Oakland Tower
Former CB&Q this BN tower is the 3rd tower of the 5 starting at St.Paul with Telegraph calls they line up Division St CB&Q(DS) Hoffman Ave Milw(NY) Oakland CB&Q(OA) Newport(dispatcher/opr/leverman) Milw(RT) and St.Croix Milw(QM). They did keep the Morse keys till the end. The old heads that were required to attend telegraph schools were so fast, they could OS back and forth before us lads could dial 7 digits by phone. Trivia: Story goes,these old heads when they were green,practiced their Morse up and down the line,by transmitting newspaper stories. On 3rd trick one night, they transmitted a story about a train wreck. The chief DS caught a hunk of this and assumed the worst. What the hell is going on,wheres the wreck? All keys went silent. Also here before radios,the entrance to the Milw Yd to the left,the track assignment was given in the tower window with a card board sign similar to the old iceman cards.In your window you turned it for 25,50 75 or 100lbs of ice. Anyone remember that? This all begs the question, how did they keep the 20th Century Ltd on time,or switched without radios,computers,track warrants or PTC? Hats off to them,they did it.
Oakland Tower
Former CB&Q this BN tower is the 3rd tower of the 5 starting at St.Paul with Telegraph calls they line up Division St CB&Q(DS) Hoffman Ave Milw(NY) Oakland CB&Q(OA) Newport(dispatcher/opr/leverman) Milw(RT) and St.Croix Milw(QM). They did keep the Morse keys till the end. The old heads that were required to attend telegraph schools were so fast, they could OS back and forth before us lads could dial 7 digits by phone. Trivia: Story goes,these old heads when they were green,practiced their Morse up and down the line,by transmitting newspaper stories. On 3rd trick one night, they transmitted a story about a train wreck. The chief DS caught a hunk of this and assumed the worst. What the hell is going on,wheres the wreck? All keys went silent. Also here before radios,the entrance to the Milw Yd to the left,the track assignment was given in the tower window with a card board sign similar to the old iceman cards.In your window you turned it for 25,50 75 or 100lbs of ice. Anyone remember that? This all begs the question, how did they keep the 20th Century Ltd on time,or switched without radios,computers,track warrants or PTC? Hats off to them,they did it.