Nostalgia & History > NS Tower, Lima, OH. May 1995

I took these pics of NS Tower in Lima OH. back in MY of 1995 on the way back from a Southern Railway Historical Society meeting that was held down in Cincinnati, OH. that year.  The operator was kind enough to give me a heads up about a train, and then said after the train passed to come up and look around.   Which of course I did.  

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This goes with my previous post.

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There were taken on the same day as my other NS Towere pics.  Showing the control board, levers, and Operator.  Sadly, I do not have the notes so I don't know his name.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/11/20 12:16 by NKPSOUTHERN.

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You got lucky.  I was living in Ohio at that time and recall that NS Tower had a reputation for not-very-friendly operators.  The upstairs door even had a "No Trespassing" sign on it.

NS tower (B&O, NKP & PRR) was the last working armstrong pipeline operated tower in Ohio when it closed. Sugar St. (DT&I & PRR)  was the 2nd. to last tower to earn that award. Also, for those that don't know, the upper portion of the PRR track diagram that is bent over to the right, is because it would not fit on the modelboard of that size. The electrical tape covering the track is for the out of service portion of the board. Third place goes to, I beleive, Morgan/Quincy Tower, (DT&I & NYC).



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/20 12:32 by EL-SD45-3632.

Wonder why it had  been designated "NS" - it certainly prredated Norfolk Southern
Andy

I think that might have been the towers call letters.  Just like "SJ" was the Sugar St. towers call letters.  But I may be mistaken about that.  

EL-SD45-3632 Wrote:

> NS tower (B&O, NKP & PRR) was the last working
> armstrong pipeline operated tower in Ohio when it
> closed. Sugar St. (DT&I & PRR)  was the 2nd.

According to Jon Roma's site, NS Tower closed on June 10, 1995, and the ex-B&O pipeline-controlled VN Tower in Nova, OH closed on October 18, 1993.  John Carr's site says Sugar St. closed in 1985, so it wasn't second-to-last in Ohio. 

Stations typically had one- or two-letter telegraph call signs, and many towers in Ohio and elsewhere had these letters displayed on their exteriors.  Sometimes but by no means always, the letters were related to the station name.  For example, the one-story cabin in Greenwich, OH where the W&LE crossed the B&O was "GN Tower," not because the Great Northern was somehow involved, but simply because the name Greenwich contains the letters "GN" and that combination hadn't already been used elsewhere.  Cases where the letters weren't related at all include RU Tower in Sterling, OH and AV Tower at Nasby near Toledo, OH.

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> EL-SD45-3632 Wrote:
>
> > NS tower (B&O, NKP & PRR) was the last working
> > armstrong pipeline operated tower in Ohio when
> it
> > closed. Sugar St. (DT&I & PRR)  was the 2nd.
>
> According to Jon Roma's site, NS Tower closed on
> June 10, 1995, and the ex-B&O pipeline-controlled
> VN Tower in Nova, OH closed on October 18, 1993. 
> John Carr's site says Sugar St. closed in 1985, so
> it wasn't second-to-last in Ohio. 
>
> Stations typically had one- or two-letter
> telegraph call signs, and many towers in Ohio and
> elsewhere had these letters displayed on their
> exteriors.  Sometimes but by no means always, the
> letters were related to the station name.  For
> example, the one-story cabin in Greenwich, OH
> where the W&LE crossed the B&O was "GN Tower," not
> because the Great Northern was somehow involved,
> but simply because the name Greenwich contains the
> letters "GN" and that combination hadn't already
> been used elsewhere.  Cases where the letters
> weren't related at all include RU Tower in
> Sterling, OH and AV Tower at Nasby near Toledo,
> OH.

VN Tower in Nova, OH closed on October 18, 1993. Are you sure on that date? I thought VN was closed in late 88 or 89.
 

I found this artical to be interesting.  It talks about how the tower came into being but does not say how it became "NS" tower.


https://www.limaohio.com/features/lifestyle/196607/railroad-towers


 

EL-SD45-3632 Wrote:

> VN Tower in Nova, OH closed on October 18, 1993.
> Are you sure on that date? I thought VN was closed
> in late 88 or 89.

I can't vouch for the exact date, but it's in accord with my own observations.  The pipeline was intact and connected when I first saw VN tower in 1992.  The tower wasn't manned 24/7, but did have regular hours when it was "in service."  The crossovers it controlled were removed and the tower was out of service by the time I left Ohio in 1995. 

I apologize for being late to this discussion.

On the N&W (and I assume the NKP before) NS tower in Lima was MO tower.  There must have been another NS tower or location on the Nickel Plate somewhere.

I was transferred from Fostoria to Lima on December 1, 1976, and served as an Assistant Trainmaster on the N&W in Lima until about 1984. I am very familiar with NS/MO tower.  The "Armstrong" levers were for the NKP/N&W switches and crossover.  The NKP had joint operation with the B&O between MO (NS) and Erie Junction about a mile south, where the B&O/NKP crossed the Erie and the N&W diverged. Signal and dispatching was B&O, but N&W and B&O each owned and maintained one of the two double tracks in that one mile section, changing ownership roughly midway between NS and Erie Junction.

On the tower map pictures, black tape had been placed over tracks that had been removed.  These tracks were in service when I was in Lima.  One of the two PRR mains is shown out, and the N&W siding has also been removed.  This N&W siding, along with the B&O double track, enabled the meeting of long N&W trains as the siding extended to the DT&I crossing, probably a total distance of about two miles between the DT&I crossing and Erie Junction. This meeting location was very useful when I was there, with through trains to Frankfort, Indiana, and beyond still being operated.  The switches and pipeline to them were poorly maintained and had no switch heaters, so any snow or ice caused problems.  During the aftermath of the January 1978 great blizzard, I spent many a night digging out the switches there and elsewhere.  For many weeks after the blizzard temperatures would warm above freezing during the day just enough to cause some melting and then refreeze at night, resulting in frozen switches.  As I recall the snow didn't fully melt until well into March.

The operators at Erie Junction were B&O employees, and I believe the NS/MO tower operators were Conrail employees, IIRC.

Jim O

Evan_Werkema Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> Stations typically had one- or two-letter
> telegraph call signs, and many towers in Ohio and
> elsewhere had these letters displayed on their
> exteriors.  Sometimes but by no means always, the
> letters were related to the station name. 

I heard a story of one that the office call was the initials of the first operator to work the place when it opened. The operator reported the new station open. It didn't have an office call, so the dispatcher asked him 'sine?' (Your electronic signature? effectively. Each operator picked their own one or two letter call sign, but it had to be unique on the division. Most used their initials, but some picked one arbitrarily.). The operator responded AC and that became the office call for that station.

TAW