Railroad Control Tower

The Glen Carbon tower was built about 1902 and stood in the vee between the Nickel Plate and Illinois Central tracks on the south side of the junction, giving operators a clear view in all directions. Manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it functioned much like an airport control tower as the operator remotely threw track switches to align routes between tracks and set trackside signals. The combination of colored lights told the locomotive engineer which route was aligned and safely locked for movement through the junction. The operator also communicated with the train dispatcher by telegraph or telephone, copied operational orders onto paper forms, and handed them to train crews passing at speed with a special forked rod known as a train order hoop. In the summer of 1904, 22 passenger trains a day passed on their way to the World's Fair in Forest Park, St. Louis, along with another dozen freight trains every weekday. Major train wrecks sometimes occurred near the tower, and after one Illinois Central train carrying peaches from the east wrecked, Glen Carbon residents enjoyed the spilled fruit.

Glen Carbon, Illinois · United States