Attleboro Tower and Gee Whiz Line's South End
When the Attleboro Sun Chronicle reported (3 October 2008,
"Pulling the Switch?") that Amtrak was considering demolishing
Attleboro Tower, it was time to go photograph it. Some of the photos
appear below.
The Gee Whiz Line's southern end just happens to be at Attleboro
Tower. Coincidence? I think not. The right of way off Peck Street is
now used as an access road for Amtrak crews, and provides one view
of the tower. It's shown nicely on an Attleboro
Assessor's map.
The Sun Chronicle story dates the tower to circa 1908, the
days of the major grade separation project and construction of the
Attleboro station. I found nothing on the web about its early days
— I admit I didn't look very hard — but there are
several pieces of recent history. It astonished me to learn that the
tower still operated in the early 1990s.
- Donald Haskell's photo of a 1968 Penn Central
derailment at Attleboro Tower
- At the bottom of the page, a 1990 photo of an Amtrak
diesel (another relic of the past on the Northeast Corridor)
passing the functioning Attleboro Tower
- Interesting for its operational descriptions, the last article
in the National Corridors Initiative's 24 September 2001 newletter,
Destination:Freedom —
"Attleboro remembered"
Revision History
- 30 October 2008, revision 1.
- Initial publication.
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| 20 Sep 2008. Looking northeast, toward Boston, up the Northeast Corridor. Milepost 197 is in center of picture. |
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| 14 Sep 2008. View of the Pleasant St. side. |
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| 20 Sep 2008. Tower's ID from Pleasant St. |
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| 20 Sep 2008. Looking south up the access road. |
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| 20 Sep 2008. Further in on the access road. |
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| 20 Sep 2008. Looking southwest, toward Providence, down the Northeast Corridor. |
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| 20 Sep 2008. Closer view from the southwest angle. |
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