Lamokin Tower

Lamokin Tower is a closed interlocking tower of the Pennsylvania Railroad in Chester, Pennsylvania. It is located along the northwest corner of the Lloyd Street Bridge over the Amtrak Northeast Corridor and SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line.[1]

History

Lamokin Tower was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) to control the Chester Creek Branch at its junction with the Northeast Corridor main line. The branch line runs westward from the junction for about 7 miles (11 km) to a connection with the West Chester Branch at Lenni. The tower also controlled a maintenance of way (MOW) track for MOW equipment.

In 1968, when the PRR merged with the New York Central Railroad to form Penn Central (PC), the tower remained active. In 1970, the PC filed for bankruptcy. Two years later, Hurricane Agnes severely damaged the Chester Creek Line, leading to not rebuild the Chester Creek line and closing Lamokin Tower.

Today

As of 2009, Lamokin Tower still stands, no longer used and all boarded up. SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line commuter trains, Amtrak intercity passenger trains, and Norfolk Southern (after Conrail breakup in 1999) locals pass the tower every day.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lamokin Tower as seen from Lloyd Street Bridge, Chester, Pennsylvania (Google Maps; Street View)

External links

Coordinates: 39°50′36″N 75°22′26″W / 39.8432°N 75.3738°W / 39.8432; -75.3738

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.