Divide and Brook Towers?

At the last MTA Board meeting, Phil Eng said they completed the move and "cutover" of Brook tower to Atlantic Avenue and Divide tower to Jamaica.

Does this mean these towers are now closed?

Where is the "Atlantic Avenue" he is referring to? Some place at ATL?

Brook/Van,Duton and E NY were remoted to JSCC,all were Atlantic Branch towers
Divide was a Mainline tower,Not sure if the entire port Jeff branch was remoted to JSCC with Divide tower.
Everything on the Mainline that was remoted to Divide should be now remoted to JSCC

Brook was relocated within Atlantic Terminal, and the work to move Divide is complete yet account of COVID they haven't moved the cranks out of there yet. Once the pandemic abates, they'll bring the boys into JCC. The LI is very conscious about trying to protect the operators and dispatchers, which means spacing them out in the theater, and moving some of the operator jobs back out into the field.

Brook does control Van and ENY, while Dunton is actually being controlled by one of the Jay operators in JCC. Atlantic Avenue refers to the Terminal, station, offices and tracks. It was called Flatbush Avenue Terminal in the past, but after the rebuild in the 2000's, it was renamed Atlantic Ave Terminal and designated as such in the timetable.

I did see a mention today of a DIVIDE cutover.


Sat May 08, 2021
09:45 AM THE DIVIDE / JCC CUTOVER HAS BEGUN.
09:57 AM JCC DIVIDE HAS CONTROL OF THE MAINLINE AND PORT JEFFERSON BRANCHES.

Does this mean Divide Tower is officially no longer operating?

Could've happened last year but was delayed for COVID. Let the bumping begin. Nice view, but windy and won't miss the drive, nearby fire station klaxon and time-challenged rooster. Still heavily used by MofW and Signal. (No trespassing)

Yeah, the Hicksville Fire Dept's horns blowing for calls almost every hour some days must have been a real pain. LOL But they're not as loud as they were years ago.

So it's "Divide" and conquer?

I'm in shock trying to process the idea that Divide Tower could actually be closed. That place has been an institution on the LIRR for longer than I've been around.

I always assumed that Divide would be the last tower to close because it handled such a huge area and so would be the most complicated to remote to another location. I figured Valley and Babylon would close first and Divide would be the last remaining tower except for Lead. But once again I was wrong about stuff and here we are wondering what just happened? LOL

Controlling the junction of the Main Line and the Port Jefferson branch since opening day of May 27, 1909, the original structure known as "DIVIDE" tower is soon to be a memory. With the telegraphic call letters of "HX" when opened, it was renamed "HN" on 11/23/28 when the Pennsylvania Railroad, the parent company of the LIRR, decided that no block offices were to have the letter "X" in their calls. In April, 1939, the tower was renamed "DIVIDE" and has remained so-named ever since. This 1962 view looking SW shows the tower from the Port Jefferson branch side. The Main Line side is beyond the tower and you can catch a glimpse of the old-style PRR keystone whistle post along the Main Line tracks to the far right of this image. At the rear of the tower is some rubble, indicating that the grade crossing elimination that will change the face of the town has already begun. In the left background can be seen the old two story section house and section chief's office and parked on its west side is an old LIRR maintenance truck. The new "DIVIDE" tower will be built directly in front of this old tower and when the elevated tracks are functional and the new tower placed into service, the old wooden landmark will be demolished into yet another pile of historic rubble. (Dave Keller archive and data)

How many towers does Long Island have left after this? Are these remaining towers planned to be decommissioned with operations being relocated to Jamaica as well?

Nyandw, isn't your photo actually looking southeast? Looks like the Hicksville Firehouse in the background just to the right of the tower.

And Pensyfan19, I can think of three towers still in operation, all on the South Shore. They are Valley, Babylon and Lead. I believe most, if not all others have been remoted to various locations. I'm guessing that all except Lead (at the Long Beach drawbridge) will eventually be remoted to Jamaica Control Center also, but that could be a while yet.

You are correct. The photo is labeled correctly on my site. The text had my typo SW rather then SE. Good eye. First one to catch it in over a decade!
Towers:
Babylon
Brook
Lead
Valley
West Side Yard

LEAD: I'm sure there are an interesting story or three out of this tower concerning the waterway traffic! Perhaps a new thread....