Comments on: Looking eastward down the CP line at the old CPR/C&O Interlocking Tower. One can see the CP Chatham Yard in the distance. The tower and the C&O line are long ago history……..

By: awmooney

awmooney — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:45:10 +0000

Thanks, guys; for the marvelous commentary.
Nice to know you two are alert and on the ball. )
I regards to the corn; I have heard many stories about the liberation of such ‘goods’ in the days before everything got fenced off.
Up north, some actually managed to bring Christmas trees back in the van.

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:39:46 +0000

If we went into Ringold siding and were there for a short time, there was a Green Giant cornfield on the north side. I have “heard of” crews liberating a few cobs for personal use. Decades ago, when I was a kid, we had a neighbour who was a CP conductor & he showed up one day with some corn for us, my Mom asked hi where he got it, he replied “ask me no questions & I’ll tell you no lies”… later I found out where it came from.

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:32:51 +0000

I don’t recall setting acid off there myself, but it makes sense. If we had a “Chatham acid turn”, we usually pulled into the passing track on the south side, cut our van off at the east end, pulled the acid to the west end & then wyed out power. We then grabbed the van on the way home & with any luck had a straight shot as a van hop to London. I had one such trip an a Sunday & we were 4 hours on duty from Quebec Streetback to Quebec Street.

By: mercer

mercer — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:28:48 +0000

Ringold, yes.
I’ll write it down 10 times….LOL

By: mercer

mercer — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:27:22 +0000

Accurate summary, of course, Ron.
Sometimes the acid loads for CIL Courtright were delivered to the North side, for one reason or another.
Then the C&O yard job didn’t have to touch them. Local 3 would have to put his van to the next track and then with a single GP7, try and double up and leave.
Cross your fingers it was a dry, warm day, otherwise you’d be slippin’ and slidin’ with that 4500 tons of sloshing product.

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:26:47 +0000

I don’t know about Chatham being 24 hrs. , if I get to pensioners meeting “I’ll ask one of the old guys (there are a few older than me). It would make sense to have orders issued at East End for Chatham turns at least. With regard to West End, it later became (unofficially) the south service track, extending from just east of the passenger station downtown to just west of Merritt Ave. The siding close to the CN diamond was/still is? called Ringold.

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:17:59 +0000

For those unaware of Chatham operations, here’s a brief overview.
Westbounds out of London, whether through trains or Chatham Turns (which used to come out of the freight pool rather than being assigned) that had cars to be set off at Chatham set those cars off in the south yard on the right side of this photo. The Chatham set off was not usually blocked, and crews placed CP cars in tracks 4 & 5, and C&O cars in tracks 1 & 2. The South Yard tracks were (N to S) passing, 1,2,3,4 & 5. It was not unusual to make as many as 10 or more switches if the cars were all mixed up.
Eastbound trains lifting at Chatham usually had all cars in one track ready to lift. The exception was the return cars on the Chatham turn (or sometimes 80 from Windsor) had to be switched out for a variety of reasons.
Cars going to CP from the C&O were placed by them onto tracks on the north side. Most of the traffic to & from CP & C&O was the “gas” from Sarnia.

By: mercer

mercer — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:17:27 +0000

So then wouldn’t it follow that the older tower started out being EAST END and was replaced by the concrete block office ? I mean, was the [passenger] station a 24hour t.o. office ?
I have a slide scan from a collection of the other wooden tower in Chatham, WEST END. I “” think “” it was out near Keil Drive….so it must have handled the passing track immediately east of the CN Chatham Sub diamond ( I can never recall that name ).

By: RonaldB

RonaldB — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 19:07:34 +0000

We always called the concrete block building East End. By the time I started in 1973, the tower was vacant. I don’t know if it had a call sign because so far as I know, train orders were issued at Chatham (the passenger station downtown) before the concrete block building was opened. The operator at East End was responsible for the interlocking with the C&O until that duty was taken over by the dispatching (RTC) office sometime after train orders became “extinct”.

By: mercer

mercer — Fri, 14 Aug 2026 18:55:03 +0000

EAST END.
(if I’m wrong, Mr B will certainly correct me )