Railroaders' Nostalgia > Saturday Afternoon at JO Tower

John Springer takes us back in time to Saturday afternoons spent with his father at New York Central's JO tower. Railroads, interlocking machines, fishing, TV, late night pizza - it's all there in this story of a boy growing up on the railroad with his dad.

http://thetracksidephotographer.com/2019/04/11/saturday-afternoon-at-jo/

Edd Fuller, Editor
The Trackside Photographer
http://thetracksidephotographer.com/

What a nice story showing the human side of railroading.  Thank you for the link.

Excelent story.  Thank you!

Great story. I had similar experiences.

What a great story.  As a kid, I would occasionally ride my bike to a crossing that had an attendant.  In his little shack, he had a pump and 4 levers that let him control the gates at that crossing.  The regular guy that worked there was pretty nice but the other guy would run us off.  The crossing was close enough to the yard that locomotives would come towards the crossing but often stopped short before pushing back into the yard.  The attendant seemed to know if the train was going to occupy the intersection.  

My dad worked in a factory and of course, we couldn't go to work with him.  We did go walk the picket line with him one year.  He was involved in some organizations at the factory, the athletic club being one of them.  I would often go with him on Saturdays to the gym.  In the summer I went to their softball games.  

John

Love this post.  Many good memories of visits to various towers before I hired out (and some after). 

I used to visit JO on Saturdays, first trick, back in the 70s.  I'd stop by a nearby diner and get coffee and donuts for the operator, Jimmy Gorman.