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M1 Approaches Rockville Tower
by Andrew Harmantas
Oil on Canvas
Original Painting Image size 16" x 20"
Framed size 20" x 24"
Rockville Tower was recently demolished, replaced with automated equipment, and is now "Control Point Rockville,"
but in its time, the tower operator presided over a dizzying array of trains passing through the junction around the
clock. Rockville controlled trains coming from the west into Harrisburg and on to Philadelphia and New York. It also
funneled trains up to Buffalo, or sent them across the Susquehanna River over to the vast freight yard at Enola, or
on their journey west. I had a special connection to Rockville Tower. One of my friends became the operator there,
and another friend became the track supervisor there, but this was after I was in the Army, so I was unable to take
advantage of their largesse with access to the tower. I call on them even today to ask questions and jog their
memory as to specifics about the tower and surrounding area. But this scene is in the early 1950s, when I saw the
last days of Pennsy steam in operation. Steam locomotives based out of Enola certainly were prevalent in that area,
as painted here, with an M1 class Mountain locomotive taking a freight around the curve toward Harrisburg. The tower
is painted as it was back then, with its uncharacteristic non-keystone name sign.
SOLD
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