WX Tower at E Deerfield, MA yard controlled from Cheapside, half way between Greenfield and E Deerfield to the crossover at Montague, MA. The control machine was a GRS direct wire type and controlled the holding signals at Cheapside, the west end of the yard, the east end of the yard and Montague crossover. The photo was taken in 1980 and the tower has been removed from service. Ray Perry was one of four brothers and their father who were operators, dispatchers and towermen on the B&M.
Paul - This type of direct wire cTc dates back to the 1920s. The track diagram is on the panel and the levers along the bottom are switch control. Normal is down and reverse is up. Along the track diagram are rotary switches to control the signals. Each has an arrow and the arrow pointing up has the signal at stop. Either left or right clears the signal. This is a yard so there are two types of signal control buttons. The red button is for normal signals and the yellow button will only give a restricting aspect which was used for switching. This machine controlled about 4 miles of double track main plus the yard switches at the west end of the yard where the tower was. I maintained the area this maching covered plus an addirional 10 miles east for a few years in the 1950s.
I love WX Tower! I was really bummed when they put black plywood in all the windows. My second HO scratchbuilding job was WX, from plans in Mainline Modeler, when they pulished plans of the Johnsonville Tower which was a copy. Thanks for posting this!
Here's a little something from thirty years ago. Perhaps Gil would know the person who signed this? Boxcab E50
Signed by Anthony (Tony) St Paul and the WVF is William V. Fury, Supt. I knew them both. [ 10. March 2004, 03:34: Message edited by: signalguy ]
For your information the lower floor of the tower had a toilet and the stairs in the left corner and a furnace and coal bin in the right corner. The other end was divided into two rooms. The left had the stand by batteries and rectifiers while the right had the relays that controlled all the yard power switches. The second floor was all one room with the control machine in the center.
