What’s in a name? Plenty, if you enjoy reading railroad timetables. From mergers to sales to takeovers, certain rail lines have changed names many times over the years. In today’s age, the section of track covered in this article is known on Norfolk Southern as the Pittsburgh Line of the Pittsburgh Division, Northern Region. Back in the 1950s under the Pennsylvania Railroad, the line became well known as the Middle Division of the Eastern Pennsylvania Division, Eastern Region (and may railfans still use that designation today). In the 1980s, the line was known as the Pittsburgh Line of the Pittsburgh Division, Central Region.
The Pittsburgh Line stretched 240 miles from the division post with the Eastern Region just west of Banks Tower, to West Pitt interlocking in Pittsburgh. For purposes of this article, the 124 miles of the old PRR Middle Division will be covered, from just west of Banks Tower to just west of Alto Tower in Altoona. In this article, the Pittsburgh Line of the Pittsburgh Division, Central Region will be abbreviated PLCR.

ABOVE: Hunt Tower was situated just west of the passenger station in Huntingdon, milepost 202.300 on the Pittsburgh Line. The tower faced the Juniata River and was just east of where the old Huntingdon and Broad Top once con-nected with the PRR. Hunt Tower was different from most of the other towers on the old Middle Division, since it had a brick ground floor. It appears Conrail had recently replaced the roof on the building, as the shingles look new in the view taken by Jim Aldridge on April 10, 1985. Winter has yet to leave the Juniata River Valley, as snow can be seen piled up around the car behind the tower. Hunt Tower has a capped chimney along with a gutter system that covers only the east side and rear of the building. Note that a couple of windows on the east side of the ground floor, as well as some windows on the second floor, have been partially covered by wood. A blue Conrail maintenance of way truck is parked next to the tower. It is hard to tell if Conrail repainted the building in the early 1980s, as the paint on the second floor appears to be quite faded on this spring day.
The PLCR was controlled by a series of interlocking towers that were on borrowed time by the middle 1980s. Starting at Banks and working west, the interlocking towers were View, Port, Mifflin, Lewis, Jacks, Spruce, Gray, Antis and Alto. Under supervision from a dispatcher located in Altoona, the line of towers moved the traffic across the line, just as they did under the Pennsylvania Railroad. Conrail would undertake a wave of modernization that would sweep over the line, wiping out most of the towers on the PLCR. Let’s take a closer look at the towers just before they disappeared.
For purposes of this article, Banks Tower will be included in this article. Banks Tower was situated on the Pittsburgh Line of the Eastern Region at milepost 113.2. The division post between the Eastern Region and the Central Region began within sight of the Banks operator at milepost 113.5. Banks Tower sat between the Susquehanna River and the PLCR, a couple miles west of Rockville Bridge at the bottom of a steep access road off of U.S. Route 11/15. As the PLCR approached Duncannon, the line was next to the Susquehanna River.

ABOVE: In this view of the Lewis board in March 1985, it appears that part of the interlocking board for the tower had been painted in Penn Central green; however, this was the color from back in the Pennsylvania Railroad days. Like Port and Mifflin, Lewis interlocking retained its full set of crossovers directly in front of the tower, even after the PRR removed track #3 during the 1960s. Note #3 track has been removed from the board and realigned. The glass cylinders are housing signal rundown timers, which are used when a train is rerouted to avoid putting a high speed train on a route with a low maximum authorized speed at the last minute. Lewistown Yard sat between the tower and the passenger station. Lewis Tower was locat-ed at milepost 166.700, while the passenger station was at milepost 165.7, one mile to the east. —Photo by Rich Ballash
Just west of the Sherman Creek stone arch bridge, the line passed View Tower at milepost 118.9. View Tower sat on the south side of the right of way and overlooked the broad Susquehanna River Valley. View Tower featured large windows and was remodeled with Insulbrick siding sometime in the 1940s or 50s. At Duncannon, the PLCR left the Susquehanna River Valley and began following the Juniata River west toward Altoona. Just beyond the small town of Newport, Port Tower sat on the north side of the PLCR at milepost 132.000. The Juniata River is behind the tower, hidden by foliage.
From Port Tower, it was 20 miles to Mifflin Tower in Mifflin, milepost 153.7. Mifflin Tower sat on the south side of the PLCR, facing due east. While following the Juniata River through Mifflin, the PLCR ran due north-south through town.

ABOVE: View Tower stood on the west bank of the Susquehanna River just east of the borough of Duncannon. Looking north, the operator had a magnificent view of the river and the surrounding mountains. On the morning of June 30, 1977, an eastbound trailer train passes the tower with only fourteen miles to go to reach Harrisburg. View was the easternmost tower on the old PRR Middle Division, as the boundary between the Middle and Philadelphia Divisions was at Banks, about six miles to the east. —Photo by David P. Oroszi
Continuing to follow the Juniata River, the PLCR arrived at Lewistown, with the Lewistown station located at milepost 165.2. A little more than a mile to the west was Lewis Tower, at milepost 166.700. Sometime in the late 1950s or early 1960s, the PRR modern-ized Lewis Tower, removing the bay window and re-siding the tower with Insulbrick siding. Interestingly, the roof was not redone and into the 1980s, it was easy to spot where bay window was on the building, due to scars on the roof.
Moving west from Lewistown, the Juniata River Valley narrowed as it approached Mt. Union and just west of town sat Jacks Tower, milepost 191.500. Jacks Tower was located on a narrow shelf between the Juniata River and the PLCR…