Photograph by Mike Brotzman, 2002
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THE SIGNAL BOX |
OVERSEAS |
| Track Plan |
MILLHAM interlocking is a mere 1.9 miles from FAIR at the north end of the Trenton area freight yards and the junction of a small industrial spur known as the Millham Branch. MILLHAM was simply a full main line crossover that also compressed the 0 and 5 local freight tracks back into the four main line tracks. The Millham branch had a non-interlocked connection with the 5 track.
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Photograph by Mike Brotzman, 2002 |
Built in 1940, MILLHAM was the prototype "Corridor" tower,
with production examples being seen at GRUNDY,
NASSAU and MIDWAY. MILLHAM
differs from the later towers by the fact that it was built using a beige
coloured brick. Like the other Corridor towers MILLHAM has corner windows
instead of a bay and two central windows, each over a track illumination light
and in-between two brick columns. It is evident that MILLHAM is no longer in
possession of its original roof. While one might think that MILLHAM once
possessed one of the peaked tile jobs seen on the other Corridor style towers,
thick is not the case. When built, MILLHAM possessed a wonderful art-deco
design with a completely flat, concrete slab roof. The high concrete base,
white brick structure and flat concrete roof gave the tower the appearance of
an opposing monolith with the slightly protruding center facade giving it that
art-deco flare. The new roof and general griminess of the tower has since
ruined this effect. MILLHAM contained a 23 lever US&S Model 14
electro-pneumatic interlocking machine with 21 active levers and 45 mph
turnouts.
 Photograph by Mike Brotzman, 2002 |
As I mentioned in the story of FAIR, MILLHAM interlocking's
importance drastically reduced when the Trenton area freight yards dried up and
being only 1.9 miles from FAIR, it was redundant as full crossover. Therefore
MILLHAM interlocking was completely removed in the early 1980's and the tracks
straight railed. The only evidence of of MILLHAM aside from the tower are the
overhead wires that still follow the old turnouts and the home signal gantries.
Despite the fact that it has been pretty much gutted, MILLHAM now serves as an
MoW base with MoW equipment sometimes stored on the remnants of the 0 and 5
tracks. MILLHAM is also a radio repeater base as indicated by the antenna tower
stand next to it. There might be radio equipment in the tower, but the presence
of a relay hut makes this doubtful. For those of you who don't know, radio
repeater bases receive local radio signals from trains and then send them via
phone wires to the central dispatching center. They can also broadcast messages
from the dispatcher to trains nearby.
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Comments about this article should be addressed to Mike Brotzman |