What's Hadley Jct?
By Andrew Merriam, MMR #533
Hadley is the point where the standard gauge Southern Pacific Railroad (at SP mile post 259) crossed the narrow gauge Pacific Coast Railway, which had reached this point sometime in 1881. Since the PCRy was the predecessor railroad by some 15 years, the SP had to construct the crossing, as well as man and maintain the attendant interlocking plant known as Hadley Tower. Incidentally, the actual Hadley Tower configuration is nearly identical to the SP tower at Burbank Junction in Southern California. At first, the derails were on the SP main, since the PCRy had the initial right of way. However, by the mid to late 1930s, the derail points were transferred to the PCRy tracks, given the preponderance of traffic on SP's Coast Line.
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This is a slightly cropped version of the Lew Harris photo published in "The Pacific Coast Railway" by Westcott and Johnson. It was taken in October 26, 1940, on a fan trip on the PCRy - hence all the people standing around. This is the west side of the building (the photographer is facing more or less east) and the tracks coming from the foreground are the narrow gauge rails. (Click photo for a larger image) |
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