Cumberland Sub Towers Nearing their End
[From the May 2000 issue of the Bull Sheet]
It is an anomaly that any of them remain at all. But much more of an anomaly is that a "cluster" of them still exists with offices spaced in average of just six miles apart. Tucked away in West Virginia's Eastern Panhandle, CSXT's (ex-B&O) towers at Martinsburg, West Cumbo, Miller and Hancock have been performing yeoman service, the old-fashioned way, for about a century. In fact, the latter two towers are still extant with armstrong levers connected to pipelines that move their switches mechanically. The whole cluster is a veritable museum.
But all this is about to change...
By the middle of next year, if all goes according to plan, all four of the towers will have closed.
According to those familiar with the project, an electro-code signaling system will be installed over a 60-mile portion of the Cumberland Subdivision - between Harpers Ferry and Orleans Road - which will make the intervening towers obsolete.
The project will proceed in six phases, each with its own design, construction and cutover segments. The design segments will proceed concurrently while the construction and cutover segments will proceed consecutively from one phase into the next.
The first phase, which began its construction segment last month, will apply a bidirectional electro-code system to the low-grade freight line - presently signaled in one direction only - between Miller and West Cumbo. This is expected to be completed about the middle of June.
The second phase will include the installation of a completely new interlocking at Cherry Run, about half a mile east of Miller Tower, which will allow for the closing of that tower. If all goes according to schedule, that phase will be completed in early September, and Miller will be the first of the four towers to close.
The third phase, which will include the retirement of the tower at West Cumbo, is now scheduled for completion about the middle of November.
The fourth and fifth phases, from Harpers Ferry to Martinsburg, are slated for completion in May 2001, and will include the closing of NA Tower in Martinsburg.
The sixth and final phase, to include the closing of HO Tower in Hancock, is scheduled for completion in July 2001.
Once again, the time frame represented by this project is only tentative, but no one doubts that it will eventually be completed. About 21 tower operators, including extras, will be affected.
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