Texas Railroad History - Tower 1 - Bowie
A Crossing of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railroad and the
Fort Worth & Denver City Railway
Bowie was originally the site of a construction camp
for the Ft. Worth and Denver City (FW&DC) Railroad as it built
northward from Ft. Worth toward Wichita Falls in 1882. Local residents
began to establish businesses to serve the railroad and eventually
voted to incorporate the town in 1884. In 1893, the Chicago, Rock
Island and Pacific (CRI&P) Railway built through town, heading south from
El Reno, Oklahoma to Ft. Worth. With two railroads, Bowie quickly
became a market and financial center for the region, and had some
2,600 residents by 1900. In 1902,
the crossing at Bowie became the site of Tower 1, the first interlocking
plant commissioned by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT). Tower 1 was a manned two-story structure
authorized for operation on April 17,
1902. Today, the crossing continues to see frequent traffic; the
former FW&DC line is operated by Burlington Northern Santa
Fe, and the former Rock Island line is operated by Union Pacific.
Above:
Google Earth satellite view of the Tower 1 crossing
John Speake, a retired Rock Island employee
born and raised "within one mile of the Bowie Tower", provides these historic
photos of Tower 1, and
comments: "This picture [above left, magnification
above right] is at Bowie
Tower looking southbound standing on the FW&DC tracks. The person
taking it would have had his back to Wichita Falls on the FW&DC. You can see the
north end of the 'short transfer' used by northbounds on FW&DC
and southbounds on the CRI&P. Rail cars were much shorter at this time but I
expect it held 15-20 cars in it."
John describes the
photos below..."[below
left]...is a northbound Rock Island
train heading towards Waurika and points beyond. Notice the overhead
bridge of the old highway. You can see the interlocking rods from the tower to
the switch and signal running along the south side of the rail. The rear
of the train is near the north switch of the 'long transfer'. [Below middle is]...the tower as taken from the south.
I have no idea who is in the picture. It
clearly shows the steps in the early days
(early 20's) as being on the Waurika-El Reno (north) side. When I was a child in
the 40's, the steps up to the
tower were on the Ft. Worth side. When the tower
burned, the steps were on the south side and came down along the
CRI&P
rail. The door you can see
would have been more or less under the steps.
The FW&DC is on the left and CRI&P is on the right. [Below right] The person
in this picture, which is
dated August 1927, is a family friend who has long since died. His name is A. Y.
Holiday and he is sitting at the telegraph desk of the tower. This desk
was in the southeast corner of the tower next to the FW&DC main on the Ft. Worth
side."
Historically, there were two transfer tracks between the railroads at Tower
1, the 'short transfer' southwest of the diamond and the 'long transfer'
northeast of the diamond, both mentioned by John Speake in the captions above,
but neither remains in place today. John does not recall ever seeing a through
train use these transfers, explaining..."I have no recollection of that
scenario happening. If a northbound Rock Island train had a car that was
destined for a location on the FWD they would put it on the 'long transfer'. If
a southbound train (from Waurika) had a car with a destination on the FWD then
it would go on the 'short transfer'. My father fed a milk cow at home. Someone
would ship a load of syrup in a tank car. It would end up on the transfer track
as a load. Some train would come by and take it to its destination for
unloading. A week or so later it would end up on the transfer but this time as
an empty car with no seal. Dad would get his trusty 5 gallon bucket out and put
it under the car spigot and drain the leftovers out of the car. When he got off
work he would bring it home and use it on the cow feed as a supplement and, yes,
it went on our hotcakes also."
Above Left: John W Barriger III took this photo of Tower 1
from the rear platform of his business car as he passed through Bowie on
Rock Island rails sometime in the late 30's or 40's.
The view is to the south down the Rock Island toward Ft. Worth. The lettering on
the side of the tower simply says "No. 1"; RCT had not yet established tower
identification standards. They would subsequently adopt a standard calling for a
white rectangular placard with black numerals only (no abbreviation.) (John W
Barriger III National Railroad Library) Above
Right:
The interlocker cabinet that
replaced the original tower is visible in the northwest quadrant of the crossing
along the ex-Fort Worth and Denver heading northwest toward Wichita Falls to the
left. Straight ahead, the ex-Rock Island line disappears to the north toward
Waurika, Oklahoma.
In August, 1950, the original Tower 1 burned
to the ground. At this time, control of the crossing was changed
from a manned operation to an automatic interlocker. Below is
a series of photographs taken during the installation of the new
interlocker cabinet and cleanup of the fire. These photographs
were provided by the The
Rock Island Technical Society.
Above Left: A pile of rubble is all that remained of Tower 1 after a disastrous
fire in August, 1950. The large piece
of metal in the middle of the foundation is the interlocking machine of levers which controlled
the signals, switches
and derails around Tower 1. John Speake adds "...you can see an old gas station
back to the upper left. This station
was at one time on the 287 highway between the downtown area of Bowie and right
before the highway crossed
over both the CRI&P and FW&D tracks. We did not get much hard winter and snows
at Bowie but when we
did, my father would take a bucket of coal to an elderly lady that lived in this
old station. She had no heat or
electricity, just a wood stove to cook on. She raised two or three children
under these conditions. Behind the
signalman's shack you can see the 'long transfer' track that provided
interchange for southbound FW&D trains
and northbound CRI&P trains. As you can see, it hit the CRI&P main about 50
yards north of the tower and
the south end of this track hit the FW&D main about 1/4 mile south of the tower
at MP 69." Above
Right: The remains of Tower 1
are in the foreground, across from the section shed used for tools
and
materials
for the local maintenance-of-way gang. The small
shed to the right of the signal pole was used for motorcars
("speeders") for track inspection and maintenance. John Speake adds
that the photo also "shows a Coca-Cola
Bottling plant [right edge of photo] that also had a spur to it off the long
transfer. The building burned down
several years before my time (1940), but as a kid there were old Coke bottles in
the building melted with the heat,
and some bottles were still unbroken."
Above Left: A Rock Island steam crane (also known as a "big hook")
lifts the new automatic interlocker concrete
bunker from a gondola
car. Above Right: The new
bunker is carefully set in place just a few feet from the foundation of the
tower.
Above Left: After setting the new bunker, the big hook picks up the old interlocker
machine. Above Right: The old interlocker is lowered into the gondola ultimately to
find its way to a scrap yard.
Below:
Google Earth satellite view of the Tower 1 crossing
 |
Robert D. Speake was an operator at Tower 1. He is the father
of John Speake, the contributor of the above photographs to
the Rock Island Technical
Society. John adds "He was leverman-operator at this tower from
the early 20's to the day it burned down." |
