Farewell to BO Interlocking Tower - Kalamazoo, Michigan

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Michigan Central's Botsford or “BO” Tower was opened on October 2, 1914. The tower was named after the Botsford Paper Mill Company which located its tracks east of downtown in 1892. Michigan Central built a new yard to handle the paper mill traffic around 1904. It too was named Botsford and is still in operation today.

The 44-lever interlocking tower was responsible for handling trains on the Grand Trunk Western, New York Central, and Pennsylvania Railroads, as well as an interurban line. The present-day lines are operated by WATCO's Grand Elk Railroad and Amtrak. WATCO renamed the yard to “Gearhart” a few years ago after a longtime railroader who retired with the Grand Elk.

In 2018, we interviewed historian Graydon Meints, the author of “Railroads For Michigan,” to learn more about BO Tower. Meints actually worked at BO in the mid-1950s.

At the time this video was recorded, BO was one of only two manned interlocking towers remaining in Michigan, with the other being on CSX rails at Delray, just outside of Detroit. It was also the oldest still in use within the State. Norfolk Southern personnel operated the tower until it was closed on October 24th, 2016 when Amtrak took over dispatching of the Michigan Line. The interlocking was upgraded to remote control so that the junction could be operated by the Amtrak Train Director in Chicago.

After closing, several preservation efforts began with the intent to move the tower to another location. MDOT wanted the building relocated due to its close proximity to the mainline. One such proposal included transporting the structure to Greenfield Village in Dearborn. Ultimately, the cost to move the building exceeded $100,000 and it was determined to be too costly to move the structure. On Tuesday, December 28th, 2021, the structure was demolished.


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