25-06-20 PHOTOS: DL&W Pocono Towers

 Closed railroad interlocking towers have a lot in common with the Three Little Pigs nursery rhyme. If the ones made of wood aren't burned down by vagrants, it doesn't take much for the railroads to huff and puff and knock them down. The ones made of brick fare a bit better, but unless asbestos gets in the way, a couple of swipes with a back hoe is enough to turn them into rubble. However a tower made of reinforced concrete borderline indestructible and nobody liked reinforced concrete more than the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western. In June 2025 I set out for the Poconos to check out a string of surviving DL&W interlocking towers between the Delaware Water Gap and Scranton. Because that on its own isn't super exciting I also mixed in some photos from the Washington, DC area, so enjoy.

First up is the tower at Slateford Jct. Built around 1910 as part of the famed Lackawanna Cutoff project, it governed the western junction between the new cutoff and the old main line the cutoff was cutting off. The like most other cutoff structures the tower was poured from the then new wonder material of reinforced concrete. As processes around reinforced concrete had not been fully optimized for cost and the project was located near Pennsylvania's "Cement Belt" and the DL&W was flush with cash from the anthracite coal trade, the concrete used in this and nearby towers has proven exceptionally durable. 

SLATEFORD JCT itself was closed in the 1950's in favor of CTC. Now increasingly hidden by trees and underbrush the tower is used as a hangout by local kids with both the relay room and operator's floor accessible for inspection. Note the steel supports for the mechanical lever frame.

The next tower is the exception that proves the rule. EAST STROUDSBURG is perhaps the only surviving wooden DL&W tower and is located in East Stroudsburg, PA. It was obtained by a local preservation group after Conrail retreated from the region in the early 1980's and retains a fully functional lever type interlocking machine and model board. 

EAST STROUDSBURG sits adjacent to the old DL&W station site that, sometime between now and 2002, has been subjected to substantial alteration. 

Just a few miles up the road is another DL&W standard concrete tower, GRAVEL PLACE. Once the location of a yard and NYS&W interchange point, GRAVEL PLACE declined in importance until the interlocking was re-signaled and placed under remote control by the operator at EAST STROUDSBURG in the 1950's. Similar to SLATEFORD, GRAVEL PLACE is hidden amongst the trees. 

25-06-14 PHOTOS: Norwalk Nights

In 2025 a friend in southern New Hampshire I had stayed with during the HART tower trip back in October 2024 informed me that they would be soon be moving back to Ohio. Although I had largely completed by Connecticut Valley signal documentation project there were still a few odds and ends I wanted to check on so I found a free weekend with cheap Acela runs. Unfortunately, my friend was presented with a surprise gift of tickets to see Ringo Star's All Star Band at Carnegie Hall on the night where I would arrive via Amtrak's Valley Flyer to Greenfield, MA. Well, no problem, instead of transferring to the Flyer, I could just backtrack from New Haven to where my friend would be parked at Stamford, killing the remaining time at a brewery in South Norwalk. Here is a set of photos from what turned out to be a surprisingly successful Plan B.

Somehow I managed to get a reasonably priced seat on the 330pm Acela out of BWI which arrived with a classic set and power cars #2027 and #2033.

Using an upgrade to first class I was able to two meals on my trip to New Haven, crab meat enchiladas and a cheese plate.

I managed to make a very short connection to the next westbound Metro-North local with M8 MU #9729 leading. The previous eastbound MNRR NHL train was on the adjacent track with M8 #9365 on the rear. 

I arrived at South Norwalk well after dark. I had been to the station a couple times before to visit the nearby preserved SS44 interlocking tower, but never inside the actual station building.

After having to walk about twice the distance to the brewery due to a "can't get there from here" problem, I stayed until last call before walking back to the station.  Given the darkness the best I could do was a video montage where I managed to catch every type of train that passes through the station, MNRR M8 MUs, Danbury diesel shuttle, Amtrak ACS-86 hauled Regional and Acela Express trainset. 

My MNRR train to Stamford was lead by M8 #9135. This pulled in next to the Stamford local's leading M8 #9413. The train of M8's on the central storage track included #9295.

Fast forwarding to the next day, the former B&M East Deerfield Yard had completed its transition from former Guilford painted locomotives to G&W painted Berkshire and Eastern. One former CN unit as well as a leased GATX cow-calf pair were also in evidence.

NS is still running freight on the former B&M line to Mechanicville, NY. A triplet of road power was on hand with SD60E #6971 ahead of C40-10W #7693 and SD70ACe #1146.

Later that day I managed to catch northbound Vermonter train #56 making its stop at Bellows Falls with 50th Anniversary heritage P42DC #45.

My return plans remained unaltered and I got a ride to Springfield to connect with a Springfield Line shuttle train. The packing deck provided a view of the new bus terminal that replaced the former Union Station express baggage facility and, unfortunately, the old Boston and Albany interlocking tower.

I even managed to catch the arrival of northbound Springfield shuttle train #460 with P42DC #107 and Metroliner cab car #9632.

Train #460 platformed on low level track #8 while my noon-departing southbound train #463 was on high level track #4 with P42DC #127 and cab car #9645. I suspect high level track #6 was being held open for the northbound Vermonter.

Train #460 seen here at New Haven track #1 allowing passengers to make a same track connection to a Southbound Regional train #160 with ACS-86 #610.

Of course there was a lot of Metro North M8's hanging about including an arrival from Grand Central bookended by #9316 and #9423 and #9135 hanging out of track #6.

While my Springfield "trainset" went to the yard, a new one pulled in on track #4 with P42DC #113 and cab car #9647 for the upcoming Train #464.

Of course I would be departing on the following Acela Train #2255 with Power Car #2015 leading. Originally announced for track #1 a change to track #3 allowed me to catch the switch throw and display of the 3W signal at SS75.

Work on the replacement SS45 WALK movable bridge was under way at South Norwalk. This has created a long term bottleneck with two tracks out of service east of the movable bridge to remediate low clearance road bridges.

Of course I did another first class upgrade, scoring the single "Joe Biden Seat" 15A. Unfortunately I was once again bedeviled by the plant based meat balls that had been on every menu since the fall of 2024.

Here we have power car #2015 at New York Penn Station.

I'll wrap things up with this video of southbound MARC commuter train making a stop at the BWI Airport Rail Station with Kawasaki cab car #7848 leading and SC44 #86 providing power.

Next time I'll be back with some DC area stuff followed by a selection of surviving Delaware Lackawanna interlocking towers.