LwS S1, E4: New York Central's Tower 50
This episode of LwS features recordings John made at New York Central Tower 50 on November 26, 1949. Tower 50 was located between the New York Central's East/West mainline and their Niagara Branch tracks to Niagara Falls. It was situated almost underneath the Seneca Street overpass bridge. While not as glamorous as other locations John Prophet visited that had grade crossings where engines could show off their whistles, Tower 50 was an incredible place to record normal train movements since the activity was constant in a mixture of freight and passenger trains.
This episode also discusses John’s favorite place to visit when he was younger; Renovo, PA., a town built by the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad (later the PRR) because there was a huge engine servicing facility there along with a crew stop.
Special thanks to the Buffalo Area Transportation, Industry, Architecture & Defense group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/1575100856112995 and the Western New York Railroad Historical Society at https://www.facebook.com/wnyrhs
Note the overhead electric wires for the streetcars that trailed over the Seneca Street bridge. It's funny how you can look at these old photographs and notice only the railroad-related subject matter which takes up most of the image. However, it's the other details, such as the streetcar power cables, that are often overlooked. It just proves that the street cars were just as important at one time and had routes all over the city of Buffalo.
The annotated Google and topo maps below show the locations of Tower 50 and Tower 49-A.
These John Prophet photographs were my introduction to Renovo, PA. It's after seeing these that I wanted to learn more about the town built by the Philadelphia & Erie, and later the Pennsylvania Railroad. The main engine servicing building is shown as is the pedestrian bridge that carried the town's workers over the railroad tracks and onto the facility.
After looking at John's photographs of Renovo, PA, I asked if there was anything left of the town to see. After drawing me a map of how to get there, my wife and I set out like a couple of bohemians to find the town. Needless to say, we found it. Although not how John had left it.
This is what the area where Tower 50 stood looks like today. The small brick shack is what took the place of the tower, and at one time housed the electrical gear that controlled the switch movements in the area. The shack is now abandoned and falling apart.
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