Swing Shift Dispatcher

This old shot, taken on September 11, 1968 at Andover, Virginia, is a real classic in terms of “content.” This is Mr. Ed Renfro. He was the swing-shift Interstate Railroad dispatcher (meaning he covered the off days for the regular first, second and third trick dispatchers so his sleep cycle was always screwed up!) Ed lived in Norton, and also filled the job as first trick car distributor at times. I was doing my janitorial chores at Andover that particular evening and thought he would make a great photo subject. Indeed he did!

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Last of a Dying Breed

Operator’s desk

Last fall I shared some ideas with my friend Rick Selva about what I thought was needed at the SONO Switch Tower Museum in South Norwalk, Connecticut. (From this point on I will refer to it as Old Tower 44 like it was called on the New Haven RR. Later on it was called Berk then after it closed and controlled from NYC at the control center, CP 240 & 241.) Rick’s background when he hired out on Conrail was as lineman on the B&A and Maybrook line. His hobby is old communication equipment, and he knows it very well. Rick and I threw around some ideas and I ran them by John Garofalo, who is one of the most dedicated volunteers you could ever meet at the tower. He and his friend Bob Gambling are there almost every weekend from May till October, when we close. Garf, as he likes to be called, was very excited about our ideas and gave us the OK to do it. Rick’s excitement when I told him we could do our project of hooking up the scissor phone and other phones you see in the pictures throughout our three floors was just what I wanted to see and hear. So Rick, Bob Eb and I spent eight hours working to run wires while Rick hooked these antique phones up. His attention to detail was really something to see, even running wire across the back wall to hide a modern-day wire and he used the insulators you see and affixed the wire to it like it was done 100 years ago.

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Indy Interlude


Indianapolis, Indiana, was once a crossroads with numerous railroads calling. The Monon, Big Four, Pennsylvania, Illinois Central and Baltimore & Ohio all called there. Much of the traffic funneled through Indianapolis Union Station, a downtown structure that served all five roads and still stands today.

On the east side of the station, this large brick tower was built to control the many tracks through the station and the interlocking plants at either end. The tower remains today and while it is no longer manned, it continues to house signal equipment.

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Levee Street

Vicksburg, Mississippi

Former Illinois Central, now Kansas City Southern yard in Vicksburg, Mississippi – 2006

Drive on Levee Street in Vicksburg south of the waterfront and the casino, and you soon reach the Kansas City Southern railroad yard. This is a historic railroad yard and has been in continuous use since before the Civil War. There is still a turntable, and there was once a brick roundhouse, but it was demolished sometime in the 1970s, I was told. One remnant of the 1800s remains; a forlorn and sad but once handsome brick building. According to the Vicksburg Post (20 January 2008), it was once a warehouse and work shop for steam engine supplies, but it now sits neglected and deteriorating.

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A Noon Stop for Water

Southern Pacific narrow-gauge at Keeler CA on August 25 1959.
A water tank’s chain rattles in the desert wind.

We’ve all noticed it. There’s something atmospheric about most railroad structures. There are so many examples. From major stations (and there would be much to say about the atmosphere of stations!) all the way through to the humble mile board’s increments of distance.

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Big Boy 
in West Texas

It’s hard to put into words the feeling of being the only person for miles around listening to a steam engine’s whistle echo through the mountains and across the desert plains. The first faint whistle comes nearly forty-five minutes before it passes by, leaving you plenty of time to imagine life on the frontier when the train was your only connection to the outside world. Before long, Big Boy rumbles past and the massive steam engine disappears back into the vast West Texas landscape and all falls silent.

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