NorthAmericanInterlockings: 1968 1987
Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers (click the marker for the correct information)
Kevin Piper has posted histories and photos of the town and this junction. In 1958, control of this junction was tranfered to Bart Tower.
Dennis Benard: I worked the Osborne Station and yard for N & W as a rotating Clerk-Telegrapher-Agent. We interchanged with the “J” at Van Loon.
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| Dave Arganbright commented on a post asking for Baldwin center-cab photos |
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| Dennis DeBruler commented on Dave's comment Dennis DeBruler  Bart (EJ&E crossed Pennsy) was in the middle of this excerpt and HO was in the lower-left corner. https://www.google.com/.../@41.5309976.../data=!3m1!1e3...John Grose Dennis DeBruler there was far more interchange at Hobart between the J and the NW than between the J and the Pennsy/PC/Conrail. Dennis DeBruler John Grose I noticed that NS still has most of the tracks in the yard east of the HO crossing. https://www.google.com/.../@41.52996,-87.../data=!3m1!1e3. |
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| George M Stupar posted July 4th 1973, Hobart IN, Two interlocking towers on the EJ&E Porter Line, HO and BART. View northeast. Ken Durkel Interesting thing about HO, it was actually closed in 1958, and control was given to nearby Bart Tower. But it stood right up to the end and the two towers in Hobart actually stood for at another year or two past when the rails were taken up in 1985. |
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| One of there photos posted by George M Stupar 2-8-4 steam engine 767 was crossing the "J" diamond on August 25th 1956, William Eley photo from my collection. |
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| Dave Arganbright commented on George's post HO HO HO! |
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| Ken Durkel posted |
Porter Branch, looking timetable east at HO Tower. EJ&E/NKP crossing. Taken at the Linda St. crossing. Includes the EJ&E/NKP interchange track.Taken in 1983.See Bart Tower (EJ&E vs. Pennsy) for maps as to how the now abandoned EJ&E Porter Branch crossed NKP and Pennsy. Bart Tower is in the background of this picture. So Ken is looking Northeast and is standing at about 5th Street.
Ken later posted the above picture again with the comment:
Looking timetable east down the EJ&E's Porter Branch in Hobart, Indiana in 1983. The line was still active at the time but any traffic was sporadic at best. The tower was HO, and controlled the crossing with the Nickel Plate Road. HO Tower was actually closed in 1958, and control of the interlocking was given over to Bart Tower, seen in the extreme background at the PRR crossing. But though closed in 1958, HO Tower stood right up to the end of the Porter Branch, which was abandoned and torn up in 1985.
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| Ken Durkel posted |
Although this is shot more from a NKP view, this is the EJ&E/NKP diamond at Hobart.. This was shot closer to the end of the "J" Porter branch. Maybe 1984, or 1985 just before the line was ripped up. The gons on the right are on the interchange track, but make no mistake, there was no interchange going on here at this time. If I remember right, the gons were part of an NS MOW train that they shoved there at the time. HO Tower would be immediately to my right. Looking east.
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| Matt Lasayko posted |
A sad time for the porter branch. Taken Just north of HO tower where the J crossed the NKP In Hobart IN. Photo credit unknown. I would have loved to have saved these. Especially the EJ&E property marker at the bottom of the pile.Note that you can see Bart Tower in the background. So this view was taken a little northeast of the first view.
Update:
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| Ken Durkel posted The Porter Branch as it was being ripped up in 1985. Looking timetable east at HO Tower in Hobart at the ex NKP crossing. The diamond has just been removed. |
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| Ken Durkel posted From May,1979, a westbound NS leaves Hobart with HO Tower in the background. This tower was actually deactivated in 1959, and control went to Bart Tower, but HO Tower stood right up to the end of the Porter Branch. It must have had some importance as far as electronics go in remoting to Bart. But I really have no guess as to why it stood, closed, for more than 26 years without being taken down. |
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| George M Stupar posted March 1982, Hobart IN, View west on the former NKP. H O tower and the EJ&E Porter Line crossing are seen in the distance. |
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| George M Stupar posted Another view of the N&W skunk unit on the former NKP, from a different angle, at the EJ&E Porter Line crossing looking west. Hobart IN 1982 |
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| Posted |
I used to collect railroad artifacts (still got a lot actually...). On an early January day in 1973, I acquired the actual wood telephone from HO tower! I still have it after all these years! The tower was unlocked, and guys working around the sheds just north of he tower told me it was actually decommissioned. I asked them if I could have anything, and they said they didn't care, and I went up the steel stairs on the west side of the tower and removed the phone! It is a 1317-P Western Electric. I actually had it hooked up to a phone line in my basement bedroom, and I could actually make calls on it by rapid-firing the hook 10 times and getting the operator and telling her to dial a number for me!
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