Interlocking Walkthrough: ROCKY

ROCKY interlocking, not in Far Rockaway, but instead 2,750 feet to the east of Rockville Centre, is a small interlocking on the Montauk Branch in Nassau County.  The interlocking, which is 20 miles away from Long Island City by rail, lets trains switch between the two Montauk Branch tracks at this location.  Here's a bird's eye view of the location.

The interlocking is very simple in nature, and it's set up almost exactly like its cousins along the branch, WANTAGH and AMITYVILLE.  There is one crossover which takes trains from the westbound track and moves them to the eastbound track, then there is another crossover that takes trains from the eastbound track (track 2) back to the westbound one (track 1).

A view of a snow-dusted ROCKY interlocking.

ROCKY interlocking is protected by a set of position light signals on gantries.  Unlike WANTAGH or AMITYVILLE, this interlocking has not received new tri-color light signals (presumably because this interlocking is newer then both WANTAGH and AMITYVILLE).

This interlocking first entered service on April 30, 1983, and has been controlled from either VALLEY or BABYLON towers ever since then.  On the morning this interlocking went into the service, the LIRR set up a temporary block station at the site of the crossovers.  That block station has the distinction of being in service for one day only, April 30, 1983.

There's not all that much to say about tiny little ROCKY.  This interlocking is surrounded by PORT interlocking to the east, and VALLEY interlocking to the west.  Be sure to check back next week for our look at SHEA interlocking.