I-80 out of Missoula, Montana follows Montana Rail Link east for many miles. Rail Link maintains mile after mile of immaculately kept poles and wires on glass insulators. No broken poles or sagging wires. There's a jack at each signal so you can tell that the wires carry the current, but there are too many wires for that single purpose. Is there any reason today for old fashioned telephone, telegraph or whatever those wires might be doing? Farther east, the wires and poles are gone and the ROW goes back to the 21st century. What's going on?

Oops. That was I-90.

All that wonderful lineside pole line and signal infrastructure is the last holdout of the Northern Pacific's signal infrastructure, which was largely upgraded to searchlight signals during the late 1950's through early 1960's. A major portion of this paralleled the replacement of double track directional ABS with single track CTC (between Missoula and Garrison. Garrison to Helena was the first CTC territory on the NP, being installed in the 1930's. Electrocode, with approach lit signals, is slowly wiping out all the neat old continuous signals and attendant polelines, with the only major surviving portions being Missoula/Garrison and Livingston/Park City (with Electrocode around Springdale). Equipment (and semaphores previously) are by General Railway Signal.

Catch it while you can. I don't think there are any other major old style ABS installations left in the Northwest anymore.

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT