BH Tower, Walton: Thoughts on Mr. Gordon's Photo of thee CTC Machine

[NW Mailing List]

Abram,

Thanks for the insights.

Perhaps the caged device is a 2-channel audio power amplifier for the 
two speakers?

The row above the code buttons can be for call-on signals, (maintainer) 
call switches (more likely), and/or fleeting. If they are call switches 
(toggle or button), the call-on buttons could be below the code buttons, 
or vice-versa--makes me wonder if any two N&W machines had the same 
panel layout. Fleeting could have been added with the move to Roanoke 
and new boards.

If the center of the panel suggests the origin, the left panel may be 
from Belspring, but I don't know the history of a tower there. Cowan 
Tower was in a more strategic location and the structure lasted into the 
late '70's, long after others were gone. However, it was a substantial 
brick structure that may have survived as MofW storage.

Apparently, eastbounds "hit the bell" beyond Plum Creek back at Radford 
station (?), a block west of Dry Branch (Eggleston?) and westbounds at 
Pelton. And who knew Vicker Switch had so many switches?

Grant Carpenter

On 4/27/2017 6:03 PM, NW Mailing List wrote:
>
> Some thoughts on Mr. Bill Gordon's absolutely wonderful photograph 
> taken inside BH Tower at Walton in 1958, and posted on Flickr at:
>
> https://www.flickr.com/photos/130647200@N05/18788238516/
>
...
>
> 9.)  What is the caged electrical device atop the machine, just to the 
> right of the left-most speaker?  Looks like a power supply for something.
>
...
>
> 16.)  There are two rows of buttons below the levers.  The bottom row 
> is the code-start buttons.  What are those on the upper row?  Are they 
> for come-along signals, or fleeting?  Impossible to tell without more 
> information, but I can't imagine the N&W spending money for fleeting, 
> as that required some extra relay work.
>
> 17.)  Look at the lever designation plates.  The ones on the left 
> panel are the old style designation plates (say pre-1945-ish,) and the 
> designation plates on the middle and right panels are the newer type 
> designation plates.  Might this indicate that the left panel was built 
> earlier and had been used somewhere else, perhaps at Cowan, Belspring 
> or Dry Branch?
>
> -- abram burnett  ,
>  discalced old brakezman
> ===========================================
>                   Sent to You from my Telegraph Key
> Successor to the MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH LINE of 1844
> ===========================================

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