LwS S2, E3: Tower 47, the West Shore, & Robber Barons
On Tuesday, May 1, 1951, John M. Prophet III brought his wire recorder to New York Central's Interlocking Tower 47; located on the Central's mainline about a mile east of Buffalo Central Terminal. At first glance, the tower seemed like it was built in a spot where it wasn't needed. But when you dig deeper, Tower 47 played an very important role in keeping New York Central's steam engines (and later diesel locomotives) operating in perfect working order. The tower also controlled freight train movements into various New York Central freight yards in the vicinity, including their colossal Frontier Yard, which sadly, is no longer in operation. This is an episode that includes a lot of history along with some great recordings of typical engine and train movements at what was once a very busy location for the New York Central.
Here are some images of Tower 47 which I was very fortunate to find on the "Abandoned Rails: Buffalo & Western New York" Facebook group. If you aren't a member of this group and are a lover of Buffalo's rail history, please consider joining.
Images courtesy of Larry Bain Jr., Doug Kroll, Nathan Vester, and Matt Northem
A special thanks to Steve Kocsis from the Western New York Railway Historical Society for his technical and historical assistance with this episode.
The images below are of the West Shore Engine Facility and were taken by George Ulrich, a New York Central engineer.
The first picture shows show a view from the roundhouse towards the turntable with the Pullman roundhouse in the background. The photo was taken on April 11, 1949.
The second photo shows a Canadian Pacific 4-6-2 #2332 at the West Shore Coaling Dock, taken May 5, 1942.
The last photo shows the results of a bad night for a hostler, when he dropped a Niagara's Tender in the turntable pit at 10:15 pm on July 12th, 1950.
If you stood outside of Tower 47 and looked west, this is the view you would see. The overpass bridge in the background is Bailey Avenue.
Image courtesy of Steve Kocsis, Western New York Railway Historical Society.
The West Shore Engine Facility's roundhouse. The small section of roof you see at the bottom of the photo is that of the Pullman Car Works, located just south of the West Shore's facility.
Image courtesy of Forgotten Buffalo at www.forgottenbuffalo.com.
Some images of Frontier Yard.
Courtesy of the Western New York Railway Historical Society. Learn more: https://www.facebook.com/page/137122502977834/search/?q=frontier%20yard
A great picture from inside the tower at Frontier Yard courtesy of Scott Bowman.
Here is an annotated aerial view of the West Shore Engine Facility and surrounding tracks to better understand how the movements at Tower 47 were made.
There is no better way to understand how trains moved in Buffalo than to see the railroad tracks laid out on topographic maps from several different years. Each map I've annotated shows the progression of tracks being built and removed in the area around Tower 47, the West Shore Engine Facility, and Frontier Yard.
To find these topo maps online, visit: https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/topoview/
Here are several aerial survey views of the areas around Tower 47, the West Shore Engine Facility, and Frontier Yard.
A Sanborn Fire Insurance map showing the West Shore Engine Facility and the Pullman Car Works.
Here is a system map for the New York, West Shore, & Buffalo Railroad.
Photos courtesy of the West Shore Brewing Company.
Tower 47's location if searched on Google Earth. Also, a view of Frontier Yard from Google Earth. Note that the Pullman Car Works roundhouse is still at its original location, but the West Shore Engine Facility is long gone.
Here is the page of notes John wrote for his Tower 47 recordings. Hopefully, looking over the notes will help you to better understand what you're listening to rather than trying to remember all of the narrative I convey for each segment. I will agree that It IS a lot and can certainly get very confusing.
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