Texas Railroad History - Tower 138 - Harlingen
A Crossing of the Missouri Pacific and Southern Pacific
railroads
Harlingen was founded through the efforts of Lon Hill, a lawyer and developer
who served as the District Attorney for Bee County in the late 1890s.
Envisioning significant growth opportunity for the Rio Grande Valley, Hill
procured large tracts of land in Cameron County and operated a rice plantation
near Brownsville, along with other commercial ventures. Hill began to promote
getting a railroad into the Valley and he led a commitee that raised a bonus to
be given to the first railroad to reach Brownsville. B. F. Yoakum's Gulf Coast
Lines, under the charter of the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico (SLB&M)
Railway, collected the bonus by constructing a line from Robstown to Brownsville
in 1904, a distance of 141 miles. At "Mile Post 116", 25 miles north of
Brownsville, the railroad passed through the clearing on Lon Hill's land that he
had designated to be the future town of Harlingen. Hill personally guaranteed
free right of way and an additional bonus of land for the railroad to build a
westward branch from there to Starr County. This forty mile branch terminated in
what is now the city of Mission, passing through locations that would prove to
be excellent for agricultural development. The town of Harlingen sprang up in
the clearing, becoming incorporated in 1910. While numerous short branch lines
were built in the Valley, no other major railroad came into the area for two
decades. This changed when, after a long legal battle, Southern Pacific (SP)
legally and finally acquired the San Antonio & Aransas Pass (SA&AP) Railway in
1925 (coincidentally, the same year that the SLB&M came under Missouri Pacific
ownership.) Under the SA&AP's charter, SP began building south from Falfurrias
into the Valley in 1926, reaching Edinburg in early 1927, and continuing to
Brownsville that same year. SP's line to Brownsville passed through Harlingen,
crossing the SLB&M tracks at grade. On September 10, 1928, Tower 138 was
established to control a manual interlocking at this crossing.
Tower 138 may have been the last 'true' 2-story interlocking tower built in
Texas. Although Tower 139 was commissioned three
months later, there is evidence that it had existed well prior to the
formal commissioning. After 1928, improvements in technology and consolidation
of rail networks (and associated line abandonments) reduced the need for
separate manned towers. The fate of the Tower 138 structure is unknown. The
interlocker was decommissioned in 1994.
Tower 138 Historic Photos (both photos courtesy of The
Jernigan Library South Texas Archives,
by R. H. Carlson, February 29, 1944)
Above: Tower
138 was a typical Southern Pacific two-story tower, resembling other SP towers
such as Tower 26. This view is looking west down
the SP tracks toward Edinburg. Below: A view of Tower 138 toward the
northwest. A leaning metal pole mounted in concrete is visible in both photos
between the tower and the crossbuck. Jimmy Barlow notes that the pole has
appendages that look similar to what might be expected for a large swing gate,
but the location is not ideal if this was a gate that protected the crossing
before the tower was built. Since the concrete base does not appear to be
sunk into the ground, perhaps the pole was moved. The size of the pole is
comparable to the swing gate pole at Tower 176.
Tower 138 Location Photos (courtesy of Randy Curlin)
"The Harlingen crossing was first automated with signals to deactivate the
tower. Later it was "simplified" with stop signs in order to deactivate the
signals in the early 1990s. The crossing protected the SP line running from its
Harlingen yard to Edinburg/McAllen and the MP Harlingen-Kingsville line. Post
1975, SP was using the MP line so this crossing saw very light use save for a
couple of locals and yard jobs. The diamonds (MP main and drill-yard lead) were
removed in 1998 to speed up operations in the area. The SP switch job was moved
to the MP yard and a worn out connector track allowed access for the Santa Rosa
sugar mill from the MP yard."
Above: This photo (June, 1998) is looking south toward the MP Harlingen yard.
The main is the left track and the yard lead is the right track. The SP line
crosses
from left (Harlingen) to right (Edinburg). The backs of stop signs are visible
for northbound trains. Tank cars are sitting on the MP-SP interchange tracks.
The
connector track that allows southbound trains to access the SP line for
Brownsville is out of picture to the left. Below: This photo is looking west toward SP Edinburg. The nearest MP track is
the main and then the yard lead. Harlingen is to the south (left) and Kingsville
is to the north (right). It is strange that an SP yard limit sign is so close to
the diamond. Hopper cars are on the MP-SP interchange tracks. June, 1998
Below: UP has begun the removal of the SP line up to the diamonds. Looking
west. Oct 1998
Above: Only the roadbed remains of the former SP line. The MP tracks show
newer rails where the diamond was. Looking west. November, 1998
Below: A similar view from September, 2004 shows that grasses have taken over
the former SP alignment. Looking west.
Map of Tower 138
Below: Union Pacific ultimately obtained ownership of both of the railroads that
crossed at Tower 138. Improvements resulting from the common ownership along
with changing traffic patterns resulted in the elimination of the crossing at
Tower 138, as shown in the north-facing satellite view.
Above: These Google Street
Views from January, 2017 show an equipment cabinet occupying what appears to be
the former location of Tower 138. The left view is facing northwest; the right
view is facing southwest.
