I already know the answer but thought I would toss this out for fun.

Was doing a little maintenance and decided to shoot pics of something most people don't see every day...even those who worked on the railroad.

Enjoy

Bill

A pistol grip interlocking machine.

Yes, a pistol grip interlocking machine, that jigsaw puzzle looking vertical surface is a maze of mechanical "locks" (left/right moving bars) which keep the levers from moving up/down to change the position of a turnout unless other turnouts are set properly. An operator would pull the pistol grip out, or push it to select a route. The pistol grip would move one of the vertical bars up or down to change a turnout (or more than one turnout) to select a route, for example from main track #1 to station track # 11. The interlocking machine would only allow this selection if no other tracks were currently routed to track #11.

This was the electro-mechanical version of modern computer software that would prevent a tower operator from routing two trains onto the same track at the same time. And there were electrically operated solenoids (locks) that would not allow the tower operator to change a route once the tracks were occupied by a train.

Behind that surface is a whole bunch of electrical switches and relays which connect to the signal system and prevent a train approaching a turnout that is "thrown" against them from getting a clear signal. The operator could not give you a clear signal unless the route through the interlocking was clear.

Normally the front of the machine was covered with wood panels to keep anything from interfering with it.

Buffalo Central Terminal (NYCRR) had two very large machines like these (80 plus levers) at the East and West end of the approach tracks into / out of the terminal.

See here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d2jbS0cpq8s starting at about 9:30 minutes into the video. This film was taken at Tower 48 at Buffalo (I believe).

These were in Towers 47 (east) and 48 (west), and originally they were equipped with a motorized chair on rails that the Lever Man (the guy that pulled the levers under the direction of the Tower Director) could use to move back and forth along the width of the interlocking machine. I got a chance to see the insides of these towers back when they where still in operation (early 1970's).

Cheers, KevinK.

Is the picture showing us a fish-eyed view or is the machine curved outward like it looks?

The machine itself is flat, the distortion is from the camera lens.

The first pic i posted is a panoramic iphone shot hence the distortion. Not enough room in the tower to back up and try to shoot the whole machine in one shot.

Here are a few more straight on.

I threw this topic out there because this a part of the machines nobody saw or sees.

I normally don't open the panels Kevin mentioned. They aren't designed to be pulled out all the time and I don't want to break them. The front panels were "sealed" when the machine was in service.

Bill

Whew, the mechanical interlocking is amazing. Which machine is this, from where?

Haley tower. Terre Haute IN

It still functions as intended.

http://WWW.WVRRM.ORG

Bill

Bill, thanks for the pictures, very cool that an 1920's era machine is functional in 2015.

They just don't build things like they used too.

Any bets on a 2010 IPhone working in 2110 ?

Five more years and you've got a centenarian on your hands...

Great job, Kevin.

I'm looking at this, and realize this is essentially a miniaturized version of a classic mechanical interlocking, with the electrical switches under those bars providing power that was provided by the leverman in a straight mechanical layout.

Otherwise, all the principles are the same, and the equipment even looks the same.

It amazes me that minds of the 19th century came up with this and so many other things, without a pattern to follow.

We do stand on the shoulders of giants.

If the cover is still off, it would be useful to film/videotape the mechanics of the machine in operation while setting a basic route on the machine--assuming you don't need the feedback of a bunch of equipment in the field to make it all work properly. This sort of information is fairly rare and would be a great interpretive display, especially after the covers are back on (unless you put Plexiglas covers on).

Michael Seitz
Missoula MT

Pretty cool! You should see the one on the ground floor of Spaulding Tower at IRM. It's about as long as a standard pick up truck, if not a bit longer.

Per Mike's suggestion.

http://youtu.be/ONTFVNEbdGo

Tough to do with a machine that doesn't get used 24 hours a day seven days a week and iPhone in your hand

Very cool....and a view that very few have seen. I was an Operator in Ft. Worth, TX. from 1985 - 1995 at Tower 55, and it had the same model of interlocking machine, only ours had 128 levers. it was a MAZE of intricate design to see it when the front panels were off.

Here's a different route lineup.

http://youtu.be/A6VqxKBjKyU

East/west traffic is former Big Four. North/south former C&EI.