This thread has brought back memories from when I was a young child. My Aunt Rose and Uncle Joe worked back then at the railroad yards in Selkirk for the New York Central Railroad and each summer I got to enjoy a week with them. They lived just a short distance from the yards and their house was right across the street from a manual switching tower where the rails approaching the yard were controlled.
I would frequently go over where I could see some of the RR construction equipment, watch trains going by up close up and I even got invited into the switching house where I was shown how they did the manual switching. As I recall it, there were a long row of what I can only describe as 8 foot 2x4's with a handle on the end of each. When given the direction by whatever phone like communications they had back then, the person working there would go to one of those handles and either pushed or pulled it to switch the track as needed. I don't really know how they worked but I'd imagine there must have been a long cable system of some sort that ran from the control handle to the track.
I don't know exactly what my uncle Joe did except that he worked in the yards. My aunt Rose worked in the YMCA at the east end of the Selkirk yards. Now I don't know why the YMCA was named a YMCA because it was not what you would think of as a Y. What it actually was, was sort of a hotel for train crews while off duty and away from home.
As you came to the front entrance of the Y you would find large long porches on both side where there were several large comfortable rocking chairs where the crews could just sit, rock and relax. Going inside there was a cashiering station with different snacks and good of interested to railroad workers. It was at this station where my aunt Rose usually worked. To the right there was a darkened lounge room where crews could relax and watch TV, and further down the hall were small rooms with beds where they got their rest.
Straight back from the front entrance and past the cashier was the cafeteria and my aunt had also worked back there on the counter on occasions. And to the right of the cashier there were more comfortable chairs, a recreation area with a couple of pool tables and a few places where the crews could play checkers.
The property had a lot of fields out back where I loved being able to run around and I also recall picking pears fresh off the tree. I never found pears to taste as good as they did off that tree.
Not too many years after I no longer spent my summers with my aunt and uncle the YMCA was torn down and a smaller, much less functional facility was built. Today I don't even know if that is still there or what is there now!
Going back even further in time, shortly after I had learned to walk, my grandfather Mike had also worked for the railroad and he lived on the same road as my aunt and uncle, just a few hundred yards down the road from where my aunt and uncle's house would one day be built.
I was once told that on one particular day when my grandfather was on his way back home from work he found me walking in the middle of the road somewhere between his house and the switching station. Now it's not that this incident is any big deal; the street was a quiet one with very little traffic at the time. However there was one thing that made it interesting. I didn't have a stitch of clothes on... nada... zip! :blink: I got a feeling that my mother (we were living with them at that time) got a good piece of his mind when he and I got to the house! Anyway, you'll be happy to know that I no longer have those impulses... or at least you should be!
For those with more technically inquiring minds you can read more about the Selkirk Yards at the following website:
http://members.localnet.com/~docsteve/railroad/se_2.htm