Park Tower

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Park - open on an as-needed basis after being open continuously until early 1989, when it was deemed that there was little use for the interlocking once Conrail traffic on the A&S Branch dried up. The machine is a sdtndard US&S Model 14 electro-pneumatic machine controlling the interlocking where the Main Line and the A&S Branch converge. One difference with this machine: the indicator lights on the front of the machine (below the levers) are vertically mounted, instead of the more typical angle-mounted lights.

Park machine. The cage behind the model board encloses the relay room, where a few relays are visible (look about mid-picture). The train order "forks" to the right indicate that I'm going to be going outside to hoop up orders sometime soon -- since Park was only opened when the MofW forces were doing their thing, this meant *every* train needed Form Ds at Park, even if they were to inform that there were no Form Ds in effect! (The Form D combines the functionality of the Form 19 train order and the Clearance Form A, so at the minimum, we had to fill out a Form D that was blank except for the box that said something like, "To: No 612 Eng 373, Form Ds in effect: NONE." It's also the only case where the operator signs his name to the Form D.)

Another view of the machine. The operator's desk is in front of the machine, in the bay window of the office. It has all the requisite items found in every tower, so I'll refrain from going through the list again.

Close-up of the model board. The "AUTO" indicator light was added when Park lost its continuously-open status. Like the other towers that were open part-time, this machine could be put into automatic mode once the switch and signal levers were set in a pre-determined position -- essentially making the interlocking straight-railed. Traffic on No. 2 track between here and Thorn also determined how the interlocking signals on No. 2 track would display. A Conrail local working out of Dillerville Yard in Lancaster would run east to Thorn, then reverse directions, shoving his train west on No. 2 track from Thorn, through Park, to the Green Giant plant about two miles down the A&S Branch. Traffic west on No. 2 gave him a signal west at Park. When he was finished with his work, he'd come east to Park (shoving his train)and yell at Thorn when he was in sight of the signal. Thorn would swing traffic east on No. 2 track, causing the signal at Park to come up. At Thorn, he'd head west (engines now leading) to go home. When Park was open, Conrail would try to get the local out during daylight, so the crew could make at least one move at Park instead of going all the way to Thorn.

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