When did railroads generally start renaming interlocking plants as control points? I assume this term applies to any place involving mainline turnouts and crossovers, though I guess you could include signals. Was this renaming just by the industry or was it a federal mandated item for uniformity across all railroads?
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Thanks Wyhog. So in essence, when a location became part of a cTc plan, then by definition it was a control point. Makes sense.
When I was a kid, The Milwaukee Road had Tower B17 located at the western edge of Bensenville Yard near Chicago. Since then The Milwaukee has become The Soo Line, Iowa & Chicago Eastern and now The Canadian Pacific.
I listen to the scanner and the CP trains are still calling for Tower B17...last night there was a ICE train they were talking to...On the UP channels they talk about mile poles on the Proviso Yard/ Global II & III approach which stretches back to Iowa.
So on my little layout, I can define my switches as control points since they are operated remotely with my DCS handheld! 
In similar fashion, ATSF had places referred to as "house ###", and I have always wondered about the story behind that naming convention. Maybe Number 90 or some other Santa Fe person will see this and reply.
Good memory, Rob. Yes, the Santa Fe did name a few locations House 22 or whatever number was appropriate, starting in the 1980s. This usually occurred when a new or moved control point (typically a holding signal or a new crossover between main tracks) was installed between timetable stations.
So where did the number come from, since it did not match mile post numbers? It was the number of the lever on the CTC machine.
Thank you Tom.
Here are a couple of Joe McMillan photos near House 245 in Lubbock, TX. One photo shows the California Special bound for Clovis...the tracks going off to the right head for Canyon and Amarillo. The other photo is an inbound numbered train from Amarillo pulled by an E.
Joe McMillan has done us a huge favor in documenting the ATSF. A huge favor.
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