(no
CRJ;
John Haynes Track Diagram;
Satellite, as of 2019 the foundation of the tower is still visible)
NorthAmericanInterlockings:
photo photo photo photo diagram
Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers (click the marker for the correct information)
ConrailPhotos
The north/south track in Haynes' track diagram should be labelled B&OCT instead of IHB.
Scott Griffith
posted two pictures and then added a third as a comment:
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A 1952 aerial photo shows the B&OCT curved to the west on the north side of the junction. So this view is looking timecard west on the Pennsy. The aerial photo also confirms the tower was in the northwest quadrant.
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Was (is?) this cp507?
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Joseph Tuch Santucci posted
CP 507 westbound on Conrail’s Chicago line at Whiting, IN during 1996.
[And example of Pennys position light signals.] |
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Mark Hinsdale posted
Sunday Night @ the Oldies A pair of wide windshield GE U25B's are in charge of a westbound manifest train on Conrail's former Pennsylvania Railroad "Main Line Pittsburgh to Chicago" at Whiting, Indiana during June, 1977. The two units are of New York Central heritage, as evidenced by the traces of white paint showing through on the locomotive frame. Whiting Tower controlled the crossing of Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal's Whiting Branch, as it curved across both the ex PRR and former NYC mains to reach its connection to B&O's Lake Subdivision. Today the old PRR route is long gone, with beach style homes and a sports complex built over the right of way where the trains, like this one, once ran. June, 1977 photo by Mark Hinsdale |
William Shapotkin
posted three images with the comment:
Here are two pix of Whiting, IN -- xing of the B&O/PRR, located just east of the Whiting, IN PRR psgr station. These pix were taken by Dr. Robert F. Breese off the back end of Amtrak's E/B BROADWAY LIMITED on July 13, 1974. Sadly, the once-mighty Pennsy thru here is history.
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If you look at the "Satellite" link above, you will see this junction is now basically "brown land." That is because Conrail abandoned the Pennsy route and B&OCT no longer connects to
its original passenger route into Chicago. If you zoom out on the satellite image, you will see the houses to the northwest are built on an angle. That is because they are built on the old Pennsy RoW. It was a wide RoW because from here Pennsy ran four tracks into Chicago, two for passenger and two for freight. (The track diagram above confirms there were four tracks leaving this junction towards Chicago.) The B&OCT Whiting Branch now terminates just south of 119th Street so they have one less crossing to maintain but they can still serve the industries in this area. BP Whiting Refinery may be the only industry left, but it is still worth serving.
Actually, either there are other industries being served (plastics?) or the refinery generates byproducts that are carried in covered hoppers because among the many tank cars I saw in the area, I spotted a few covered hoppers. I saved a satellite image to capture the existence of a couple of covered hoppers because the Google images change to remain just a year or two old.
The following map confirmed my suspension that Whiting Junction was were B&OCT crossed the Pennsy to get to B&O's original passenger route to Illinois Central and
Central Station.
This Pennsy junction diagram is a better copy than the one William posted. Note the speed limit in 1949 through this urban area was 70 mph. Pennsy's race with the NYC's passenger trains was still a big deal in the 1940s.
Update:
Scott Griffith
posted four more images. Unfortunately, the first three images look like they are copyrighted and the group is private.
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Locomotive Jordan
posted two photos with the comment: "10/17/1982, we see Conrail's former Pennsylvania Railroad "Fort Wayne " line with its multiple abandoned tracks crossing I believe to be the Indiana Harbor Belt [several comments indicated it was the B&O] at Whiting, IN. Both photos were taken by the late Mark Stanek, they are out of my collection."
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Former crossing with Baltimore & Ohio Whiting branch. After 1968 Penn Central merger, a connection was constructed, allowing former New York Central trains to join the former Pennsylvania Railroad line, and enabling abandonment of the New York Central line to the west. The dispatcher then assumed control of the interlocking. The former Baltimore & Ohio (now CSX) passenger line parallels to the north, the Whiting branch extended south to connect with the Baltimore & Ohio Chicago Terminal freight line.
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