Certain railroad location names naturally summon remembrances of one kind or another when reference is made of them. Mention of MO tower in the Bronx, N.Y., recalls New York Central's exalted Great Steel Fleet as well as the hundreds of plain-Jane commuter locals which also occupied the plant throughout the day. And Zoo interlocking in Philadelphia? Why, that conjures up visions of Tuscan Red limiteds hauled by Loewy-styled GG1 's on "The Standard Railroad of the World," of course.
Specify "IC tower," though, and one is liable to name at least a dozen locations in a handful of states which might qualify before Mendota, Ill., enters the conversation. In fact, this small expanse of real estate-the topic of this issue's Lineside - actually belonged to the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy (Burlington Northern after March 1970) though the installation was referred to as Mendota tower by many people, CB&Q timetables, publications and employees commonly referred to it as IC tower. Mendota tower actually refers to another installation which once stood some five miles east of IC tower.
The plant located in this north western La Salle County municipality protected the intersection of the Burlington, Illinois Central (since 1972, Illinois Central Gulf) and Milwaukee Road. Mendota lies approximately 82 miles southwest of Chicago on Burlington's Chicago-Galesburg (Ill.)-Omaha-Kansas City main. The ICG line through here is IC's original mainline, dating from the 1850's, stretching from Galena in northwestern Illinois to Centralia in the southern part of the state. The route became a secondary line when IC reached Chicago later in the 1800's. The now-abandoned Milwaukee line was that road's Janesville (Wis.)-Ladd (Ill.) branch.
Unfortunately, IC tower succumbed to the bulldozer's blade early in 1980. Since then, track alignment has changed somewhat (in fact, there were changes made well before the tower was demolished), but the crossing still exists, albeit without the Milwaukee Road. And the plant is still a moderately busy location at which to study and photograph trains.
Milwaukee had some interesting and unusual traffic patterns, which included such movements as Jones & Laughlin Steel Co.'s unit coil steel trains operating in conjunction with the NYC out of Hennepin, Ill., and several small-scale unit coal trains originating at Ladd. In addition, such exotica as orange-and-maroon F-units and Fairbanks-Morse H16-44's were regulars on this line.
Physical plant and current operations
The tower was a distinctive structure whose appearance and form were unlikely to be confused with many other "standardized" installations. In later years, the tower's slight lean gave it even more character.
Located in the southeast quadrant of its plant (see diagram), the building consisted of two stories of frame and board-and-batten construction and houses a '72-1ever mechanical-interlocking machine. At one time, both IC and MILW crossed the CB&Q with separate diamonds: During later years, MILW crossed the Burlington using the IC diamonds via trackage rights through the plant. All three carriers possessed modest-size interchange yards near the crossing. Also nearby were station buildings of all three railroads, some of which remain standing and in use. Incidentally, rail passenger service is still provided to Mendota by Amtrak, whose Illinois Zephyr calls daily at the BN/Amtrak station just north of the ICG-BN diamonds. The IZs big-sister companion, the combined California Zephyr/Desert Wind/Pioneer, merely slows for the crossing on its jaunt through Mendota.
In the final days of the tower's existence, successor companies Burlington Northern and Illinois Central Gulf represented the only operators. Milwaukee Road has not operated through Mendota since the massive February 25, 1980, embargo, when nearly half its lines ceased service.
Today, there are 25-30 regular daily train movements for BN, the only rail visitor in town. As mentioned, the ICG trackage lies unused, with a possible future sale to a shortline operator.
The end for IC tower came somewhat unexpectedly and swiftly (the railroad had planned to tear it down for a number of years, but nobody seemed to know exactly when). During the winter of 1979-1980, preparations were made to install a remote, automatic electronic interlocking machine. ICG fought the move to automate the plant because of fears that its back-up moves through the cossing would be unsafe (ICG's lower-quadrant semaphore home signals were manually operated from the tower). This did not dissuade BN from deactivating the manual machine and putting the "black box," which was actually silver, in place. Shortly after the remote interocking went into service, Mendota became yet another statistic and memory, manifested in the misty eyes of loyal northern Illinois railfan/modelers. To add insult to injury, the broad S-curve, which so characterized the "Q" at Mendota was realigned. The new alignment put the track right over the site of the tower which once served as a sentinal to tht like of such trains as the Fast Mail, Exposition Flyer and California Zephyr.
The author would like to extend his gratitude to R. B. Olson, Mike Schafer and Denny Malone, BN conductor Chicago-Burlington, Iowa, without whose assistance this feature would have been much more difficult to prepare. - J.E.H.