A Crossing of the Texas and New Orleans Railway and the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway
In 1876, the Texas Transportation Co. built tracks in
Houston along the north bank of
Buffalo Bayou between the community of Clinton (now known as Galena Park) and downtown. A
few years later, these tracks came under Southern Pacific (SP) ownership and
were assigned to its Texas & New Orleans (T&NO) subsidiary as the Clinton
Branch. They proved valuable in serving port industries, particularly once the
Houston Ship Channel was built.
The San Antonio & Aransas Pass (SA&AP) Railway entered Houston in 1888 from
the west, crossing south of downtown and constructing a station at Polk Street.
To access T&NO's Englewood Yard on the
northeast side of Houston, SA&AP built an
extension that bridged Buffalo Bayou and crossed T&NO's Clinton
Branch a short distance beyond the north bank. On December 4, 1902, Tower 5 was authorized by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT) for operation at this
crossing with a mechanical interlocker having 12 functions (four home signals,
four distant signals and four derails). Initially, RCT listed Tower 5 as being
in "East Houston" but this was subsequently changed to "East of Houston", a
location that persisted through RCT's final interlocker list published in 1930.
Historic Map, Tower 5 Location
Above: The 1924 Sanborn
map of Houston shows the T&NO Clinton Branch parallel to, and a short distance
north of, Clinton Drive. It ran east / west along "Baron Drive" (which field
examination suggests was never much of a street). The SA&AP crossed at Tower 5
running generally north / south, but as the map shows, the heading was really
NNE / SSW at the diamond.
Below: A
magnification of the lower right area of the above image
shows Tower 5 documented in the southwest quadrant of
the crossing as a two-story "Off"
[office] structure; both "Off" and the two stories imply that this was a
regularly manned facility. The doorway was located on
the south side of the building. The lack of a staircase marked externally implies that upper floor access was inside,
perhaps a steep staircase or a ladder.
SP documents obtained by Carl Codney paint a complex picture of Tower 5's existence. Extracting all of the dates from these documents as well as dates from RCT information archived at DeGolyer Library yields the following timeline:
1902, December 4 | Tower 5 interlocking plant commissioned for operation by RCT | |
1903, December 3 | SP document Statement Showing Levers, Functions and Division of Expense at Interlocking Plant is created | |
1903, December 31 | Tower 5 listed in RCT annual report as a 12-function / 12-lever mechanical interlocking plant | |
1907, June 28 | SP interlocking plan D-402 is issued (unknown implication; perhaps the original plan drawing had never been formally "released" by SP's Engineering Dept.?) | |
1916, August | Statement Showing Levers, Functions and Division of Expense at Interlocking Plant is "checked" | |
1918, November 17 | "temporarily placed out of service at 6 PM" (no reason specified) | |
1920, March 5 | "placed back in service" | |
1925, July 11 | "placed out of service...account taking over the SA&AP Ry" -- original 12 functions marked as "Void" on the Statement Showing Levers... | |
1926, September 23 | SP interlocking plan D-1045 is issued (presumably to document the new cabin interlocker design) | |
1927, March 10 | "Replaced in service as cabin interlocker" | |
1937, June 14 | Statement Showing Levers... is "Rewritten"; 1927 instead of 1937 would make more sense given the cabin in-service date; the new Statement Showing... is undated | |
1940 | interlocker controls relocated to Tower 139 | |
1941, January 2 | "Out of service" |
Above: This document obtained from SP by Carl Codney shows numerous revisions
over the years as Tower 5 was taken in and out of service, and modified. A newer
document, filled out only in handwriting, was created when this one was "Rewritten 6/14 - 37".
Given the 5-10-27 date of the cabin interlocker operation, it is possible that
"37" should be "27". The new document ("Drawing D-205") merely repeats the
function definitions, with one additional handwritten notation:
"Out of service Jan. 2 - 1941."
From the SP documents, the tower timeline appears
normal until November, 1918 when it was "temporarily" taken out of service for a
16-month period for unknown reasons. After reinstatement, there are no other
operational notes until it was removed from service in 1925 when SP acquired the
SA&AP. This removal was consistent with the original RCT policy that
required numbered interlockers only where two different railroads
crossed. Once the SA&AP had been brought formally under T&NO control, the
numbered interlocker was, in theory, no longer required or subject to RCT
management, even though the interlocking function might still be valuable. This
concept had changed over time, however, beginning with Tower 121
where, in April, 1925, SP requested approval for its yard tower in San Antonio
even though no other railroads were involved. It is likely that after the
removal of Tower 5 from service due to the SA&AP acquisition, SP evaluated local
operations and decided that a cabin interlocker was
appropriate. It is fair to assume that SP's interlocker plan dated September 23,
1926 was the new cabin design and that it was submitted to RCT for approval. About
six months after Tower 5 was "replaced in service as cabin interlocker on March
10, 1927...", Santa Fe's pending approval for Tower 135 in Canyon
again raised the specific issue of whether a single-railroad interlocker needed
RCT approval. RCT said "Yes."
The 1928 RCT Annual Report was the first to
list Tower 5 as an 8-function "mechanical-cabin". Cabin interlockers were used
for simple crossings where the traffic was insufficient to justify a manned tower, typically in cases
where one line was heavily used and the other lightly used. The
interlocker normally would be lined to permit continuous movement on the busier track. When a train approached on the lightly used line, the
crew would stop and manually set the interlocker signals to permit passage
over the crossing. After crossing, the signals would be re-lined by the train crew to
allow trains on the busier line to resume uninterrupted operation. Tower 5 was
unusual in that neither line would be considered a main line, hence there may
not have been a "busier line". There were other locations in Houston (e.g.
Tower 104) where T&NO traffic to or from
Englewood Yard could be routed on to, or off of,
the former SA&AP line west of Houston. This undoubtedly impacted Tower5's
traffic and presumably motivated the downgrade from manned tower to cabin
interlocker. RCT files
mention that Tower 5's cabin interlocking controls were combined with
Tower 139 beginning in 1940, suggesting that a remote
control system was installed. SP's document says that the Tower 5 interlocker was "out of
service" on January 2, 1941.
Site Photo, Tower 5 foundation (Jim King, December 2006)
Above: This crumbling
concrete foundation was found precisely where Tower 5 appears on the Sanborn
map. Whether this was the foundation for the tower, or the cabin interlocker,
(or both!) is unknown. It seems too small to have been a regularly manned
structure, but this may not encompass the entire foundation.
Track Chart, T&NO Clinton Branch (courtesy,
T&NO Archives)
Above: This image extracted from a 1926 T&NO track chart of the Clinton
Branch shows the T&NO tracks
crossing the SA&AP tracks west of Baer Jct., and includes a close-up of this crossing in the upper left corner. Tower 5 is
shown located on the southwest corner of the diamond.
Additional Photos, Tower 5
Site, December 2006 (Jim King photos)
Above Left: Tracks to the Tower 5 site remain in place
from the east. The grade crossing signals are for Hirsch Rd. Above Right: The
tracks from the east curve to the north and then make an S-curve slightly
to the east to connect to the original northbound track alignment.
Below Left: To the west, the
T&NO Clinton Branch toward Tower 139 is abandoned.
Below Right: The view to the south from the Tower 5 site shows
an odd-looking greenbelt occupying the former SA&AP right-of-way toward Buffalo
Bayou.
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Left: This 1962 image from historicaerials.com clearly shows a distinct, rectangular shadow denoting some kind of structure located in the southwest quadrant of the Tower 5 site. This is precisely the same location where the tower stood. The height cannot be estimated, so it could be a walk-in hut used as a cabin interlocker, or it could be that the original 2-story tower structure survived into the 1960s (i.e. perhaps the cabin interlocker controls were installed inside the original tower.) The shadow remains visible on 1964 and 1966 lesser quality imagery, but it is clearly missing from 1973 and later imagery. Right: This 2002 image shows that tracks were still present in the southeast quadrant of the site, crossing Clinton Dr. to serve businesses to the south. The tracks stopped a few yards short of Buffalo Bayou. | ![]() |