Riverside Junction, NY

[JCook]

I'm looking as to any information on the structures at the Riverside Junction area.
There are numerous things in the Riverside Jct. area that I find striking. One is that 3 major Railroads came through here, there was an BR&P interlocking tower, a double diamond, a B&O double bridge that still exists, and also just north of here at Carrollton, NY, within view, is a very skewed bridge that is a combination of 3 heavy-looking through truss spans and 2 plate girder spans. I guess I'm finding it interesting to take a walk up in this area and capture a few photos of the area as there seemed to be so much going on in one little area. My thoughts are with 3 major railroads, there must be a little more on the history than I am able to dig up.
I have just a question as to builders plates, I've seen them usually at both ends of a bridge and overhead...is there anywhere else they may have put them I should be looking for them at?
There was a bridge that appears to have had a trussel prior to the abutment of this bridge that crossed the Allegheny River and south into Limestone, NY that was part of the Erie LIne. I guess what I find interesting about this Junction, is that there were 3 railroads at this exact point.
The Bradford branch of the Erie Railroad (NYLE&W), the Salamanca Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Baltimore & Ohio (BR&P) that intersected at this point. The Erie and B&O ran parallel to each other, north & south, and the PRR crossed to the east to west, over the B&O and Erie lines. There was as it appears a double diamond at this location where there the PRR crossed the B&O and Erie along with an interlocking tower that BR&P (B&O) had put up previously.
Some information states that the interlocking tower was built between 1913-1914, but according to the Public Utilities Reports of 1919, BR&P was approved Aug 29, 1918 for the installation of a interlocking plant with signals, switches, and derails at Riverside Junction to govern the crossing of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh Railway, The Erie Railroad, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. This kind of leaves me in some conflict as to the build of the tower. One bridge, the double diamond, and Interlocking tower are long since gone.

[BR4-Pickup]

There were 5 interlocking towers which were built by the Buffalo, Rochester, & Pittsburgh Ry (later known as the B&O's Buffalo Division). They were all reinforced concrete construction with Spanish Mission style tile roofs. They were (from North to South):

AD Tower (Ashford Jct. at Ashford NY: placed in service January 2, 1914) - governed the connection between the Buffalo and Rochester Divisions of the BR&P (3rd and 4th/Rochester sub-divisions of the B&O Buffalo Division). The line approaching from the south was double-track, the diverging lines to the north and northeast were single track. At one time, there was a wye track connecting the Buffalo and Rochester lines just above the junction. The tower stands today and is maintained in good shape under lease to a private party.

RJ Tower (Riverside Jct. north of Limestone NY: built in 1919) - governed the diamond and connecting track with the PRR (running east-west along the south side of the Allegheny River). The tower also governed the Erie (Bradford Division) crossing of the PRR just to the west. The BR&P's double-track line passed along the east side of RJ, with the parallel Erie line on the west side. The PRR line was immediately north of the tower. This was the smallest of the five towers and is the only one which is gone. One of the men who was involved in its demolition in the 1970's recalled that they first tried a wrecking ball, but that the 22" thick (at the base) reinforced walls were too much. They filled the building with flammable material and set fire to it. After softening the reinforcing with the heat, they dynamited it. They had plans to demolish one or more other towers, too, but decided to leave them to the vandals and mother nature. There were, by the way, three diamonds. The BR&P / B&O Buffalo Division double-track and the nearby Erie Bradford Division both crossed the east-west Pennsy branch south of the river.

WI Tower (Brockway PA: placed in service June 5, 1918) - governed the connection with the Erie (Bradford Division) Toby Branch. The BR&P was double track north and south and the Erie (single) track diverged to the southeast from the northbound BR&P main. This tower is the worst in condition of the surviving towers. A fire has burned the window frames out so the roof has a lot of daylight under it - resting on only the four concrete corner posts.

AK / FC Tower (just southeast of Falls Creek PA: built 1918) - governed two diamonds and an interchange with the (east-west) Allegheny Valley RR (later known as the PRR's Low-Grade sub-division) and another pair of diamonds and a connection with the Ridgway & Clearfield Ry (later a PRR line as well). The BR&P was double track north and south. One interchange track was in the southwest quadrant of the diamond and gave the BR&P access to the A.V., the Reynoldsville & Falls Creek Ry, and the Lake Shore & Michigan Southern RR. The other connecting track was in the northwest quadrant which connected to the R&C main track before it crossed the BR&P main tracks. The R&C crossed on a diagonal in the process of swinging from west to north (paralleling the BR&P to Brockway and Ridgway). The tower was (partially) built as AK, but not placed in service for 19 years (the plant was controlled by a PRR facility in the southeast quadrant of the diamond during that time). The Pennsylvania Public Service Commission ordered, in late 1936, that an interlocked switch and signal mechanism be installed by the B&O and the tower was placed in service (with electrical interlocking) on November 8, 1937. The tower was re-designated as FC.

CM Tower (C&M Jct., just southeast of DuBois PA: placed in service April 7, 1914) - governed the connection with the Clearfield and Mahoning Ry.(leased to the BR&P and operated as their Clearfield Branch). The branch was oriented east-west and had wye connections to the north and south to the BR&P northward main track. As at the other locations, the tower governed crossover switches between the northward and southward main tracks approaching the connection with the diverging line.

I have photos of RJ Tower that I can send if you send me your e-mail address. Contact me directly at [email protected]

[JCook]

The RJ tower was the only one they demolished...so the other 4 are left standing? It sounds like from the demolishing of the RJ tower, they were made to stand the test of time. That clears up the build date, as it left me in some confusion for a time. So initially the AD tower and CM towers were built 1st I assume cause they were on the ends. The Dubois Tower is still standing and accessible?..That could be worth a roadtrip in the spring.

The double track of the B&O answered another question as to why the bridge that is left standing and in use, is a double track bridge, but only one set of rails is on it. Do you have any info on the bridge left standing at RJ as far as build date/year and whom constructed it? I see on a topo map, the wye, and 2 diamonds, I forgot the fact the B&O had a double track and that would make a triple diamond right in line.
Do you have anything on the skewed bridge at Carrollton, NY and the Pennsy bridge at RJ that they tore down? It appears looking on a satelite image, the Pennsy bridge...or at least whats left at that location, had some sort of trussle arraingement coming into the bridge from north to south, but I'm only guessing from the shadows I see on the satelite map.

[JCook]

I have photos of RJ Tower that I can send if you send me your e-mail address. Contact me directly at...

I sent you an email from cooks_forest...Yahoo.com..I'd be interested in photos of the tower.

Thanks JIm

[Fanatic5]

I have visited all four (4) remaining BR&P towers, documenting the structures and surrounding railroad operations, both currently and years past. I posted a forum topic on the other website...RAILFAN.NET.

Here is the link...

http://forums.railfan.net/forums.cgi?bo ... 1117374357

Hope this might be of some assistance!