&OCT trains to the B&OCT
> dispatcher?

Yes, but sometimes not promptly. We were aware that State Line as a one man job could be, let's say...suboptimal - even more so than 75. Oprs would OS right away if time allowed, otherwise they would catch up with us when they could. MG (Calumet Park) and Calumet always OSed as soon as trains got by, we could ask the East Chicago yardmaster to go out and look for a headlight for us, and State Line would tell us if he saw a substantial delay coming, so we knew where the trains were.

The Harbor main line was the other way around. It was the dispatcher that was buried, not the towermen, so it was common for Argo, Chicago Ridge, and Dolton, Calumet Park to wait until the dispatcher rang to catch up OSes. Towers would tell spatch if a train wasn't going to go right by, and if spatch wanted to know specifically when trains would be showing, he'd ring and say call on east, etc., and of course, if the dispatcher's 6th sense told him that a train wasn't where he thought it was, he'd ring a tower and ask.

> I recall that a jackpot was possible if an
> eastbound got past the gauntlet (B&OCT spelling)
> bridge before State Line was ready for him.  Any
> stories?  

Part of the dispatching job was to manage the bridge. We'd do that using MG if we wanted the west man first - hold the east man until the west is on the bridge, and State Line for the other way around. Nobody I worked with would have jackpotted the bridge...well, maybe with one exception, but there were probably some before or after my time there that could have.

TAW

Here is a link to an early map.. Neither the Erie or Nickel Plate were
double tracked through the interlocking yet..
http://broadway.pennsyrr.com/Rail/Prr/Maps/Itlk/state_line_1897.gif



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/15 07:40 by Englewood.