Active Towers BROOK 2

http://www.trainsarefun.com/lirr/lirr%2 ... e%20Towers UPDATE LIRR Active Towers 3/26

Any photos of BROOK: 2 available?

Current Active Towers would be

Babylon
Valley
Lead
Jamaica Central Control (JCC)
West Side Yard
Penn Station Central Control (PSCC)
Brook

The East Side Access project remains under construction and in a testing phase. It is not currently under LIRR jurisdiction. Once complete, you can add Grand Central Control (GCC) to the list of active towers.


The block operator and yardmaster in Brooklyn are no longer in Brook Tower. They have been relocated into the Atlantic Terminal crew facilities. They are across from the "Wheelhouse".


When situations permit, there have been cases where old towers are brought back to use. In the height of the COVID spread of the omicron variant, the operator for "Queens" was moved from JCC to Queens tower to provide social distancing in JCC and to slow down the spread.


JCC now incorporates Queens Tower, Nassau Tower, Divide Tower, Dunton Tower, Hall Tower, Jay Tower.

Actually Babylon is going in tomorrow morning, so that leaves Lead and Valley as the last real towers left. WSY and Brook are now alcoves underground in either the Yardmaster's office or the Station master's office.

Brook 2 is actually what used to be Van Interlocking and when they closed that it was rolled into new Brook. Old Brook was a narrow, dusty room built into the wall between 3 and 4 track. There was no room for a chair when at the machine and mouse encounters were frequent. They closed Brook and Van and it was rolled into Brook 1 and 2 inside the concrete block house between 2 and 3.

So, now you have WSY (yard job), PSCC, Brook, JCC, Valley and Lead. Valley may go at the end of the year. But at some point we'll pick up GCC (way down underground, very similar to Brook's layout, in a office with the SM, YM, etc.) and Mid-Day yard somewhere in LIC.

Interesting about Babylon. I haven't heard. Take a week off, and we lose a tower!

General Notice 7-54 - Babylon Tower closing effective 3/26/2022 Archive: Jeff Erlitz

General Notice 7-54 - Babylon Tower closing effective 3/26/2022 Archive: Jeff Erlitz

Babylon Tower housed 2 operators. Babylon and Babylon East. One controlled Babylon Yard to Freeport, and the other controlled everything east of that. Both have been re-located to JCC effective 415am on March 26th, 2022 as per General Notice 7-54, paragraph B.

As far as a physical tower that houses block operators, the only 2 left are Valley Tower and Lead Tower. The other operators are either in JCC or in an office setting in a yard/crew facility, as supposed to a dedicated tower. Coming soon will be 2 more locations where they'll be block operators. Some places they are designated as train directors as supposed to block operators, so I don't know what the correct term is in this case.

GCC Interlocking Station - Grand Central Control. As Krispy stated earlier, I'm assuming this will be a similar setup that we see in Brooklyn. An office near a stationmaster's office that's shared with a yardmaster.

Mid Interlocking Station - I haven't been inside the building yet, but there is a facility at Mid-Day yard that will be for a block operator, yardmaster, train crews, and presumably other crafts (3rd Rail, Signal, etc...). It's not a tower, but more of an office building type of setup.

Gamer4616, why would GCC and Mid-Interlocking not be added to Jamaica Central Control? It seems like LIRR is almost taking a step backwards by establishing new tower-like facilities at the same time so many old towers are being closed.

I can see why they would want the operator in certain crew facilities, rather than JCC.

A place like West Side Yard. You are dealing with an operation of a massive yard. The operator is basically right next to the yardmaster. They work hand in hand to move trains in and out, drill moves, blue flag protection, etc... Having a yardmaster right next to you, allows for a smoother operation. Mid-Day yard is a massive yard, setup the same way. So, i could see why they decided to have an operator there.

I've seen the hassle it can be for a yardmaster having to try to call the operator and coordinate operations. Babylon Yardmaster trying to get a hold of Babylon Tower on the phone during an MLX weekend! (When Mainline is shut down, and they have the Bablyon-Hicksville shuttles running). It's hard to get through. it's a lot easier if you are side by side.

gamer4616 wrote: it's a lot easier if you are side by side.

<---- This. I worked old Brook when you had a YM in one location, the TM in another all on one speaker. It was definitely less than ideal. When I moved into the YM/YE office in Old New Brook, it was definitely better. I was also lucky to work with a great YM, TM, ASM and YE crews, and it was truly a well-oiled machine, we all looked out for each other and it was actually fun to come to work, for once LOL. Albeit I was a troglodyte underground, but hey...

It works, that's why Amtrak has PSCC in Claytor-Scannell Center and not some location in Delaware, and we do what we do in Brooklyn. Better command and control in a local location, let the people there deal with the operational situation and the higher-ups can talk to Jamaica. Also, having all of the eggs in one basket is NOT ideal, say like a unlucky lightning strike in Jamaica, hurricane, etc., you can still have limited operations until the issue is fixed.

IMHO having adjacent tower locations available to work in the unlikely event adjacent one goes down. Not likely but do not put all eggs in one basket.one