Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, August 1993

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I do not remember what I told that signalman sitting there in his tower. But whatever it was, he let me in and take a few photos of his workplace!

Magnolia St. Tower was at the east end of Oakland Yard. About a year later, this tower was one of the last to be decommissioned in California. First I just wandered around the outside:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

There was a staircase at the back ...

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

... so I tried my luck. Here's Mr. Signalman—unfortunately half of the picture is black, for whatever reason (old analog photograph):

Signalman, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

And here are some details of the interlocking frame, built by Union Signal and Switch Company (as well as the rest of him):

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Unfortunately, I do not at all know anything about the types of US&S interlocking frames, and I did not find any information about the models in general or the specific one at Magnolia Street. Maybe someone stumbling over my posting could leave a comment which one can be seen here:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Stellwerk, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

The track plan is oriented to the south: To the right is the Southern Pacific's Oakland Pier (long since renamed), to the left is the line to Elmhurst, and running diagonally is the Union Pacific track (formerly Western Pacific):

Track diagram, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

For the junction at Elmhurst, there was a small and fairly new-looking control panel on the far right between various radio equipment. There is only one toggle for switch no. 1; the other switches have a $ sign instead of a number—unfortunately, I do not know what that means. It could mean something like a trailable switch, which would make sense for all movements on that track plan:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Unfortunately, I don't know what this is:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

There were various timer relays on the back of the frame:

Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Outside, I took two pictures of a switch machine, also built by US&S:

Switch machine, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

Switch machine and points, Magnolia Street Tower, Oakland, 1993

At the other end of the Southern Pacific's Oakland Yard, there was another tower, but I only photographed it from the outside:

Oakland Yardmaster Tower, Oakland, 1993

The digital library of Cornell University has a picture from 1960 and another one where one can recognize that tower—but that seems to be it, I could not find any more information about it in the internet.

Edit July 30th, 2024: I asked at the Portola Western Pacific Railroad Museum about the state of Magnolia Tower. Kerry Cochran replied to me that "Yes, Magnolia Street Tower was moved to our museum in Portola. However we have not been able to find a place to rebuild it and get the funding to do so." and "We had hoped to restore it, but the shape it is in may need to be replaced completely". There's still hope, I'd say!