They are common at crossings on form Reading branch lines. This is the Lititz Secondary not too far from Lancaster? Looks like a gatemans house but I can't imagine the traffic on this line ever warranting a persons salary to guard the crossing 24-7. Also seems rather tight for a person to sit in?
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Likely a telephone booth to communicate with the dispatcher.
Might be a relay box for the track crossing.
The older electronics needed a lot of space to be able to do anything.
Have you tried getting in touch with the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society?
They should know what those boxes were for. If not then maybe the Pennsylvania Railroad Museum at Strasburg PA may know the answer.
Lee Fritz
Most of these are at crossings without any type of electronic device. Even dirt country roads.
Relay equipment is generally housed in steel boxes that are very robust, and mounted on concrete pads or raised above the ground on legs. That wooden structure is a typical telephone shed.
I think its definitely a telephone booth. I've seen them advertised for sale as O-scale kits. The only one I can find is on this page, and looks not quite like yours.
Yup, it's a telephone booth.
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