"Lining the Westbound at BERK"
A SONO Switch Tower Museum guest playing Tower Operator hastily throws one of several mechanical levers to put in a signal for a westbound Metro-North train as it approaches BERK (SS44) on the New Haven Line in South Norwalk.
The SONO Switch Tower Museum, formerly know as BERK or SS44, was constructed by the New Haven Railroad in 1896. The tower controlled a major interlocking (now CP240/241) in South Norwalk, Connecticut where the Danbury Branch splits from the New Haven Main Line. Unlike a majority of the New Haven Line's switch towers, SS44 features a narrow rectangular structure with a Johnson Signal Corporation 68-lever all (electro-enhanced) mechanical frame. BERK was decommissioned around 1984, falling victim to newer centralized traffic control (CTC) technology. Rather than demolishing the tower, Metro-North Railroad turned it over to the Western Connecticut Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society who fully restored the building and now operates it as a museum. Visitors can learn about the signal tower, listen to stories from actual former operators and throw the switch levers as they once did decades ago.
