Niles Tower
Doug Harrop Photography • April 6, 1976
Back in 1912, the Western Pacific constructed Niles Tower, an interlocking plant where the WP crossed the Southern Pacific Railroad in Niles, California. The tower stood in relative obscurity until railfans and a historians realized the tower's time was about up, and standard technology of 1912 was ancient technology by 1980.
Niles Tower finally succumbed to SP's implementation of CTC and DTC in early 1986, and the building itself was sadly destroyed in two successive fires that same year. Although WP operators manned the tower (as part of the agreement allowing WP to cross SP tracks), most of their work involved SP trains: cutting orders and routing trains around SP's two wye tracks. WP work was largely confined to lighting signals, and routing their own trains over the SP diamond.
Doug Harrop lived in San Francisco and made numerous trips to Altamont to capture Western Pacific's "Fab Four" quartet of F7s in freight service on the San Jose Turn in the mid- to late 1970s. He captured this stunning view as WP 921 approaches the SP diamonds at Niles Tower on April 6, 1976.
Niles Tower
Doug Harrop Photography • April 6, 1976
Back in 1912, the Western Pacific constructed Niles Tower, an interlocking plant where the WP crossed the Southern Pacific Railroad in Niles, California. The tower stood in relative obscurity until railfans and a historians realized the tower's time was about up, and standard technology of 1912 was ancient technology by 1980.
Niles Tower finally succumbed to SP's implementation of CTC and DTC in early 1986, and the building itself was sadly destroyed in two successive fires that same year. Although WP operators manned the tower (as part of the agreement allowing WP to cross SP tracks), most of their work involved SP trains: cutting orders and routing trains around SP's two wye tracks. WP work was largely confined to lighting signals, and routing their own trains over the SP diamond.
Doug Harrop lived in San Francisco and made numerous trips to Altamont to capture Western Pacific's "Fab Four" quartet of F7s in freight service on the San Jose Turn in the mid- to late 1970s. He captured this stunning view as WP 921 approaches the SP diamonds at Niles Tower on April 6, 1976.