In the early 1990s, I made a project of photographing CSX’s Mountain Subdivision—the former Baltimore & Ohio West End.
Lately, while searching for illustrations for my next book on railroad signal towers, I’ve been scouring my slides of this fascinating stretch of railroad, which connects Cumberland, Maryland, with Grafton, West Virginia.
Most of my visits were in autumn. On the morning of October 15, 1994, I stopped at Q Tower in Hardman, West Virginia. It was well off the beaten path—few people found it by accident. I made this view looking east toward the tower on Kodachrome 25.
As I recall, Q Tower controlled a set of crossovers, and this was one of the locations where helper locomotives were added to heavy eastbound freights.
Even at this late date, Q Tower was a relic from another era—and that’s what made it so cool. This wood-frame structure housed a classic “Armstrong” interlocking plant. Other surviving antiques included a hand-cranked magneto telephone that allowed the operator to communicate over the railroad’s company telephone line with adjacent towers and other locations along the line.
