| (exact date unknown) This is a close-up photograph of the "HICK" (how it got that name I'll never know) interlocking station control station. The operator there, who has since been replaced by "modern" technology, controlled three interlockings: "HICK" (503), 502, and 100. Additionally, the operator was a bridge tender controlling (when I visited there) two drawbridges over the Indiana Harbor Ship Canal. From what I remember, the buttons worked like this: First, the operator would select the interlocking he wanted to work: 503, 100, or 502. The odd-number buttons were to select a switch; once selected, the "NOR" or "REV" buttons would select Normal or Reverse on the switch position. The even-numbered buttons (green ones) would select a signal to clear. The START button sent the chosen "command" to the interlocking, causing the lights on the "panel board" (see http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2835624 ) to flash on the appropriate devices until they were properly set-up, then the lights would burn steady to indicate the switch or signal was in the desired status. Additional buttons below, some of which are missing, were for "location cancel" (reset the panel), SM ON and OFF (snow melter), and MC ON and OFF (maintainer call). I don't remember what the ACK button was for. |