C&NW Haven Road (HM) Tower in Elmhurst, IL

(Satellite, it sat close to 1st Street, so the parking lot erased its foundation.)

I learned of this Jack Delano photo from Jon Roma's comments in a Facebook posting. I tried to find the Library of Congress source to get a better idea of where the HM tower was in Elmhurst. But the LoC title did not indicate the location. The SPV Map does not have it. The C&NW did not cross the IC and CGW at grade level. It appears to be a yard tower controlling the entrance to the west end of Proviso Yard instead of a junction tower.

Jack Delano    LC-DIG-fsa-8d24441

Freight train operations on the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad between Chicago and Clinton, Iowa. The train crew watch all towers for any signals or special instructions

I think the "red box" is the tower and the blue boxes are the signals controlled by the tower. It is hard to tell with the 1939 resolution, but I'm sure there are crossovers in this section.

1939 Aerial Photo from ILHAP

It is now part of a parking lot. There is indeed a lot of crossovers between here and the yard entrance.

Update: Even though the Library of Congress title indicates this picture is in Cortland, IL, Jon Roma explains that it is also the HM Tower. It looks toward the west. "The Elmhurst passenger station shelters are visible. The location is known as CP [Control Point] Park today under Union Pacific."

Jack Delano     LC-DIG-fsa-8d24428

William Shapotkin posted two photos with the comment:

In Elmhurst, IL HM Interlocking (renamed "Park" after the UP takeover) is where the (then) double-track main east of Elmhurst/leads to Proviso Yard meet the three-track main west from Elmhurst. THE B&W view looks east. The color photo is from the 1950s and looks west.

1
Eric Berg posted
Dennis DeBruler North American Interlockings has another photo. Look at all of the signalling pipelines.
http://northamericaninterlockings.com/.../hmILshapotkin...http://northamericaninterlockings.com/illinois_9.html

Jack Delano,
https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2017842388/

2

Marty Bernard posted

A Scoot and Haven Road Tower -- C&NW -- Rick Burn

The CNW Scoot in Rick's photo is Train 66 at the Haven Road tower in Elmhurst, IL in November 1962.

I don't remember the tower even thought I rode past it a couple of times as the head-end brakemen on a Proviso to or from Clinton, IA freight while working one summer during college for the Northwestern off the Brakeman's Extra Board. Mostly I caught yard jobs at Proviso or the Potato Yard. A few times I was called to pull pins on the Proviso Hump. Yuck!

So I asked Rick about it. He replied, "Haven Road Tower controlled the entrance to Proviso Yard. The line from the west (Villa Park) was 3 tracks. East of Haven Road in Elmhurst, it was FOUR tracks, the south 2 for passenger and the north 2 for in and out of Proviso Yard. The tower also controlled the crossing gates of Haven Road, a minor street in Elmhurst."

Jon Roma

It was listed in C&NW operating timetables as "HM" Tower, and was remote-controlled around 1964-65.

The plant has been reconfigured several times, and is now known by UP as CP Y015 (Park).

Marty Bernard shared
Marty Bernard shared
Dennis DeBruler: As expected, C&NW had a lot of crossarms on its code line.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Marty's post

The tower sat close to 1st Street, so the parking lot erased its foundation.

1939 Aerial Photo

The fourth track has been replaced by a white access road.

Satellite