Home My 1963 Work Schedule My Interlocking Tower Site Van Loon Ivanhoe Griffith

KIRK YARD TOWER Interlocking Diagram During the summer of 1963 I was lucky enough to work the terminus jobs at the main line west end (Waukegan) and the east end (Kirk Yard Tower) of the EJ&E. I also worked the division point (Rock Island Tower) between the Western and Eastern Subs. All three of these locations involved trains originating and terminating at yards with the resulting special activities and paperwork. The Porter Line terminus at Porter had no EJ&E employees to the best of my knowledge. The J was part of the Porter tower interlocking. See break in messages message 1 and message 2. Kirk Yard Tower (a.k.a West Gate) was one of my favorite places. I don't know the origin of the West Gate alias but I suspect it simply meant the "western gateway to Kirk Yard." During break in I made four pages of notes: Notes 1, Notes 2, Notes 3, and Notes 4. As you can see from the notes there was quite a bit of paperwork and phone activity including getting a yard track, marking terminal arrival time, and roundhouse tie-up time for inbound trains. An intercom was used to inform incoming train crews of information they needed, such as terminal arrival time. There were also special duties for the 2nd and 3rd trick operators to fill out Daily Report sheets. The Kirk Yard operator also served as dispatcher for the South Chicago line. This line had the hot metal trains to and from the steel mills which had to be moved without delay. The Kirk Yard interlocking was controlled from a CTC-type panel, the only one of this type I encountered on the J. Most other J towers had "armstrong" levers. Everything went well the two days I worked first trick. I remember a nice compliment from my second trick relief man who was impressed with how organized everything was. One of the sad things was copying a message addressed to myself that operator Walker would be returning the next day, thus ending my work at Kirk Yard. I never did learn why he was off work but was glad I got the opportunity to fill in. My biggest regret was not saving a list of train movements as this was a pretty busy place. If there was a disappointment, it was that I only got to work the tower two days after five days of break in. Next:   Go to Home and select another tower.

Kirk Yard Rock Island Ship Canal Waukegan Bart