Whose tower? Erie or PRR?

This was BA tower near Brady Lake, Ohio and was built by either the Erie or the Pennsylvania (or their predecessors), but I can’t be sure. Can anyone give an educated guess as to its construction date, owner, and function? Was it to protect the grade-level crossing of these two roads? Any interesting details to be noticed?

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My ‘limited understanding’ of Joint Facilities agreements between carriers was that the 2nd carrier picked up most of the expenses of the crossing and the Original existent carrier was responsible for the dispatchment of trains over the crossing. Varying levels of traffic could cause very different application of these general agreements.

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I’m going to make an educated guess and say it’s an Erie tower. It has a very strong resemblance to the preserved Erie tower in Waldwick NJ.


Waldwick Yard was once the site of a major staging area for Erie commuter trains and is still used by NJ Transit to a limited extent.
The tower’s no longer in use but was restored by a local historical society and is open for tours on occasion.
Here’s the story from the society’s website:

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Your photo seals the deal. If these were kids, I’d think, “same parents.” I mean, look at the details; basically BA was a bit smaller (e. g. count the windows), but they look practically identical. BA protected a crossing; there weren’t any switches. Waldwick tower, by contrast, was busy with switchmen using their armstrong levers, as I understand it.

Thanks for your posting. For my money, you solved the mystery.

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Glad I was of assistance!
When I saw the B&W shot the first thing that hit me was “Erie.” Like most 'roads the Erie settled on a certain style of architecture, at least for their utility buildings, and stuck with it for years. I recall seeing Erie crossing gate towers in Hackensack NJ in the 1960s that looked a lot like the tower in the B&W photo.

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