Taylor machine at Chicago's 16th Street Tower
The General Railway Signal Company (GRS) was not even in existence when this 152-lever electric interlocking machine was approved for service by the Illinois Railroad & Warehouse Commission in July 1901.
The plant was operated by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, a New York Central, and controlled a complex junction between the joint NYC/Rock Island joint track, Illinois Central's Chicago, Madison & Northern subsidiary, and the St. Charles Air Line.
Though a complex plant, the 16th Street interlocking was a far simplified version of the non-interlocked crossing it replaced. Prior to the grade separation of the Chicago & Western Indiana and Santa Fe, the old track arrangement boasted well over 100 crossing diamonds, and was one of Chicago's major bottlenecks.
At the time it was commissioned, 16th Street Tower saw about 850 train movements in 24 hours' time.
Though the plant is no longer quite so busy today, the 1901-era Taylor machine still soldiers on in 2017, 116 years after it was built.
Taylor machine at Chicago's 16th Street Tower
The General Railway Signal Company (GRS) was not even in existence when this 152-lever electric interlocking machine was approved for service by the Illinois Railroad & Warehouse Commission in July 1901.
The plant was operated by the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern, a New York Central, and controlled a complex junction between the joint NYC/Rock Island joint track, Illinois Central's Chicago, Madison & Northern subsidiary, and the St. Charles Air Line.
Though a complex plant, the 16th Street interlocking was a far simplified version of the non-interlocked crossing it replaced. Prior to the grade separation of the Chicago & Western Indiana and Santa Fe, the old track arrangement boasted well over 100 crossing diamonds, and was one of Chicago's major bottlenecks.
At the time it was commissioned, 16th Street Tower saw about 850 train movements in 24 hours' time.
Though the plant is no longer quite so busy today, the 1901-era Taylor machine still soldiers on in 2017, 116 years after it was built.