THE
BROAD
WAY
| A Pennsylvania Railroad Home Page
PRR INTERLOCKING
DIAGRAMS
|
TOLEDO
JUNCTION TO
TOLEDO
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|
THE
BROAD
WAY
| A Pennsylvania Railroad Home Page
PRR INTERLOCKING
DIAGRAMS
|
TOLEDO
JUNCTION TO
TOLEDO
| |||
The Toledo main crosses the Big Four Cleveland--Columbus line (which will later cross the Fort Wayne line at Crestline). Carefully note the orientation.
This initial section of the Toledo main, as far as Tiro, was abandoned by the PRR in 1956. No doubt the lack of any major industry was a significant factor, as was the relatively easy alternate connection by way of the Fort Wayne main to Bucyrus (COLSAN), then north on the Sandusky Branch to Carrothers.
The fourth date is nearly unreadable on the original; the '4' in '42' is by deduction, the dates all being in ascending order.
The Toledo main crosses the Akron, Canton & Youngstown main from Akron to Delphos, O. The connecting track is in the northeast quadrant.
Crossing of the PRR Toledo main with the PRR Sandusky Branch. Note that the map orientation is rather unusual. The major connecting tracks are in the southwest quadrant (double track connection); connecting tracks are present also in the northwest and northeast quadrants.
This is the end of double track as one proceeds toward Toledo. The curving track north of the station is unusual: was this once double track, reduced to single?
Like HAM and EGG on the Atlantic City line, this is a wonderful play on words: probably all that management would allow!
Crossing of the Toledo main with the B&O Akron-Chicago main line, as well as the NYC's branch to Sandusky (former CCC&StL). From here, the Toledo main takes a more northerly direction toward Toledo. TIFFIN tower remained open until late 1993 and was razed 1995-03-13.
On the original, the lever summary is hard to make out, besides not being added or itemized correctly. 14 + 11 + 10 + 1 + 2 = 38 working levers is clear; the next two numbers below that appear to be 17 and 12, though the 1 in 12 is very faint and the 1 in 17 is just a partial smudge; and the last number appears to be 48, with only the 8 being clear. A 48-lever frame would make some sense if it were 6 sets of 8, but addition suggests the number should be 67. Anyone with a clearer copy of this, or another year's copy, please help!
Beginning of double track northward. The plant is controlled by TIFFIN tower.
Crossing of the Nickel Plate Cleveland--Bellevue--Fort Wayne main with the Toledo main of the PRR.
Here are some esoteric questions about the map that were difficult to resolve in cleaning up the noise on the original copy. Thanks for any help anyone can provide.
Crossing of the Lake Erie & Western RR, a New York Central property.
Beginning of double track as one approaches Toledo. Note the large number of grade crossings and the potential for trains to be held at a signal, blocking several streets. Also note the curving spur.
From here on, the reader may be aided by the Toledo area map from the back of the Penn Central employee timetable. Luckily for us, the map has all the "oldie but goodie" railroad names -- unlike today, when it would be a sea of CSX and NS, with a tiny CN thrown in! Thanks to Jerry Jordak, keeper of the PC web page, for the scan. The latter web page can be found via the Sic Transit Gloria Mundi page on this site. I have edited the map to render the PRR and its Detroit main trackage rights in red. Note that Manhatten, as on the map, is misspelled, and should be Manhattan. This misspelling occurs also in the index of the interlocking diagrams book, though not on the map itself.
Junction of the Toledo main, the C&O (Hocking Valley), and the Toledo Terminal. The NYC's STANLEY tower is about a mile west, easily visible; the C&O's WALBRIDGE tower is immediately to the south. Here the PRR continues roughly northwest, crossing over the Toledo Terminal and then C&O.
After passing through Outer Yard, the PRR comes alongside the NYC branch from Stanley Yards (T&OC on the map) and turns north along the Maumee River. It then crosses over the B&O branch to Toledo (on a bridge?) and over the NYC (ex-LS&MS) "Water Level Route" main line (possibly this is what is indicated at the lower left of the diagram, above the word "Mansfield"). The PRR main then approaches downtown Toledo.
Today, the Pennsy has been cut over to the NYC alignment northbound, joining the LS&MS alignment just east of the Maumee River bridge.
The PRR crosses the Maumee River on a swing bridge. Immediately afterward is Pennsy's Toledo passenger station.
Connection, northeastward, to the River Branch / Manufacturers Railway.
Here ended 100% PRR ownership. From GALENA to ALEXIS, PRR owned the northward track, but it was operated and maintained by the Ann Arbor RR. [Jim Sinclair]
On the original, the distance from 04L south is difficult to make out: 4400' or 4480'? Also note how strangely the "North" arrow is cut off -- was this perhaps once a larger map, possibly first made by the W&LE? Also, other sources list MANHATTAN JCT. simply as MANHATTAN.
Here the Toledo Terminal crosses, and an Ann Arbor RR branch veers off.
Some sources (including the index) list this simply as BOULEVARD.
The PRR, on Ann Arbor trackage rights, crosses the Toledo Terminal. This tower would probably win an Ugliest Tower Award, hands down. HALLETT is standing and open as of 1999.
Note that this map is oriented differently from most: north ("To Detroit") is to the LEFT, not right. The Pere Marquette begins paralleling the Ann Arbor: this will be of some use to PRR shortly (at ALEXIS).
A complicated multi-railroad junction: Ann Arbor RR (with PRR trackage rights) and Pere Marquette cross the Michigan Central and NYC, all north of Toledo. The interlocking machine was a US&S overlaid on a Saxby & Farmer locking bed and frame. This antiquated arrangement lasted for a long time, remaining in service until 1997. As reported to your webmaster, this plant required quite a bit of maintenance.
As one proceeds toward Detroit (left to right on this map), the PRR's trackage rights switched from the Ann Arbor to the Pere Marquette (C&O), which is curving down at the right end of the diagram. In real life, the PM curves so as to go nearly straight north, where the AA proceeds NNW. Just north of the curve is the Michigan state line. (A cross-reference against the PC Employee Timetable Toledo-are map indicates that the trackage alongside the NYC at the upper end of the diagram is C&O as well.)
Credit for much Michigan-area information found below goes to persons listed here. Unfortunately, the volume of information and its organization don't allow for a cogent means of attributing individual statements. Credit goes to Shawn O'Day and John Donoian for compiling maps from which some descriptive information below is derived (the maps are available on Jerry Jordak's Penn Central site); also to Jeff Knorek for his extensive comments; as well as Chris Jacks of the Bluewater Michigan NRHS chapter Additional hand-drawn (unofficial) maps on Jerry Jordak's Penn Central site may be of some help to the reader as well.
Just across the Michigan line, the entrance to Ottawa Yard is found here.
The Pere Marquette (with PRR trackage rights) crosses an NYC branch line. The location is just east of US-24 (Telegraph Rd.) and south of River Raisin, between Front St. and 7th St.
From here on, the reader may be aided by two Detroit-area maps. Both the larger-scale overview and the smaller-scale map were produced by Jeff Knorek.
The Pere Marquette crosses the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton, and just past this point the PRR leaves trackage rights and, turning northeast, enters its own line to Detroit. As of 1997 CARLETON was standing but abandoned by CSX.
On the original map, the road crossing just left of the railroad crossing at grade is very light but does not appear to be an erasure. The lines are truly missing in the upper left quadrant between the two railroads. Does anyone know for sure what kind of grade crossing protection is denoted at this location?
The Guardian Glass plant near here generated considerable traffic. Farther to the north, in Brownstown Twp., just north of Sibley Rd., the PRR had a small yard on the west side of the main. A yard lead and a spur to a Ford parts plant diverged.
The PM main proceeds due north to Plymouth Diamond (in Plymouth, Mich.), where it crosses the east-west Detroit Subdivision. The latter proceeds east, then southeast into the Detroit/Dearborn area, where PRR branches make connection.
Here the PRR, running northeast, crosses the DT&I Dearborn Branch, then runs right through the middle of a the intersection of Allen Rd. and Northline Rd.
Penford was named by D&I, later DT&I, when Henry Ford built the cutoff from Rouge to Flat Rock and derives from PENnsylvania and Henry FORD. [Jeff Knorek] RK is derived from the old name of "Eureka Road".
End of PRR's own line and beginning of trackage rights on the Wabash, followed by the crossing of the Rouge River. The main continues northeast.
On the original, Fort St. is drawn very lightly, as if erased: apparently it was elevated over the junction at some point. Why the Rouge River is drawn so lightly is not clear.
On the NE (RR-N) side of the Rouge River bridge is a switch (#3) and track that ultimately becomes the Forman St. Wye. See the Branches page.
Major crossing of lines southwest of Detroit. The Wabash and C&O (Pere Marquette?) lines merge into a line owned by the Detroit Union Railroad Depot and Station Company. These cross the main lines of the Michigan Central and the New York Central. The Detroit & Toledo Short Line joins in. DELRAY tower remains standing and open as of 1998. Just east of the MC/NYC crossing stood the PRR and DT&I roundhouses. A photo in the Keystone Toledo Division article demonstrates the extremely complicated nature of this junction.
Map comments: On the original map, the text "Dearborn Ave.", the lines representing this street, and associated grade crossing bells are very lightly drawn. I don't believe this to be an erasure, as even today a street crosses here at grade.
As best as I've been able to determine from several knowledgeable sources, the track entering the map from the left, proceeding to signal 10RB (denoted just "B" on the map), is the north leg of the Forman St. Wye. The other end is seen on the Branches page.
The trackage continues along the river, passes under the Ambassador Bridge, through a (coach?) yard, and then the MC main passes underneath it under the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario. At some point the trackage becomes that of the Fort St. Union Depot Company.
This is the throat of the Fort Street Union Station in downtown Detroit. A 1972 map shows this station, labelled "Union Depot", on the S side of W. Fort St., between 3rd and 4th Sts. By this time, the Lodge Fwy. has been built, and the station is shown just to the east of it.
(Nearby was GTW's Brush St. Station, land now occupied by the Renaissance Center. NYC trains stopped at the Michigan Central station, a good mile west of downtown.)
Mark D. Bej
