A friend sent me a note, possibly from a newspaper article, stating that the Union Pacific on May 2nd, had taken the very last strong-arm lever that controlled a switch, out of service at Ridgely Tower in Springfield, Illinois. Ridgely itself is due to be retired sometime next month. There are still "Armstrong" levers in service; at Calumet Tower in East Chicago, Indiana, at Dolton Tower in Dolton, Illinois, and perhaps at other places, but none supposedly are tied to actually moving a switch by the strong-arm method.

Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum eventually intends to control at least one switch, perhaps more, using the levers in its Grasselli Tower, which it moved from East Chicago to its museum site in North Judson, Indiana, last year. I believe the Whitewater Valley also plans to eventually control one or two switches from its Dearborn Tower at Connersville, Indiana using Armstrong levers. Are there other preserved towers out there that currently move switches using Armstrong levers? Or are there any museums besides HVRM and WV that eventually intend to do so?

Les

Les,

The WVRR does hope to control a couple of switches with the tower unfortunately we have very little of the rod related hardware and documentation to do the job. This is especially true of the switch point related parts.

David Farlow
Whitewater Valley Railroad