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I was watching OGR videos as usual and noticed a familiar structure at the 19:33 mark in @Hot Water's layout video.

I'm not sure what sort of tower it would be but it looks exactly one that stood in Struthers, OH a long time ago and like the one in the Western Reserve Village at the Canfield Fairgrounds. One of my upcoming projects is to make a CAD drawing of that tower for some preservation/restoration efforts. I'm looking for any background information anyone has on this style.

  1. Was the design associated with a specific railroad?
  2. What were they commonly used for?
  3. Did a specific company build them? or was it commonly built by the railroad?


I have a primary source telling me the tower in Struthers was used for signaling and operating the cross gates at the street. I suppose I could believe that since the one at the Western Reserve Village looks like it had conduit or pipe coming out of the floor. I was most fascinated to discover the structure at the Western Reserve Village has legs made out rail. They just rolled it to shape. I expected structural steel to be used.

Any information anybody has would be appreciated!

It's a great video and great layout! Well worth the watch. It is definitely the kind of thing that makes me want to head down to the basement immediately and work on my own empire instead of getting sidetracked with these projects haha

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@BillYo414 posted:

I was watching OGR videos as usual and noticed a familiar structure at the 19:33 mark in @Hot Water's layout video.



I'm not sure what sort of tower it would be but it looks exactly one that stood in Struthers, OH a long time ago and like the one in the Western Reserve Village at the Canfield Fairgrounds. One of my upcoming projects is to make a CAD drawing of that tower for some preservation/restoration efforts. I'm looking for any background information anyone has on this style.

Can't remember where I purchased those (I had two, I think). They are towers for the crossing gate operator.

  1. Was the design associated with a specific railroad? Not to my knowledge. They were common in the easter states.
  2. What were they commonly used for?  Crossing gate operators.
  3. Did a specific company build them? or was it commonly built by the railroad?  Just my guess but, probably built by the individual railroad for specific locations.


I have a primary source telling me the tower in Struthers was used for signaling and operating the cross gates at the street. I suppose I could believe that since the one at the Western Reserve Village looks like it had conduit or pipe coming out of the floor. I was most fascinated to discover the structure at the Western Reserve Village has legs made out rail. They just rolled it to shape. I expected structural steel to be used.

Any information anybody has would be appreciated!

It's a great video and great layout! Well worth the watch. It is definitely the kind of thing that makes me want to head down to the basement immediately and work on my own empire instead of getting sidetracked with these projects haha

@Hot Water cool! Thank you for the responses. That gives me enough info for a starting point to start researching. I think the Western Reserve Village tower came from Columbiana so I'll have to see if the tracks there were owned/serviced by the same railroad as the tracks in Struthers.

@Bob I just may pick that up as a kit bash project.

My hope in the long run is to use the drawings to build a replica for Struthers to go along with the other preservation efforts of the buildings down there. I don't think we'll get our freight depot back unless the doctor vacates the office that is there presently but there should be enough space for a decorative tower.

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