HOOK Tower is a closed interlocking tower on the

Pennsylvania Railroad The Pennsylvania Railroad (reporting mark PRR), legal name The Pennsylvania Railroad Company also known as the "Pennsy", was an American Class I railroad that was established in 1846 and headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was named ...

Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania Marcus Hook is a borough in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The population was 2,397 at the 2010 census. The current mayor is Gene Taylor. The borough calls itself "The Cornerstone of Pennsylvania". The 2005 film ''One Last Thing''... was set an ...

.Bell and Hook towers, in
The Rockville Limited
', April 13-14, 2002. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Harrisburg Chapter, National Railway Historical Society, retrieved online February 23, 2019.

History

Hook Tower was built by the Pennsylvania Railroad to control the main line and the Chester and Delaware River Railroad. This railroad line saw freight train service provided by the PRR after PRR assumed operations of the Chester & Delaware River. In fact, it was still in use after the PRR electrified the

Northeast Corridor The Northeast Corridor (NEC) is an electrified railroad line in the Northeast megalopolis of the United States. Owned primarily by Amtrak, it runs from Boston through Providence, New Haven, Stamford, New York City, Philadelphia, Wilmington, a ...

. In 1968 when the Pennsy merged with the

New York Central The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Midw ...

to form

Penn Central The Penn Central Transportation Company, commonly abbreviated to Penn Central, was an American Railroad classes, class I railroad that operated from 1968 to 1976. Penn Central combined three traditional corporate rivals (the Pennsylvania Railroad ...

, PC kept using the tower. In 1976, the government freight railroad: the Consolidated Rail Corporation, better known as

Conrail Conrail , formally the Consolidated Rail Corporation, was the primary Class I railroad in the Northeastern United States between 1976 and 1999. The trade name Conrail is a portmanteau based on the company's legal name. It continues to do busin ...

, assumed operations from the bankrupt Penn Central, which had gone bankrupt in 1970. In the Conrail years, Hook Tower was closed down. In 1999, when Conrail was split into

CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...

and the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

, NS got the tower and the Chester and Delaware River line.

Today

Hook Tower still stands today. With the NEC used only by a few Norfolk Southern local services,

SEPTA The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly 4 million people in five coun ...

Wilmington/Newark Line The Wilmington/Newark Line is a route of the SEPTA Regional Rail commuter rail system in the Philadelphia area. The line serves southeastern Pennsylvania and northern Delaware, with stations in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Wilmington, Delaware, and ...

train and

Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...

, it is unlikely Hook will open up again any time soon.

References

External links

Bell Tower (Pennsylvania Railroad Photographs)

YouTube video through Bell and Holly interlockings
{{coord missing, Pennsylvania Pennsylvania Railroad Buildings and structures in Delaware County, Pennsylvania Railway signaling in the United States

History

Today

See also

References

External links