File:From a locomotive cab facing west in 1975..jpg

Summary

This photo of the WB Tower was taken from a locomotive cab facing west in 1975.

WB Tower was a railroad interlocking and control tower, sometimes called a “signaling tower,” built to control train movements through the complex network of tracks, switches, and crossovers at the Brunswick yard and junction area. WB Tower served as the nerve center of the yard, managing mainline traffic on the B&O’s busy Metropolitan Subdivision between yard operations in Washington, D.C. and Cumberland, Md. This included the entrance and exit of freight and commuter trains, along with switches and signals operated through a US&S Model 14 pneumatic interlocking machine, which remains in the building.

WB tower stands as the last remaining structure from what was once the largest single-company-owned rail yard in the United States. Having closed in 2011, the tower was also the last of its kind within the CSX, formerly B&O, system. Thanks to efforts by the Mayor and Council, along with a group of citizens who fought for its preservation over several administrations, the WB Tower was successfully moved to E. Potomac Street on April 2, 2022.

Some tower employees from the 1950s to the 1970s were Eugene Harrison, Bill Utterback, Jim White, Charlie Selby, Norm Cornelius, Damon Barnhart, Gary "Boogie" Snoots, and Blair Harrington.

(Photo by Ray Soderberg)