NorthAmericanInterlockings Photos: Killinger Allen
Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers (click the marker for the correct information)
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| Steven J. Brown posted Metra F40C 614 northbound at Techny Road in Northbrook, Illinois - June 29, 1998. Dennis DeBruler I see that double lattice truss bridge still exists. I really need to make a field trip to the north side of Chicagoland sometime. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m6!1e1!3m4... |
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| John Andrew Long posted Railroad tower...Techny, Illinois Bill Johnson: There is a very old truss bridge at the location as well. You can see it from the Willow road bridge to the north. Tim Shanahan shared |
Ken Jamin posted two photos with the comment:
I hired out on the Milwaukee Road as a tower operator 55 years ago today, 5-19-70. My first job was on second trick at Tower A20, twenty miles north of Chicago on the C&M subdivision. I had posted on second trick for two weeks, but I was assigned to work first trick on my very first day on a busy main line (long haul passenger, commuter and freight trains) and I was scared to death.The photo of me in the tower in 1971 was taken by Mel Patrick.The following is an excerpt from my book, "Train Wreck: Inside the Federal Railroad Administration" available on Amazon. It's a bit long but interesting for those who wonder what railroading was like in the 1970s.I cannot, even in my earliest memory, recall a time when I did not want to be a railroader but complicating my desire to become a railroader was my eyesight. Since childhood, I wore thick “Coke™-bottle” glasses that were the subject of much teasing by my schoolmates. In those days, railroads demanded perfect or near-perfect vision of their employees. When I was 18 I tried to hire out on the C&NW as a switchman. However, the railroad doctor, or “Company Surgeon,” as they were known in those days, took one look at my glasses and sent me home. I was heartbroken.After a three-year stint in the Army in the mid-sixties, I settled down in a factory job that paid well but made me miserable. I had all but given up on my dream of becoming a railroader, when I was laid off in early 1970. Through a chance meeting with a railroad employee just a week later, I learned that the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad (“The Milwaukee Road”) was looking to hire someone to work at Tower A20 near Northbrook, Illinois where he worked. (They had just fired an operator for showing porn movies on a screen in the tower in view of passing commuter trains, causing an engineer to accidentally put his train into emergency!)I applied for the job, and they sent me for a physical. By now, however, I was wearing contact lenses and the railroads had relaxed their vision standards somewhat. I passed the physical, and I was in! Well, almost. I was then “allowed” to break in on the job for two weeks, without pay, to see if I could, “cut it!” The two weeks went by quickly, as I trained to be a tower operator on “second trick” (the 3pm - 11pm shift.)When the appointed day came, I rode the train to Milwaukee to take my rules test. On the way, the conductor saw me reading my rule book and asked what I was doing. “I’m going to be a tower operator at Tower A-20,” I told him. “Who’s giving you the test?” he asked. “Mr. Martin, the Chief Dispatcher,” I replied. “Relax and enjoy the ride, Kid,” he said, “You’ll pass.” “No!” I retorted, “I really need this job and I’ve got to study for the test!” as I buried my nose back in the rule book. It was all or nothing and I could not afford to fail!I read that book as I was walking through the station and even going up in the elevator to the third floor, where the chief dispatcher’s office was located within the division superintendent's office suite. It was with no small trepidation that I turned the glass knob on that wood door that said "Division Superintendent" on the frosted glass. (If you're old enough to be a retired rail, I'm sure you remember the feeling. In those days, division superintendents were like God with a lower case 'g'.)Mr. Martin gestured for me to take a seat at a vacant desk. Hiking one trouser leg up, he sat on a corner of the desk and picked up the rule book he had loaned me to study. Thumbing through it, seemingly at random, the barrage of questions began.“Well, you’ve been breaking in with Joe on second trick at Tower A-20 for two weeks now. Do you know how to run the 'plant’?” (The interlocking machine that controlled the switches and signals.) “Yes, Sir,” I replied.“Do you know how to copy train orders and clearances and track car line-ups and such?” he went on. “Yes, Sir,” I replied again.“Safety First,” he thundered. “That’s very important. Do you understand that, young man?” “Yes, Sir.”“And Rule ‘G’ (The universal railroad rule against alcohol and drugs), “That’s important, too! Come to work sober and go home sober, after that, it’s your own damn business! Do you understand me?” “Yes, Sir,” I replied once more.Mr. Martin slowly closed the rule book and handed it back to me. Turning to Eve, his secretary, he said, “This young man is qualified. Type up his (rules examination) card.” That was it! I was finally a railroader! (I later learned that this was Mr. Martin’s standard rules test for new operators, and that all one had to do to pass was to reply, “Yes, Sir,” to every question.) No wonder the conductor told me to, “Relax and enjoy the ride, Kid!”However, just as Mr. Martin handed me a rules card and a switch key, which I still carry, the phone rang."Mr. Martin, said Eve, it's Henry Thigpen, the first trick operator at Tower A20. He wants to lay off tomorrow. Do we have anyone who can cover?" Mr. Martin thought about it for just a moment, then replied, "Why, yes! This young man here is rules qualified now. He can protect first trick tomorrow. Tell Mr. Thigpen he can lay off tomorrow.""Bu-bu-but Sir," I stammered, "I-I-I've never been there on first trick. I don't know what trains there are or where they go!" "I'll arrange for the signal maintainer to sit in with you. You'll do fine," he said, ending the conversation. The following day, Tuesday, May 19, 1970, I reported to Tower A20 at the appointed time. I was scared to death.I was greeted by Roger, the signal maintainer and Merlin, the third trick operator who I was relieving. I signed the transfer, taking responsibility for the tower for the next eight hours, and the third trick operator departed.Roger seemed friendly enough, and I clung to his every word like a drowning man clings to a life preserver. When the annunciator bell rang, signifying a train was approaching, Roger would say something like, "That's a scoot (commuter train). Keep him going straight to Chicago," and I would reach for the appropriate signal lever.When Rondout tower would call to advise me of a freight train, Roger would remind me to hang the orders in the train order crane next to the freight line and tell me to line him toward the C&NW, which our freights used to get to the Milwaukee Road's Bensenville yard. And then there was the Deerfield "Patrol" (Milwaukee Road term for a local way freight) which was subject to showing up unannounced throughout the day as it went back and forth, serving industries along the line.Things went well for the first couple hours until Roger suddenly stood up and casually announced, "I'm going to paint the mast on that signal over there," pointing to the train order signal for freight trains going to/from the C&NW. "If you need me just push that button over there," gesturing to a button mounted on the wall next to the desk. "It will blow the maintainers call horn outside and I'll come in and see what you need.""But I don't know what trains are coming or where they're supposed to go or..." I protested in vain.He repeated, "If you need me push that button" and, just like that he was gone, and I was on my own.To this day, I'm not sure how I got through that first day without sending a freight train to Chicago Union Station or vice versa but that day was the start of my railroad career which lasted 44 years.
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| Cruz Martinez posted Where the C&M and the new line split, and further down the old CNW route near northbrook illinois... Taken with permission from a good metra employee. Glen Warmann Tower A20 Stuart B. Slaymaker Site of Tower A-20, to us oldsters. Armstrong tower. Some of the longer levers required the tower man to leap on them, and ride them down, to lock. True story. Circa 1967. |
I assume the C&M was the Chicago & Milwaukee. The "new line" would be the line that goes southwest across the northern suburbs, then south along the west side of O'Hare, then back east to the Proviso Yard to take freight trains more directly to UP/C&NW's freight yard. Milwaukee used the new line to take their freight trains to the Bensenville Yard.
In the background, you can see the lattice truss bridge that takes the new line over the Milwaukee line.
I added a red rectangle (near the top) where I think the tower was. The connecting track is so long because road freights have to climb the grade separation to get to the Bensenville Yard.
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| 1938 Aerial Photo from ILHAP |
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| Screenshot @ -3:48 |
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| safe_image for A unique look at an important, historic railroad junction Tower A-20 is where Milwaukee freights would take the connector to join C&NW's "New Line" to bypass Chicago on their way to Bensenville Yard. |
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| Matt Clumac posted wo Milwaukee Road DL-109s #14A and #14B pulling the Afternoon Hiawatha in Techny, IL in the winter in 1944. Built by Alco in 1941, #14A and #14B were the only two DL-109s owned by the Milwaukee Road. (C) Tom Harley. Justin Nelson: 5th car back is 1942 coach 477, painted in the unique “buy war bonds” paint scheme. Pauly Zee: Techny overpass still looks like this too. Andy Hughes: Keith Kopecky There we’re several (or more) Publicity shots with that great bridge. One is the 2nd edition of the Hi. Framed with the girders. A really nice shot. Using our competitor’s bridge! This CNW line was put in in 1911 & in service 1912. When USRA took over American RRs during WW 1 They forced the Milwaukee to trackage rights on this CNW ‘New Line’ from Bryn Mawr to here. Shermer is just east of this bridge. Controlled by A-20. Of course a tower was here at first. Andy Hughes: Lordy that’s a big train. Shermer interlocking is just to the left on the CNW. A-20 just to the rear which controlled Shermer. Fred Strandberg: The End of Alco was all the electrical components where made by GE and could not get parts. Milwaukee railroad sucked money off by the owners to put it out of business. |
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| Steven J. Brown posted Six Milwaukee Road SD40-2's southbound at A20 - Techny Road in Northbrook, Illinois - September 1980. |
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| Nick Jenkins posted From the operators window at Tower A20 on the Milwaukee Road, the almost new (May 1974) F40C "Village of Round Lake" passes by on its journey to Fox Lake, IL. Justin Sobeck: What is the single level car on the head end? Nick Jenkins: Justin Sobeck LW 90-seat commuter coach rblt. from 68-seat coach. Mike Schattl: Techny Junction......The complimentary "other" junction to Bryn Mawr Jct at least to MILW/Soo/CP Rail fans...... |
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| Steven J. Brown posted Amtrak Hiawatha Service #323 is northbound approaching Tower A20/Techny Junction in Northbrook, Illinois - June 9, 1977. I describe this whole day in this slideshow: A Teen Explores Chicago's Railroads - The Sequel 1975-78 https://youtu.be/Gz-SUeVdnik Dennis DeBruler: I wondered what caused that hill on the left. The answer is simple: a landfille. https://www.google.com/.../data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5... It looks like they "capped" the landfill with a golf course. Matt McClure: Dennis DeBruler Yes. Quite fun and well-sculpted. This is where CP wanted to add a third main and NIMBYS came out of the woodwork. |
Carl Venzke caught a Milwaukee commuter in March 1959 with a signal in the foreground and the tower in the background.
Metra posted a video of "Metra and Union Pacific crews replacing the final switch at Tower A2 in August 2016." What I find amazing is that UP used two rail-mounted cranes. Since they used their own cranes, I assume they used their own crews. When BNSF replaced crossover switches in Downers Grove, they hired multiple contractors. Cranemasters provided the crane service with three crawler cranes. (Their pre-assembled crossover was a lot longer than this one.)
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