Hello,

It appears Cork closed quietly, earlier this month. March 12th was its last manned day.

http://lancasteronline.com/article/loca ... tower.html

Being brick and adjacent to the Lancaster Station, it would be a good preservation candidate.

It reminds me of my school days when I took Amtrak to Philly in the mid 80's. I asked the conductor if I could chat with the engineer ( old metroliners). We we west of Lancaster and he asked for me to wait until we got through Lancaster as the engineer had to deal with the cross-overs, etc. it's simpler now. I guess the low grade was still in service then making Parkesburg busy also. The low grade is a bike trail now. Good memories.

Regards,

Randy

I'll miss Mary, the operator on duty @ 0530. Whenever NS was unsure whether or not they made delivery at Leaman Place, Mary always knew since she was monitoring occupancy in the wee hours of the morning.

Good preservation candidate? Maybe.

Other preserved railroad towers nearby: J Tower at Strasburg (a mere couple miles away), Harris Tower in Harrisburg, B&P Tower in Sykesville, Md., Hunt Tower in Huntingdon, Pa.. And there are folks still hoping to save Alto in Altoona. And I'm ignoring two more in Maryland.

A "glut"? You decide.

Considering that, at one time, there were towers at most crossings of railroads, and at many other locations, I hardly think that the remaining preserved towers constitute a "glut". I have never seen an estimate of the total towers that once sat on the right-of-ways of the railroads, but my guess is that the survivors might constitute less than 1/10th of one percent.

Les Beckman,
Hoosier Valley Railroad Museum/Home of Grasselli Tower/North Judson, Indiana

If there ever was a region of the country with enough fans with dollars and emotional commitment to support a "glut" of towers, SEPA is it.

Even if I accept that premise, I would argue that it's spreading what support there is too thin to effectively preserve all of them.

Four of the towers in question--Bowie, Md., Sykesville, Md., Miller/Martinsburg, Md., and J/Lemo/Strasburg, Pa.--survive in no small part because they could be disassembled and moved. If Alto is saved, it will be because it gets moved, too.

Trackside, there's Harris Tower in Harrisburg, and Hunt Tower in Huntingdon. And let's, for fun, add in Tuckahoe, NJ and Harrington, Delaware. A replica just north of Cape May, NJ. Do we count Tower 60 at Scranton yet?

If anyone is going to save Cork Tower, the impetus is going to have to come from the Lancaster Chapter NRHS (who are already busy with "J" Tower, a Reading F7, and Christiana Station), or some new savior in that area (a Facebook page, Kickstarter, whatever).

Rumors have it that the B&O "HO" Tower in Hancock, Md., was offered to the B&O Museum, and that the B&O Museum turned it down, supposedly because of just the "glut" I suggested (and distance, money, etc.).

It would be nice. I just don't see it. "We can't save 'em all."

[quote="Alexander D. Mitchell IV"]Tower 60 at Scranton yet?/quote]

Nope, that is still a working rail facility.

The Mattes Street tower in Scranton would count.

East Stroudsburg has an active group preserving the tower there. It is a wood tower while there are 4 other typical DL&W concrete towers still standing (and like to stand forever unless someone decides to tear them down) - Port Morris, Greendell, Slateford Jct., Tobyhanna, Gouldsboro, and the already mentions Mattes Street in Scranton.