(rshsdepot) PD Tower - Patchogue, NY

[I95BERNIEW_@_aol.com]

From today's Newsday.
 
Bernie Wagenblast
 
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
 
 
Historic LIRR tower is demolished
  


 
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ps;rg=ur;ref=newsdaycom;pos=1;tile=1;sz=160x600;ord=99268055) BY BILL BLEYER
Newsday  Staff Writer

August 23, 2006

One of three remaining historical  wooden Long Island Rail Road signal towers 
was demolished yesterday in Patchogue  after village officials determined 
that restoration would be too  expensive.

The "PD" Tower, built in 1912, was seriously deteriorated and  was no longer 
needed.

Preservationists were upset about the demolition,  but conceded that there 
was probably no practical alternative. "They used to  refer to it as 'The 
Leaning Tower of Patchogue,'" rail historian David Morrison  of Plainview said. "It 
would've taken a lot of money to restore it."

LIRR  spokeswoman Susan McGowan said "a new, automated signal system was 
installed ...  May 8th and the tower was no longer needed."

Patchogue officials had  contacted the railroad about taking over and 
maintaining the tower, but were  deterred by the cost. Mayor Paul Pontieri said 
contractors estimated the cost of  stabilizing the tower at up to $30,000. "New 
foundations would have had to have  been put in ... and nobody was coming forth 
with money," he said.

In  addition, Pontieri said, "because it sat on railroad property, we 
wouldn't be  able to use the building." And he said moving the tower to another 
location  wasn't feasible either.

According to Morrison, "Patchogue was the last  location on Long Island where 
train orders were 'hooped up,' when they put a  train order on the end of a 
hoop and the tower operator holds it up and the  engineer grabs the order. So 
it's a quite significant chapter in railroad  history that has closed."

Morrison said the remaining two towers were in  Locust Valley and in Fresh 
Pond, Queens. The first was restored to serve as a  police booth, and the second 
serves as a railroad office.  
Copyright 2006 Newsday Inc.

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The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org

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