A you guys talked about starting this thread, but nobody did. So I'll start it.
My experience with towers is very limited. After all we never had that many here in California and what we did have is gone now. There were a few that I would visit when in the neighborhood. Probably most frequently would be Stockton tower. Stockton tower is probably the best (traffic wise) place in northern California to see trains. All three northern California railroads, SP ATSF and WP, went through the plant.There is also the Amtrak San Joaquin trains there. Of course now the tower is gone and so is the SP-WP-ATSF replaced by UP and BNSF. Actually the first time I was there the UP had already taken over the WP but it was still the WP to me.
Another tower I would frequent was Elvas tower on the SP. Elvas is where the ex Cal P line from Oakland and the Valley line to Bakersfield & LA and the line to Roseville all come together in a big triangle. Elvas is probably the second busyest spot in northern California, Double track (or 2MT CTC) in every direction. One time the operator yelled down to my dad and I to come on up. That was right before the UP merger and the operator went on for hours about not wanting to work for the UP. He called it the Onion Pacific. Nice guy, but definately had his opinions of UP.
Hobart tower is a nother that I would drop by from time to time. But thinking about it, it wasn't the towers themselves that drew me but rather the high traffic levels that go with them. I really should have paid more attention to the towers.
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.