Suprise today at E Mahony Jct!

EMJ was actually interlocked way back in the RDG days. There was a manned interlocking tower built into the hillside under the road bridge. And there were 3-aspect signals. The Jct was actually a wye, with the passenger station in the middle. The passenger station was moved away from the tracks and is now a private house in the woods. I think Mike Bednar's brother lived there. The leg of the wye that's now gone hadn't been used for a long time. I have a pic of the Jct in the 1950s and the leg is obviously defunct by that time. There were 2 mainline tracks thru the Jct and a bunch of sidings.

It's nice to see what the R&N has done to the Jct since in the 1980s the Catawissa branch had small trees growing thru it and the main didn't have an inch of ballast on it.

carajul wrote:EMJ was actually interlocked way back in the RDG days. There was a manned interlocking tower built into the hillside under the road bridge. And there were 3-aspect signals. The Jct was actually a wye, with the passenger station in the middle. The passenger station was moved away from the tracks and is now a private house in the woods. I think Mike Bednar's brother lived there. The leg of the wye that's now gone hadn't been used for a long time. I have a pic of the Jct in the 1950s and the leg is obviously defunct by that time. There were 2 mainline tracks thru the Jct and a bunch of sidings.

It's nice to see what the R&N has done to the Jct since in the 1980s the Catawissa branch had small trees growing thru it and the main didn't have an inch of ballast on it.

EMX at the time had the telegraph symbol "UG" back in the day... Today we have it listed as "EMX" for short. The cut-out for the tower is about 100 feet away from the overhead road bridge on the hillside. I wish I could have seen it back when it was in full operation.

From the Winter 2010 R&N Newsletter:

Perhaps their finest moment, however, was the electrification of East Mahanoy Junction. This project lasted over six months as they dovetailed the additional work into their monthly inspections and maintenance.The signal department and the MOW department worked extremely hard to see this project through. They transformed a 10 MPH hand throw switch into a signaled interlocking that can handle trains at 30 MPH. Instead of stopping the train and throwing the switch, the dispatcher can simply click a mouse and have the switch thrown automatically. This project will help us conserve countless man hours and fuel.

M.T.

Great news!

Have a couple questions: Are all three routes leading up to the Control Point DCS?

If so, then is it safe to say that each route would have an approach signal some distance short of the Home Signal?

Does a Form D have to be issued and blocks applied for the route to be taken before a signal can be displayed for that route?

Thanks in advance.

m1a2tc wrote:Are all three routes leading up to the Control Point DCS?

Yes.

If so, then is it safe to say that each route would have an approach signal some distance short of the Home Signal?

I believe they are being constructed.

Does a Form D have to be issued and blocks applied for the route to be taken before a signal can be displayed for that route?

No idea.