Thorn interlocking machine

Maps Home	Section Index

Thorn is a Union Switch & Signal CTC machine, placed in service in 1938. Thorn controls the local interlocking, as well as four remote interlockings: Caln, Downs, Dale and Glen. I need to dig through my records to see when I took these photos, as unlike Bryn Mawr, where I only worked one second trick job, I spent probably more than my share of last tricks at Thorn! Yes, by the clock, it is 1:15AM!

There is a builder's identification plate on the machine, which looks something like this:

Left side of the machine. Box on the extreme left is the block line selector (original block line selector panel buttons were located in the two rectangular spaces centered directly in front of the operator at desktop level). The box on top of the machine to the left of the clock was intended to control a signal on No. 1 track on the A&S Branch west of Park (34-36L/34R), but this was never wired. My suspicion is that this was a Penn Central-era project, when most of the interlocking at Park was removed, but I could not confirm this. The speaker on the desk is for the block line. Not visible to the left is the radio console.

Right side of the machine. Nothing too out of the ordinary here; Bell phone is mounted on the machine at the extreme right; it was on the Lancaster (717 area code) exchange, which made ordering pizza difficult, as Thorndale is in the southeastern Pennsylvania (215 area code -- now 610) exchange. That was easliy solved by stopping at the Pizza Hut about a mile west before going on duty (a pizza lasted about three hours...). One of the hot journal reacorders can be seen (barely) to the right and behind the machine.

Close up of the machine,

Maps Home	Section Index