Nostalgia & History > Washington Union Station, "A" Tower

Operations on the Washington Terminal Company, which operated Washington (DC) Union Station, were once controlled by operators in at least four towers at key points in the WT complex.   I would guess there were once more towers, depending on the era.  By 1975, when I first visited Washington Union Station, "C" and "F" Towers, both along New York Avenue, were gone.  The only remaining towers were "K" Tower, at the northern throat of the station, and "A" Tower, which sat almost underneath the passenger concourse, at the north end of the First Street Tunnel.  K Tower was readily visible at the north end of the station platforms.  "A" Tower was along the lower level tracks that led to the south, and was almost tucked underneath the station concourse, and could only be seen from the lower level platforms.  The operator at A Tower handled the trains of the C&O, RP&P and Southern, and also handled switch moves by Washington Terminal crews.  The operator coordinated moves with the operator at Virginia Avenue Tower, the PRR / PC / Conrail tower about a mile to the south, where the double track main line out of Union Station joined the ex-PRR line into Virginia, where connections were made to C&O, RF&P and Southern.    When I took this picture on April 2, 1975, the closing of A Tower was imminent, as the Washington Terminal Company was already working on consolidating the interlocking into K Tower, as they had previously done with the other towers.  The tower was closed and pulled down shortly afterwards.  

The second photo is of the board from A Tower, taken in December 1977.  At that time, the board was in the possession of a model railroad club in Silver Spring, Maryland.  The board shows how the double track line from the First Street Tunnel branched into eight station tracks.  Originally, there were twelve station tracks on the lower level, and the board shows some evidence of those tracks near the bottom.  I'm not sure what happend to those tracks, but there had been alot of changes at Union Station in the years prior to this photo, including the infamous and short-lived "Washington Visitors Center".  The model railroad club no longer exists, does anyone on this forum know what happened to the board from A Tower?

Steve Salamon
Valley City, OH

  


 

---

---

Two interesting photos made even better by your comments.
Bob

I've always wondered how, in steam days, southbound/westbound RF&P and C&O trains changed power while partially or wholly in the Virginia Avenue tunnel.  Imagine older open window coaches!