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RR SIGNAL TOWER

Program
Historic Transportation
Subject
Site, Transportation
Location
31 Analomink St, East Stroudsburg, PA 18301, USA
Lat/Long
40.999297, -75.181449
Grant Recipient
East Stroudsburg Railroad Tower Society
Historic Marker

RR SIGNAL TOWER

Inscription

RR SIGNAL TOWER
BUILT 1908 BY DELAWARE,
LACKAWANNA & WESTERN RR. TOWER
OPERATOR CONTROLLED TRACK
SWITCHES & SIGNALS FROM HERE
USING MANY MECHANICAL LEVERS.
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2024

In 1908, the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad built eight railroad signal towers along their line, including one in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania. From the East Stroudsburg signal tower, an operator controlled the railroad track switches and signals using at first 36, and later 38 mechanical levers as part of what was called an interlocking machine. From the tower, the operator could move the switches and signals on the main tracks between Broad Street and Federal Street using the interlocking machine.

Eventually, around the 1950s, the tower was modernized with a Centralized Traffic Control or CTC system, which allowed the operator to control several interlockings, with signals transmitted electrically rather than through mechanical means. Regular tower operator shifts continued until the late 1970s, and use of the tower finally ceased in the 1980s.

Since the early 2000s, the East Stroudsburg Railroad Tower Society has worked to restore and maintain the signal tower, along with the mechanical interlocking machine and the later, modernized CTC system, both still housed in the tower. The Society invites the public to explore the tower during tours and special events to learn about how the equipment it housed worked, and to showcase the significance of this vital development in the history of railroads.


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