Nostalgia & History > Seaboard System Semaphore Signal Sunday

Three Seaboard System B36-7's are Westbound at 74th St. Tower in Chicago, Illinois in July of 1986.

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Very nice photo on what appears to be a most pleasant evening. The train is most likely #120: a Jacksonville to Chicago piggyback train (or "TOTE" train in L&N parlance), traversing the Belt Railway of Chicago's main line enroute to the Bedford Park ramp, adjacent to the south side of BRC's Clearing Yard. It's about to cross the B&OCT's Blue Island Subdivision at what was known as "75th St Crossing" on the BRC and N&W (WAB), or "Forest Hill" on the B&OCT. PRR's "Panhandle" main line from Logansport IN to 59th Street Yard also once crossed here, but had already been removed by the time of your photo. The semaphore signal, rod-driven and manually operated by the operator in 75th St Tower, had yet to be "dropped" in the picture. Thanks for posting.

Speaking of TOTE's, CSX train documentation TO THIS DAY still has a column listing how many (if any) TOTES you have in your train...along with other commodities. Things like Autoracks, Perishables, Mineral, etc...

You use to really get around :)

SP8595 Wrote:
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> Three Seaboard System B36-7's are Westbound at
> 74th St. Tower in Chicago, Illinois in July of
> 1986.


Great catch!! Thanks for sharing.

aussiehinz Wrote:
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> Very nice photo on what appears to be a most
> pleasant evening. The train is most likely #120:
> a Jacksonville to Chicago piggyback train (or
> "TOTE" train in L&N parlance), traversing the Belt
> Railway of Chicago's main line enroute to the
> Bedford Park ramp, adjacent to the south side of
> BRC's Clearing Yard. It's about to cross the
> B&OCT's Blue Island Subdivision at what was known
> as "75th St Crossing" on the BRC and N&W (WAB), or
> "Forest Hill" on the B&OCT.


....actually 75th Street on the B&OCT and PRR (but we generally called it seventy five), B&O on the Belt, and Forest Hill on the WAB, but the term was never used on the WAB, it was called B&O. Forest Hill on the B&OCT was the TOFC yard between 75 and 79. The BRC dispatchers and operators, WAB yardmasters and the WAB Landers operator would call us B&O on the dispatcher phone and block phone and we'd answer seventy five.

> PRR's "Panhandle"
> main line from Logansport IN to 59th Street Yard
> also once crossed here, but had already been
> removed by the time of your photo. The semaphore
> signal, rod-driven and manually operated by the
> operator in 75th St Tower, had yet to be "dropped"
> in the picture.

Pipe-connected is the correct term (it's one inch steel pipe). PRR and BRC both had pipe-connected semaphores. BRC didn't want to put money into the interlocking when ABS was installed, so the BRC signals displayed only stop or restricting. The plant was in the signal block extending between the Western Avenue interlocking and the Belt Jct interlocking. PRR was dark, so the home signals displayed proceed and stop indications except the eastward first home signal, which could display green on top for the straight route or yellow under for the BRC connection.

TAW