Hi All,

I'm planning a railfanning trip to Tuscola, IL. I was looking for a possible station/tower on the Railroad Station Historical Society's website to keep me busy in case I get bored between trains. Although the depot(s) and the main tower are gone, there is a reported Illinois Central tower that has been relocated to Ervin Park on the north side of town. I haven't been able to find any information on this tower besides a picture on Google Images, but I'm almost certain it's not original to Tuscola. It is similar to the one in Ashkum and Kankakee Junction. Does anyone know anything about this structure?

Thomas Dyrek

P.S. Here is the picture. https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8791/181 ... 2f1d_b.jpg

I can't help you with information on this tower but, if you haven't already, I suggest making the short drive to Mattoon and visiting the IC depot there. The Coles County Historical Society has done a beautiful job renovating and preserving it. Information on that effort can be found here: Mattoon Depot

I can emphatically state that there was exactly ONE interlocking tower in service at Tuscola, Illinois, and that it was a frame structure.

This interlocking, which went by the telegraph call sign "TY", was given its first permit by the Illinois Railroad & Warehouse Commission on January 31, 1900, and had a 40-lever interlocking frame.

By permit under the date September 2, 1913, the tower gained space for eight additional levers (bringing the frame to 48 levers). This was coincident with the double-tracking of the C&EI main line through this area. The change required cutting the building in two and splicing in a new section of the structure to accommodate the additional levers. This work would have required major changes to the mechanical locking and the leadout of pipelines to switches, derails, signals, etc.

The seams showing evidence of this "stretching" of the tower were pointed out to me on the exterior walls of the tower by one of the tower's operators after I became a regular visitor to TY in the late Eighties until its closing on October 23, 1992. The tower was offered to the Douglas County Historical Society, but ultimately that organization determined it was not feasible to preserve the decrepit structure, and TY Tower was bulldozed to the ground on June 1, 1994.

The Douglas County group did succeed in salvaging the lever frame and mechanical locking before the tower was torn down. Some of this hardware lives on at the Monticello Railway Museum's Stair interlocking tower in nearby Monticello.

Illinois Central did not have any brick interlocking towers that I am aware of south of Champaign. In general, the lion's share of towers along the IC in Central Illinois were frame structures erected in the first couple decades of the 20th century. The 1920s was a decade of massive infrastructure investment on the IC under the presidency of Charles H. Markham.

That era saw the construction of the Edgewood Cutoff, electrification of Chicago suburban territory, building of the yard that now bears Markham's name, grade separations at Paxton, Champaign, and Mattoon, and so on. The brick towers at 51st Street, 67th Street, Kensington and Homewood date to the electrification project, while the still-standing brick IC towers at Otto and Ashkum were constructed as part of an early CTC installation extending from Otto to Gilman that eliminated the need for a third main track in that territory. Champaign Tower, which closed and burned during the early Nineties, was a brick structure reminiscent of Homewood.

Other than that, I'm not aware of any brick structures on the IC main line to the south. Again, most of the interlocking installations on the IC were early enough that frame construction and mechanical interlocking was the rule. The newer type of machines and modern brick construction generally did not extend to parts of the railroad not touched by the massive infrastructure projects mentioned above.

None of the long-time railfans in east central Illinois, including many long-time IC railroad employees I made friends with, ever made mention of the "tower" in the park at Tuscola. I have to admit that it bears a strong resemblance to the IC structures of the Twenties -- especially with the 1951 centennial medallion juxtaposed -- but I can't imagine anyone gone through the enormous effort and expense of moving such a structure to sit hidden in a park in Tuscola.

In addition to the interlocking tower at the Monticello Railway Museum (it is a new structure built around a vintage interlocking machine), there are two vintage interlocking towers -- including one brick structure -- preserved at Terre Haute, Indiana.

Hope this lengthy reply helps you plan your trip. The suggestion for a trip to Mattoon is a good one, and there is a brick IC depot preserved at Arcola, which is along the way.

The Douglas County Museum sold all the levers except for one and all the mechanisms to the Monticello Railway Museum for use in the Stair Tower at nelson's Crossing. The photo you posted was built by Tuscola to resemble an interlocking tower. This building at the time contained restrooms and a band stand. It mistakenly appears on the existing Illinois railroad station webpage as a moved tower.

Thank you for the information. Despite the fact that it is not an original railroad structure, I decided to pay a visit this afternoon because hey, it's still pretty cool.

I didn't have much time to check it out so I took this picture from the car, and I didn't get a chance to look at the plaque on the other side of the building.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/148791086 ... datetaken/

Thomas Dyrek

It is a quite erroneous assertion about IC tower being moved to Erwin Park. That structure is and was a bandstand with bathrooms underneath, built purposely as such.

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OK, so it's a reconstruction/fake. Fair enough. Any idea what happened? Why is it all boarded up? Seems like a great addition to the park?

Typical government games, spend big bucks to build it, then decide "We can't afford to maintain it" a few years later?

IIRC, was built in the 1930s as a WPA or other alphabet depression era agency. Never meant to be a "replica" of any railroad building, built as a bandstand.
Used well into the 1950s, then used only for storage, which I believe is what it's use is to this day. No more bands on bandstand, byegone era.

I'm somewhat familiar with Tuscola and have had several generations of relatives living there since the 1890s. If the structure was built in the 1930s, it followed a number of years of prosperity. Tuscola was a busy place as county seat for Douglas County, a central business hub for area farmers, and home for many railroad employees. Three or four railroads passed through town. The decrease in agricultural employment, cars, building of an interstate highway next to town, and decrease in railroad employment all brought changes to the economy and the character of the community.

Tuscola has larger population now then it had during the 'boom' days in the 1950's with the coming of the USI Chemical plant and Cabot. It's still the County Seat and still has a quite viable economy. Railroad employment in town was never much a deal. Three ticket agents for the 3 railroads, a switching crew on the B&O, a few more here and there. Agriculture is still important part of economy. The outlet mall is big part of economy also./