PRR bgan using CTC on the Buffalo line as long ago as the late 1930's with an installation between Machias and East Aurora, N Y, but the second phase, between Rockvile and the west end of Northumberland Yard, was accomplished during the years 1956-1959. This included a new KASE Block Station, a one-story structure replacing the original tower.
The board was a three-sided USS design common to the time, and the rightmost portion was originally intended to serve the Wilkes-Barre Branch, but PRR reportedly balked at the cost and opted to close the tower at Nescopck, whch controlled a nearly-3-mile siding near the geographic center of the 60-mile branch, instead.
As originally designed, the Main Line portion of the project involved controlled sidings at FERRY (Clarks Ferry), MILLER (Millersburg) and BOYLES (Herndon). Double track began at CREEK, south of Sunbury, and continued to MOLLY, at the west (north) end of Northumberland Yard.
The junction to the Wilkes-Barre line in both directions was accomplished by means of a unique arrangement whereby freights crossing the bridge from Northumberland crossed the east(north)bound connection at grade, then looped around the nortwest corner of Sunbury, The two lines joined at BANK, another remote-controlled interlocking a mile to the north, but in earlier days, double track extended to RAVEN tower, about five miles further north. I'm not sure what track assignments were used at the time.
The Shamokin Branch could also be accesed directly from the south(east) by means of a connection referred to in earlier ETT's as the Haas Lead. To the best of my knowledge, it was never interlocked at the far end of the "Y".
By the last time I visited KASE, probably around 1972, the double-track portion of the complex had been cut back from CREEK to HORN, the next interlocking to the north, leaving CREEK with just a pair of manually-operated home signals.
What a revoltin' development this is! (William Bendix)
