IC Homewood Tower

(CRJ (station), Satellite, Street View)
NorthAmericanInterlockings:  photo
Chicago and Northern Indiana Railroad Interlocking Towers

Homewood's depot is just a few blocks north of here.

Jim Griffith posted
ICG TOWER-HOMEWOOD, ILLINOIS

The tower is in the left background.

Robby Gragg posted
IC SD70 1029 leads M371 south past Homewood Tower. Glad to finally get a deathstar passing Homewood Tower.

Bob Kalal posted five photos with the comment: "Homewood Illinois, ICG Switch Tower at the south end of Markham Yard."

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Noah Haggerty posted three photos with the comment: "Former Illinois Central tower at Homewood, IL on January 12, 2022, south of the Metra station."

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Steve Rosen posted
CTC board, Illinois Central Gulf, Homewood, Illinois. Probably 1979-80 when I worked there.  Left is north. 1st two tracks, commuter electric, next, Mainline (IC, amtrak and transfer jobs) top, leads into Markham yard and Woodcrest shops, as well as the lead to the quarry.  I think the tower still stands. The Homewood Railfan Platform is across the tracks and north.

Jon roma commented on Steve's post

It seems to me that this must have been a slave panel if the "master" was at the train lister's office.

I am trying to pinpoint when Homewood, Richton, and Monee towers closed, and I know that Stuenkel was cut in as part of the new CTC between Kensington and KX in the mid-Sixties. Unfortunately, I have no bulletin orders or seniority rosters to help, and the employee timetables are not always precise enough.

Attached is a track diagram of Homewood interlocking circa 1987during the plans for conveying ownership from ICG to Metra.

Charles Sullivan Flickr 2008 Photo  Charles asked about the purpose of the building. David Daruszka answered:

Former interlocking tower that controlled the switches at the south end of Markham Yard. These switches are now controlled remotely by a dispatcher at Homewood. The tower still contains electrical equipment for the switches.

Charles recommends watching from the small viewing platform on the east side because it has a speaker that lets you here what is being said on the radio.

Arturo Gross Flickr 2018 Photo that has a Death Star leading past the tower.

4 photos of the tower, comments provide three interior shots