Texas Railroad History - Tower 137 - Big Sandy

A Crossing of the Texas & Pacific Railway and the St. Louis Southwestern Railway

Above: This 1930 aerial image ((c) historicaerials.com) of the Big Sandy crossing has been annotated to highlight the Union Depot (yellow oval) and a building across the tracks (pink oval, magnification at right.) Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT) records state that a 20-function electric interlocker, Tower 137, was commissioned at Big Sandy on August 14, 1928. The shape of the building and its dimensions relative to the size of the depot gives the appearance of a standard, 2-story interlocking tower with a shed located immediately to the east. If so, this is the only evidence of a traditional manned interlocking tower at Big Sandy found thus far. And with no other evidence, the duration of its existence is undetermined. It does not appear on the next available aerial imagery from 1955, and no photos of it have been discovered. No records pertaining to its construction or abandonment are known to exist, nor have any written references to Tower 137 been found other than its RCT commissioning date. If a tower structure existed at Big Sandy, the 1930 imagery is the only evidence.

Top Left: This 1928 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Big Sandy shows a 1-story American Railway Express building located in the same spot as the (pink oval) structure above. On this basis, which is more likely? Is the structure visible in the 1930 imagery the 1-story railway express building, or is it a 2-story manned interlocking tower built where the American Railway Express building previously stood? The answer is undetermined. New traditional 2-story towers were rare after 1926. Tower 139 (Houston) qualifies, but it had an unusual history related to Tower 89. Otherwise, Tower 138 (Harlingen) and Tower 159 (Mathis) are the only known "stand-alone" 2-story interlocking towers built after Polk's Tower (Fort Worth) in 1926. The controls for Tower 137's electric plant could easily have been operated from the depot which was very close to the crossing. Along with the Sanborn map, these facts would argue in favor of the structure being the American Railway Express building. Bottom Left:  The 1928 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Big Sandy details Union Station as a "R R Station" with an interior north / south width of 14 ft. The notation at bottom appears to read "20 to MAIN LINE TEXAS & PACIFIC RR", presumably noting that the platform was 20 feet from the T&P main line tracks. Based on this drawing, the station was approximately 20 ft. by 70 ft. including the exterior platform. Assuming the depot was ~ 20 ft. wide, then what to make of the (pink oval) structure across the tracks? Visually, the building appears to be about the same width as the depot, and is square. Would a 20 ft. x 20 ft. roof outline make sense for an American Railway Express facility? Would it have been built with the classic trapezoidal roof appearance often used for interlocking towers? Under magnification, the Sanborn Map appears to show "14" (rotated 90 degrees) along the west wall of the American Railway Express building (compare to an identical notation on the depot's east wall.) If so, a mere 3-ft. overhang on each side would produce a 20 ft. x 20 ft. roof outline.

Above Left: Missouri Pacific #636 crosses the diamond at Big Sandy as it passes the east end of the depot. The train is eastbound toward Longview on the main line of the Texas & Pacific (T&P) Railway. The cabin at far left housed interlocking plant electronics. (undated photo, Chuck Harris collection) Above Right: Viewed from the opposite direction, this 2023 Google Street View shows an interlocking cabin standing at the same location, very likely the same one adjacent to the same utility pole as in Chuck Harris' photo. Left: After the Union Station at Big Sandy was destroyed by fire on January 25, 1906, this new depot was built and is the progenitor of the depot in Chuck Harris' photo. There was an east end porch that has since been removed, and there was a dome on the south side of the building that is no longer present. The tracks of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway are barely visible adjacent to the baggage wagons, crossing the T&P main line at an acute angle. A 1956 photo by H. D. Connor (bottom of page) shows the dome intact but the east end porch removed. (Chino Chapa collection)

The impetus for the first railroad at Big Sandy began with the idea of building a railroad across Texas to be part of a projected southern transcontinental route. This was prior to the Civil War, years before the first Transcontinental Railroad was built, a period when the Texas Legislature somewhat freely granted state charters to railroads promising to build across Texas. There were two competing concepts. One envisioned tracks diagonally across the state from the Arkansas border to El Paso. In the opposite direction, tracks would extend diagonally across Arkansas and Missouri to reach St. Louis, expected to become the major rail gateway between the east coast and the western U.S. The other concept was to build rails connecting Atlanta, Vicksburg and Shreveport, more or less a straight line, with Marshall, Texas, and then continue laying track westward across the state to El Paso.

On March 3, 1871, Congress granted a Federal railroad charter to the Texas Pacific (T&P) Railroad (renamed Railway a year later) for the purpose of building a transcontinental rail line from Marshall to San Diego, California. The Texas Legislature authorized the T&P to acquire two defunct railroads in northeast Texas, and a year later, the T&P acquired the assets of another northeast Texas railroad out of foreclosure. By the end of 1873, new construction plus the acquired assets resulted in the T&P having three main track segments: 1) from the Louisiana border through Marshall and Longview to Dallas; 2) from Marshall north through Jefferson to the newly founded town of Texarkana on the Arkansas border; and 3) fifty-four miles of track from Sherman east to Brookston, building in the direction of Texarkana. For this segment, starting construction at Sherman was deemed the better approach because materials could be shipped there from the Port of Galveston using the Houston & Texas Central (H&TC) rail line out of Houston. The H&TC had reached Sherman in 1872 and continued building north to Denison. The T&P completed the tracks from Brookston to Texarkana in 1876, and that same year, it extended its line westward from Dallas to Fort Worth. The T&P was following a two-track approach the Legislature had envisioned, with a southern line from Shreveport through Marshall to Dallas, and a northern line running west from Texarkana to Sherman and beyond. In the east, the two lines were linked by the tracks between Marshall and Texarkana. In the west, Fort Worth eventually became the target for where the north and south lines would merge. From there, a single line west to El Paso would be built.

Right: The is a snippet from an 1877 map (Texas General Land Office) showing tracks in the vicinity of Texarkana. It shows the T&P's lines in Texas: one going west from Texarkana to Sherman, and another going south from Texarkana to Marshall, then turning west through Longview, Dallas and Fort Worth (and beyond, although the T&P had yet to build west of Fort Worth in 1877.) Two International & Great Northern (I&GN) lines are shown: southwest from Longview continuing off the map to Palestine, and southeast from Mineola through Tyler to Troup (near Overton.) The map shows the H&TC north / south line through Dallas and Sherman to Denison. At Denison, the H&TC connected to the Missouri, Kansas & Texas ("Katy") Railway which had bridged the Red River from Indian Territory (Oklahoma). The map annotations show selected post-1877 construction. The red line is the T&P between Sherman and Fort Worth, built to reconnect the T&P's two parallel main lines. The Katy (green) shared this line south to Fort Worth from a meeting point at Whitesboro. The yellow line is the Texas & St. Louis Railway from Texarkana southwest to Tyler, continuing off the map to Athens and Corsicana. Big Sandy appears on the map where this line crossed the T&P.

About the time this map was published in 1877, the Tyler Tap Railroad completed a narrow gauge line between Tyler and Big Sandy Switch, a new settlement at a junction with the T&P named for nearby Big Sandy Creek. The idea was to "tap" the T&P at Big Sandy Switch for the benefit of the citizens of Tyler. The Tyler Tap had been chartered in late 1871 by Tyler citizens concerned that other towns with railroads would succeed at Tyler's expense. Before the Tap's construction had even started, the fears of Tyler residents being orphaned without a railroad were allayed by the construction of a Houston & Great Northern (H&GN) rail line from Troup through Tyler to Mineola in 1873. [The H&GN became the I&GN when its merger with the International Railroad was approved by the Legislature in 1875.] The Tap's construction finally began in 1875, and it took two years to reach Big Sandy Switch, a distance of 21 miles. Unlike the T&P, the Tap was narrow gauge, hence there was no direct connection at Big Sandy Switch. Instead, the Tap paralleled a T&P siding for a quarter mile to facilitate transferring cargo between the two railroads. By the early 1880s, the settlement around Big Sandy Switch had grown large enough to apply for a post office. At least by 1889 and likely earlier, a post office was granted under the name Big Sandy.

In 1880, under new ownership and renamed the Texas & St. Louis (T&SL) Railway, the rail line from Tyler to Big Sandy was extended north across the T&P toward Pittsburg and Mount Pleasant, eventually reaching Texarkana, a total distance of 107 miles. Publicizing its planned expansion, a T&SL ad in the Galveston Daily News of January 21, 1881 coined the phrase Cotton Belt Route. Soon thereafter, Cotton Belt became the nickname that would stick with the T&SL and its successor railroads for the next 110 years. The T&SL continued building from Texarkana diagonally across Arkansas and Missouri, and by late 1883, it had reached Bird's Point on the Mississippi River. There, barges moved railcars across the river to Cairo, Illinois. The lengthy track segment from Texarkana to Bird's Point overextended the T&SL's finances and it went into into receivership in January, 1884.

By 1872, east coast rail baron Jay Gould had begun to shift his attention to the west and southwest, planning a major presence in Texas. It offered ports on the Gulf through which commodities from Midwest and Plains states could be exported, plus the potential for trade with Mexico. In 1879, Gould acquired control of the Missouri Pacific (MP) Railroad based in St. Louis. For his southwest expansion, railroads would be merged by lease or acquisition into MP. In December, 1879, the selection of Gould as President of the Katy was accomplished by his loyalists who had infiltrated Katy management over several years at Gould's behest. The plan had been hatched because the Katy's diluted stock prevented Gould from acquiring controlling interest; there was simply not enough Katy stock circulating on the open market. Gould leased the Katy to MP as part of his larger plan, but he did so under terms that facilitated moving Katy profits into MP's coffers where his significant MP stock ownership would produce substantial personal dividends. Gould's objective was to acquire the I&GN, quickly becoming Texas' largest railroad. To do so, he needed the T&P because it provided a critical link between Longview and Texarkana for the I&GN's route to St. Louis. Financing had left the T&P stalled at Fort Worth, so Gould struck a bargain. He offered to build the T&P west of Fort Worth at his own expense in exchange for $40,000 in T&P stocks and bonds for each mile completed. Track-laying began in April, 1880, and within a year, Gould owned controlling interest in the T&P. He became its president and proceeded to lease it to MP. To gain leverage over the I&GN, Gould also wanted the St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern (SLIM&S) line between Texarkana and St. Louis. Under pressure from Gould, the SLIM&S ownership capitulated in December, 1880 and sold him a large block of stock, giving him about 30% of the company. They did not further resist his control, and the SLIM&S was soon leased to MP. With Gould controlling both Texas gateways to St. Louis (at Texarkana and Denison) the I&GN recognized its fate and sold out in June, 1881 in an exchange for Katy stock. Right: A full month before Gould's acquisition of the I&GN, the Galveston Daily News of April 30, 1881 reported speculation by New York papers that discussions were being held to consolidate Gould's MP and Texas railroads, including the I&GN. The article was incorrect regarding Gould's ownership of the Katy; he was President, but he lacked financial control.

In February, 1886, the St. Louis, Arkansas & Texas (SLA&T) Railway was created by the T&SL's bankruptcy judge to become the new Cotton Belt, going against the advice of T&SL President Sam Fordyce who believed residual operational issues would inhibit profitability. Despite Fordyce's concerns, the receivership ended and the SLA&T immediately converted its tracks to standard gauge and established rail connections with the T&P at Big Sandy. The SLA&T proceeded to build new branch lines into north Texas from its main line to compete with Gould on traffic from Sherman and Fort Worth. This culminated in a secret agreement between Fordyce and Gould in 1888 for the Cotton Belt and MP to cooperate on traffic through Texarkana. Gould began to gain financial leverage over the SLA&T with loans and stock purchases, positioning him to guide its reorganization when it became insolvent in 1889 (as Fordyce had predicted.)

In 1891, the SLA&T bankruptcy plan created a new railroad dominated by Gould. It was known as the St. Louis Southwestern Railway (SLSW or SSW), but more commonly just Cotton Belt (which Gould had wanted to be the railroad's official corporate name; the judge chose otherwise.) Gould installed his younger son Edwin as President of the SLSW, and Edwin held that title until his retirement in 1925. A series of ownership changes in the late 1920s resulted in the Cotton Belt becoming a subsidiary of Southern Pacific (SP) in 1932, which continued to operate it separately until it was merged in the 1990s.

Left: Although the Katy had no tracks at Big Sandy, its Chief Engineer's office drew this 1915 track chart of Big Sandy (Ed Chambers collection). There were yard tracks in the area between the two parallel main lines. Below: This snippet from a 1907 post card shows the "water pipe" noted on the track chart.

Where the Tower 137 interlocker controls were located is undetermined, but that the controls were operated manually for many years is undisputed. A joint MP / T&P Employee Timetable (ETT) issued July 30, 1967 listed the interlocker at Big Sandy as manual. It had not yet been converted to an automatic plant though others listed in the same ETT had been converted (e.g. MP's ex-I&GN crossing of the Cotton Belt at Jacksonville.) Automatic plants had been approved by RCT beginning in 1930. In MP's ETT dated October 31, 1976, Big Sandy was listed with an automatic interlocking plant, although this could have occurred after 1967 but before the T&P was integrated into MP.

Above: An operator would press buttons or throw levers to effect switch changes granting movements for locomotives when they signaled these whistle codes. (T&P Employee Timetable, March 26, 1944) Far Left: The December, 1944 issue of Railway Signaling noted that the T&P was implementing various signal and switch changes at Big Sandy. The new power switch at the west end of the passing track would be "controlled from Big Sandy interlocking" implying that local operators remained employed there. Near Left: The September, 1950 edition of The Signalman's Journal carried this item reporting the T&P's planned installation of Centralized Traffic Control from Big Sandy to Mineola. The article noted that this would expand the "present control machine, located at Marshall" which suggests that Big Sandy's signals and switches were already under remote control from Marshall. Thus, while the interlocking was manually controlled until the mid-1970s, the operators were at Marshall, not Big Sandy, at least by 1950.

Jay Gould died in 1892 and his elder son George became President of the I&GN and the T&P. By 1917, the Gould rail empire had been pared back significantly; the family was no longer involved with MP or the T&P, and its involvement with the I&GN would soon come to an end. Out of receivership and freed from Gould family control, MP wanted to acquire both the I&GN and the T&P as a means of entering the Texas market through the Texarkana connection. In 1918, MP began to purchase T&P stock on the open market with an eye toward acquiring a controlling interest, which it achieved in 1930. MP elected not to take operational control of the T&P; instead the two railroads coordinated their operations. On January 1, 1925, the Interstate Commerce Commission allowed MP to acquire several railroads including the I-GN (no longer "I&GN"; the '&' had been dropped when a new company was created to end the bankruptcy in 1922.)

In 1933, MP went into a lengthy receivership and operated for more than two decades under court supervision. It finally emerged from bankruptcy in 1956, dissolving the I-GN and integrating its operations under the MP name. The T&P and MP continued their cooperative relationship which remained essentially unchanged into the 1970s. In 1976, MP finally exercised its ownership control over the T&P by dissolving the company and merging its assets into MP. In 1982, Union Pacific (UP) acquired MP but continued to operate it a subsidiary under the MP name. In the early 1990s, SP finally merged the Cotton Belt and integrated its operations. In 1996, SP was acquired by UP, and a couple of years later, UP operationally merged SP and MP so that all activities were conducted under the UP name. Today, both lines at Big Sandy are UP main lines that continue to see significant traffic.

 
Last Revised: 10/23/2025 JGK - Contact the Texas Interlocking Towers Page.