Texas Railroad History - Towers 158 and 215 - Placedo and Bloomington

Two Crossings of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico Railway Southeast of Victoria

Above: Rail executive John W Barriger III took this photo of the crossing in Placedo from the rear platform of his business car as his train sped south toward Harlingen on tracks of the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico (SLB&M) Railway. Barriger's view is to the northeast toward Blessing and Bay City during a trip most likely taken in the mid to late 1930s. His car has just passed the SLB&M depot and crossed over tracks of the Texas & New Orleans (T&NO) Railroad, a Southern Pacific (SP) subsidiary. The tracks had transitioned to T&NO ownership when another SP subsidiary, the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway, was folded into the T&NO by lease (1927) and merger (1934.) From Placedo, SP's line ran to Victoria (left) and Port Lavaca (right). The SP depot can be seen trackside northwest (left) of the SLB&M depot. Both depots appear to be boarded up, for unknown reasons, perhaps an approaching tropical storm. The tall pole to the right of the crossing was a gatepost that had been used during an earlier time when the crossing was gated. (John W Barriger III National Railroad Library)

Left: A 1919 Employee Timetable (ETT) issued for the GH&SA by the U. S. Railroad Administration (which exercised Federal control of the railroads during World War I) incorporates this passage to explain the presence of gates at non-interlocked crossings (which in 1919 included Placedo) and how the gates should be operated.

Despite the difference in spelling, the town of Placedo was named for Placido Benavides, a Mexican citizen and area rancher who had a prominent role in resisting Mexican forces during the early stages of the Texas Revolution. The community predated the arrival of the railroad just as the Civil War began. The charter for the San Antonio and Mexican Gulf (SA&MG) Railroad had been issued ten years before the War when citizens of Port Lavaca decided to grapple with the difficulty of moving freight between their port and the population centers further inland. With an immediate objective of reaching Victoria, the first five miles out of Port Lavaca was completed in either 1857 or 1858. The remaining 23 miles to Victoria was opened in 1861. The SA&MG did not survive the War intact, but it was rebuilt by the Federal government afterward. When the construction debt owed to the government could not be repaid, the line went into bankruptcy and was sold at auction to Charles Morgan in 1870.

Below Left: After taking the photo in Placedo, Barriger passed through Bloomington, five miles farther south. But if he photographed the crossing there, it has not been published by the John W Barriger III National Railroad Library. Ken Stavinoha provides this undated photo of the SLB&M depot in Bloomington (photographer unknown.) Below Right: An 1870 edition of the American Railroad Journal published an advertisement for the public auction of the SA&MG's assets. Note that the sale includes "1 Worthless lot of Blacksmiths Tools".

Charles Morgan operated a steamship line into the port of Indianola, near Port Lavaca, and he also purchased the 15-mile Indianola Railroad that ran from Indianola to a connection with the SA&MG at Clark's Station, about six miles out of Port Lavaca. Morgan renamed his combined railroad the Gulf, Western Texas & Pacific (GWT&P) Railroad. In 1873, he extended the tracks from Victoria north to Cuero, planning to continue to San Antonio. But major hurricanes in September, 1875 and August, 1886, inflicted severe damage on the GWT&P, both physically and financially. The Indianola branch was abandoned, but the Port Lavaca line was repaired; service to Cuero resumed in 1887. Southern Pacific (SP) gained control of the GWT&P in 1882, a result of the settlement of Morgan's estate after his death in 1878. In 1905, SP merged the GWT&P into the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway, a major SP subsidiary operating in south Texas between El Paso and Houston.

Left: SP's 1885 Annual Report notes that it had begun to operate the rail line from Victoria to Indianola, but mistakenly conflates two separate activities: 1) acquisition of the New York, Texas & Mexican (NYT&M) Railway and its 92-mile main line between Rosenberg and Victoria, and 2) lease of the GWT&P line from Victoria to Indianola, which was listed elsewhere as a separate 66-mile operation in a table of SP's Atlantic System mileage. Only a few months after this Report was published, the great hurricane of August 20, 1886 would wipe out the town of Indianola, which was abandoned. The GWT&P was then rebuilt into Port Lavaca from Clark's Station using the original grade which had been abandoned after the 1875 hurricane.

The second railroad into Placedo was the St. Louis, Brownsville & Mexico (SLB&M) Railway. The SLB&M was the first of the Gulf Coast Lines (GCL), a marketing term applied to a group of railroads backed financially by the St. Louis Trust Company and managed cooperatively by the St. Louis & San Francisco ("Frisco") Railroad. The Frisco's Chairman, B. F. Yoakum, was a native Texan and long time Texas railroader. It was his idea to create the GCL to build or buy railroads and weave them into a system to compete directly with SP between Houston and New Orleans. Yoakum elected to do this off the Frisco's books, engaging the St. Louis Trust Co. to manage a financial syndicate and employing Frisco executives to direct operations of the various GCL railroads. In 1903, Yoakum expanded his GCL concept when he announced plans for the first GCL railroad, the newly chartered SLB&M. It would build the first line into the Lower Rio Grande Valley, which did not yet have a connection to the national rail network.

Yoakum installed his former boss, Uriah Lott, as SLB&M President. Lott had been the founder, promoter and President of the San Antonio & Aransas Pass (SA&AP) Railway, and he had hired Yoakum in 1886 to be SA&AP's traffic manager. Lott was so enamored with the young Yoakum's skills that he named the town of Yoakum for him. By 1889, Yoakum had risen into SA&AP's senior executive ranks as General Manager. He then became one of two court-appointed Receivers assigned to oversee SA&AP's bankruptcy, which commenced in July, 1890 and ended two years later. After his service as Receiver, Yoakum took an executive position with the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (GC&SF) Railway and then moved on to the Frisco in 1897. As Yoakum was rising in the railroad world, Uriah Lott was mostly spinning his wheels. His passion was building railroads; he'd built two of them successfully. Prior to building the SA&AP, Lott had built the Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande (CCSD&RG) Narrow Gauge Railroad which later became known as the Texas Mexican (TexMex) Railway. In the summer of 1902, Lott traveled to St. Louis to convince Yoakum to build to the Valley. Yoakum was initially dismissive, but he sent Lott back to Texas to run a new survey. In early 1903, the news became public; Yoakum was planning a Brownsville - Houston line.

Construction commenced south from Robstown in August, 1903, and the line to Brownsville was finished in June, 1904. Yoakum's ultimate goal was a line to Houston, so construction resumed north from Robstown in 1905, passing through Placedo in 1906. A 1901 state law had authorized the Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT) to require interlocker installations at busy rail crossings, but RCT did not issue an order for the Placedo crossing. Instead, a crossing gate was installed, probably as soon as the SLB&M had crossed SP's tracks. The railroads may have been able to convince RCT that a gate was a satisfactory safety measure because the crossing was very close to both depots. Since virtually all trains were stopping at the depot anyway, there was negligible delay in also stopping for the adjacent crossing as required by state law for non-interlocked crossings. Interlockers were designed to allow trains to maintain speed over the diamond, but trains stopping at nearby depots weren't operating at track speed.

The SLB&M completed its northward construction as far as Algoa, 25 miles south of Houston, in 1906. Algoa was on Santa Fe's main line between Galveston and Temple, and a nearby Santa Fe branch from Alvin served downtown Houston. The Galveston Tribune of March 12, 1906 reported that the first SLB&M train to Galveston from Brownsville would be arriving later that day. This was, however, a one time special train, not the start of regular service. The SLB&M had already determined that the grade, ballast and bridge construction between Bay City and Algoa -- a sixty-mile stretch through the Brazos River bottomlands -- was insufficiently engineered to withstand the rainy season. Significant drainage mitigation and track reconstruction projects had to be undertaken. Another special excursion train ran from Brownsville to Galveston on August 14, 1907, seventeen months after the first one (it had been so long that newspapers reported it as "the first train", completely forgetting the earlier one!) The August excursion was a precursor to regular service between Brownsville and Algoa. On September 9, 1907, the SLB&M announced a regular schedule between Bay City and Algoa, indicating that the track construction and drainage problems had been solved. The schedule was subsequently revised out of Brownsville to match the Bay City schedule, enabling single train service between Brownsville and Algoa. Passengers continued their journey by switching to (or from) Santa Fe trains at Algoa. About six months later, Yoakum was able to negotiate rights for the SLB&M to use Santa Fe's tracks from Algoa to Houston. Right: The Brownsville Daily Herald of April 13, 1908 reported that the SLB&M's Brownsville - Houston passenger service would commence on April 19.

Five miles southwest of Placedo, the SLB&M built a station in 1906 at a settlement known as Bloomington, named for the town in Illinois which was the former home of nearby landowners. A Post Office opened in 1907. Bloomington was formally platted in 1910 (as was Placedo) the same year the SLB&M built a 38-mile branch from Bloomington to Port O'Connor. This construction was the culmination of a long effort to build rails to the coast southeast of Victoria, an idea first proposed in the mid 1890s by T. M. O'Connor, a wealthy Victoria cattle rancher. O'Connor owned 75,000 acres along the coast south of Indianola that he wanted to develop into a hunting and fishing resort. Roads were non-existent; O'Connor wanted rail service and he was willing to invest. A syndicate of bankers and cattlemen in Victoria was formed to charter a railroad from Victoria to Port O'Connor, the new name for the planned endpoint of the railroad. Supplies brought in by barge enabled an office building to be built in Port O'Connor along with a half-mile trestle into the bay to off-load rail materials to be brought in by ship. The plan turned out to be too ambitious and poorly managed. Grading was performed, but the funds dried up and the project came to a standstill around 1901.

Several years later, another group acquired the unfinished grade and set out to lay rails to Victoria. Despite spending $100,000 to repair the grade, only one mile of track was actually laid and the project was abandoned. In 1909, Yoakum accepted an offer of $70,000 to be paid over ten years for construction of a line from Victoria to Port O'Connor. Yoakum directed the SLB&M to survey a different route with Bloomington as the starting point. The line would run southeast to Seadrift and then due east to Port O'Connor. Tracks reached Port O'Connor the following year. From Bloomington to Victoria, the tracks were laid in 1912, finally giving T. M. O'Connor the railroad he had envisioned twenty years earlier. Unfortunately, he did not live to see it, having died in 1910.

Right:  The February 21, 1908 edition of The Railway Age had this news item regarding the planned reconstruction of the abandoned grade between Port O'Connor and Victoria. The investors chartered their ambitious plan as the Port O'Connor, Rio Grande & Northern Railway, but like many such grandiose endeavors, this one also failed. The reference to "...considerable grading had been done before the suspension of the work." points to the original work in the late 1890s by T. M. O'Connor's investment group. In his 1941 tome, A History of the Texas Railroads, the dean of Texas railroad historians, S. G. Reed, states that the original grading work had been completed all the way to Hallettsville! That's an enormous distance to grade without laying rail (because without rail, work locomotives could not be used to support the effort.) Yet, despite the existing grade and the expertise of Chief Engineer L. A. Gueringer (who later became Chief Engineer of the Railroad Commission of Texas) only a single mile of track was laid.

Left:  This map depicts the lines southeast of Victoria (not all rail lines shown.) Parallel lines to Victoria through Placedo and Bloomington have survived to the present despite never being farther than five miles apart. Both are now owned by Union Pacific (UP.) SP's lines in this area were built by a mix of different companies. They were eventually incorporated into the GH&SA which was later merged into the T&NO. The T&NO operated until late 1961 when it was dissolved and merged into SP. SP was acquired and merged by UP in 1996. The SLB&M and the other GCL railroads were sold to the Frisco by the St. Louis Trust Co. in 1910. When the Frisco entered receivership in 1913, the bankruptcy judge separated the GCL railroads from the Frisco -- they were profitable on their own -- and consolidated them under a new corporation headed by the New Orleans, Texas & Mexico (NOT&M) Railroad, for which an updated charter was granted by the State of Louisiana. In 1915, the SLB&M built a 17-mile branch from Heyser to Tivoli and Austwell to reach a large cotton farming area. The Austwell branch was abandoned in 1959. The NOT&M was acquired by Missouri Pacific (MP) in 1925, including all of the GCL railroads. In 1933, MP ceased service to Port O'Connor. Its population was only 300 and area farmers had begun using roads as the primary option for moving their products. Livestock shipping by rail was still good business, and the main loading point was at Lela Pens, a couple of miles east of Seadrift. Lela Pens remained the terminus of the Port O'Connor branch until MP abandoned the track south of Long Mott in 1969. MP was acquired by UP in 1982.

Long Mott is the site of a major chemical plant, originally a Union Carbide Corp. (UCC) facility and now owned by Dow Chemical. The plant continues to produce chemicals and plastics for consumer products. The track from Bloomington runs along the west edge of the facility, but the size of the plant and the volume of materials shipped in and out motivated the addition of tracks on the east side of the plant. In 2003, a lengthy spur was built to connect those tracks to the former SP line at Kamey near Clark's Station. This appears to have been the impetus for adding a new connector at Placedo to allow movements to (northbound) and from (southbound) the main line to Algoa. As Bill Veerkamp explains, the UP / SP merger in 1996 provided both Kansas City Southern (KCS) and Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF) with trackage rights on UP rails and affected service to the chemical plant...

At the time of the UP/SP merger, there were many conditions that the US Surface Transportation Board placed on the merger based on comments from other concerned parties... and for the spur to the former UCC facility there were conditions that both BNSF and UCC received. Among many other trackage rights, BNSF and KCS got rights over UP lines down to the valley. BNSF got (and uses) rights on the UP, Algoa to Placedo to Robstown. ... Also in the merger, UCC was granted the ability to have a second spur built to the facility ... and BNSF was given the ability to get trackage rights over the Port Lavaca branch. Dow purchased UCC, with the merger closing on 6 Feb 2001. The STB formally granted BNSF trackage rights from Placedo to Kamey on 6 Mar 2003. The spur went into service on Friday, 11 July 2003.

As steam locomotives began to operate over longer distances at higher speeds, trains were able to bypass Placedo. The rules noted earlier in the 1919 GH&SA ETT ("All trains must make the usual stops as required by law, regardless of position of the gates.") changed in the 1920s to authorize trains to slow to a restricted speed when approaching gated crossings, slow enough that they could come to a complete stop before reaching the diamond if they saw that the gate was positioned against them. Trains could otherwise continue over the diamond without stopping. This was certainly better than coming to a complete stop every time, but still not ideal on busier routes. The traffic levels on the SLB&M coupled with infrequent traffic on SP's Victoria - Port O'Connor branch motivated MP to request RCT approval to install a cabin interlocker at Placedo. On April 22, 1928, RCT responded to MP's request by assigning the Placedo interlocker as Tower 158. The plan was for a 10-function mechanical interlocker with controls located inside the SLB&M depot, which sat at the northwest corner of the crossing.

Cabin interlockers were unmanned trackside huts that housed an interlocker and its controls; sometimes a nearby depot was used instead of a cabin. Such interlockers were popular for crossings where the nature of the traffic mix would leave operators with nothing to do most of the time. Cabin interlockers were normally employed where a busy line (here, the SLB&M) crossed a lightly used line (SP). The controls were always positioned to allow unrestricted movement on the busier line. All approaching trains on the less busy line stopped at the diamond so that a crewmember could enter the cabin (or in this case, the SLB&M depot) to set the signals to allow his train to proceed over the diamond while simultaneously presenting a STOP signal in both directions on the busier line. The crewmember would then reset the controls when his train's crossing was complete. Thus, SLB&M trains heading into Placedo would only see STOP signals if they happened to approach the crossing while SP was using it. The STOP indication would appear on the distant signal, far enough from the crossing that the SLB&M train would have time to make a complete stop. During regular day shifts, the interlocker controls may have been operated by authorized depot staff instead of train crewmembers.

MP sought to interlock all of the SLB&M "cabin-eligible" crossings in 1929. Beginning January 3, 1929 with Tower 145 at Edinburg, RCT commissioned all nine of the cabin interlockers the SLB&M would ever have. Tower 158 was the last to become operational, on October 1, 1929. The others were at Edcouch, Lantana, Alsonia, Rosita, Angleton, Allenhurst and Blessing. Tower 158's interlocking plant had four levers for signals, four levers for derails, two levers for facing point locks, and two spare levers. RCT records maintained at DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University, indicate that changes were made to the interlocker on September 26, 1941 and January 11, 1952. Right: MP's GCL ETT dated 1-1-1955 shows that by then (and likely earlier) Placedo's crossing was controlled remotely by operators at an office in Vanderbilt, sixteen miles north of Placedo.

Left: The east quadrant connector (built c.2003) at Placedo enabled traffic accessing the new Dow spur to connect with the UP main line to the north. The Victoria - Port Lavaca "straight through" track was removed, and the new track crossed over that right-of-way (ROW) and curved back to rejoin the original track alignment about 2,300 ft. southeast of Commerce St. This approach avoided relocation of businesses and a Post Office had a connector been built entirely east of the ROW. The west connector, dating to at least 1929, is used by KCS trackage rights trains. Both depots were gone by 1957; their locations are marked with "D" near the Tower 158 crossing. (Google Earth, January 2017) Below: Looking northwest from south of Placedo along the original Port Lavaca track alignment, the tracks abruptly curve west (left) to begin the long sweeping curve back to the northeast to join the main line to Algoa. (Google Street View, May, 2023)

 Bloomington was not included among the locations where SLB&M cabin interlockers were installed in 1929 because both lines at Bloomington were owned by the SLB&M. The prevailing view among Texas railroads was that they each had the authority to de-conflict their own crossings in whatever manner they wished, i.e. RCT approval of the crossing mode (grade or grade-separated) and equipment (interlocking plant, gate) was only required for crossings that involved two different railroads. This understanding began to change when RCT insisted that new interlockers for rail yards be approved (see Tower 116, Tower 121) even though only a single railroad was typically involved. At Canyon, where Santa Fe did not seek RCT approval for an interlocker that involved no other railroad, RCT asserted its authority by forcing Santa Fe to seek approval, which was quickly granted in late 1927.

Left: This 1929 aerial image of the Bloomington crossing fails to reveal any obvious evidence that MP had installed safety controls for the crossing of the two MP (SLB&M) lines. Right: By 1957, there was some kind of cabin or equipment cabinet (tall enough to cast a shadow) located adjacent to the Bloomington diamond. If it pertained to safety controls for the grade crossing, it had not been incorporated into RCT's interlocker numbering system. Sometime around 1966, MP decided to install an automatic interlocker to protect the Bloomington crossing. They sought and received approval from RCT, and the interlocker became known as Tower 215, the last numbered interlocker in Texas. Today, there are connecting tracks at Bloomington in all of the quadrants except the south. The "straight through" track from Long Mott to Victoria is no longer intact, hence the diamond and the interlocker are also gone.

Certainly by the 1930s, RCT had begun to perceive that its role in approving and managing interlockers wouldn't last much longer. What made regulatory sense in 1902 no longer applied given the massive changes that had occurred in the railroad industry. In particular, the Transportation Act of 1920 granted authority to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) to regulate all aspects of interstate railroading. Because of rate agreements between railroads that applied nationwide, virtually every railroad in Texas was considered an interstate operator. In the early 1920s, the Texas railroads began to apply to the ICC for approval of railroad company acquisitions, construction projects to build new routes (e.g. see the story of the Quanah, Acme & Pacific Railway) and proposals to abandon existing rail lines. RCT had a legal showdown with the ICC in 1925 over SP's proposed acquisition of the SA&AP, which RCT vigorously opposed. RCT lost.

Texas railroads began seeking ICC permission to install, modify or remove signal, switch and derail components, completely bypassing RCT. In some cases, railroads supplied RCT with a courtesy notice about changes that were being implemented under ICC authority. It appears that as RCT's role in regulating Texas railroads began to shrink in the 1920s, RCT fought back by claiming authority that probably exceeded state law. RCT's insistence on managing all interlockers -- including yard interlockers and single-railroad junctions, both arguably outside of its jurisdiction -- may have been a reaction to the reduced workload of its railroad engineering staff. Had RCT's role not declined, maintaining the engineering staff resources and expertise to review and manage sophisticated remote control systems for switching, communications and signaling would have overwhelmed such a limited-budget state agency. With ICC's expanded authority along with Federal safety requirements that all interstate railroads had to meet, RCT's crossing safety management regime was providing very little value to Texas railroads.

Simultaneous with the rise of ICC authority over Texas railroading, RCT's authority over the Texas oil and gas industry had begun to dominate its regulatory focus, just as petroleum engineers had come to dominate its workforce. As the railroad engineering staff dwindled, the petroleum engineering staff ballooned. RCT's limited role in managing interlockers ceased in 1966, and their final approval was issued for Tower 215 at Bloomington. Every few years, there are bills introduced in the Texas Legislature to rename the Railroad Commission since it no longer manages railroads to any noticeable extent.

Above Left: Since the Port Lavaca branch "straight through" track segment was removed when the east quadrant connector was built, the track in this view is no longer the east "connector"; it is the Port Lavaca branch coming off the UP main line at Placedo. Just before crossing the highway, it passes over the original SP ROW to Port Lavaca (left) and Victoria (right). (Google Street View, May 2011) Above Right: This view looks to the northwest along the SP ROW to Victoria. The start of the Port Lavaca branch is in the foregound. The SLB&M depot was in the grassy area beyond the tracks at right, with the SP depot further beyond. (Google Street View, May 2011)

In the mid 1990s, KCS acquired 49% of TexMex which has a single main line between Corpus Christi and Laredo via Robstown. The TexMex majority owner was the Mexican transportation conglomerate Transportación Maritima Mexicana (TMM) which interchanged with TexMex over the international rail bridge at Laredo. KCS' nearest service point to Robstown was at Beaumont, so KCS sought trackage rights on UP between Beaumont and Robstown. The rights were granted as a requirement of the UP / SP merger in 1996. KCS' route from Beaumont went west through Houston to Flatonia and then turned south through Cuero and Victoria to Placedo. UP's former MP (SLB&M) tracks covered the remaining 83 miles from Placedo to the TexMex connection at Robstown. In 2005, KCS acquired the remaining interest in the TexMex, making it a wholly-owned subsidiary.

KCS also purchased an abandoned SP ROW between Rosenberg and Victoria, effectively the endpoints of the hypotenuse of a right triangle with Flatonia. KCS planned to build a new line on the ROW, but it was delayed for various legal and economic reasons. In 2009, KCS finally opened new tracks on the former SP ROW, significantly shortening the time and distance between Rosenberg and Victoria compared to the UP trackage rights route via Flatonia. KCS now exercises rights on UP's lines between Robstown and Victoria, and between Rosenberg and Beaumont, where the KCS main line goes north to Kansas City. In 2023, KCS merged with Canadian Pacific, the new company being named CPKC.

Below Left: Looking south down the SP ROW from Placedo toward Port Lavaca, the gap in the trees far in the distance indicates the precise alignment of the tracks. Tracks are not visible in the foreground because they were removed when the new east quadrant connector was built. The new track rejoins the tracks to Port Lavaca about 2,000 ft. from the camera. (Google Street View, May 2011) Below Right: With about 850 ft. of the original track at Placedo removed northwest of the diamond, the tracks coming southeast from Victoria now curve southwest on the original connector alignment to reach UP's main line toward Bloomington. This is the trackage rights route for CPKC trains between Victoria and Robstown. (Jim King photo, c.2006)

Above Left: In 2006 at Placedo, UP identified the branch connection to the main line as "Port Lavaca Jct." The signs are no longer present. (Jim King, photo) Above Right: In this undated photo, an SP train from Victoria curves southwest at Placedo to join the main line toward Bloomington. Note in the distance that the crossing diamond was still intact. (photo by Leonard Ruback)

Below Left: Facing southeast at Bloomington, the branch line from Victoria connects to the UP main line in both directions. (Jim King photo 2006) Below Right: Facing northwest at Bloomington, the branch from Long Mott curves to the north onto the UP main line. (Jim King photo 2006)
   

Left: Although Lela Pens was the terminus of the Port O'Connor branch for decades, it doesn't appear on maps and is not listed in the Domestic Names database maintained by USGS. But Google Street View shows that it exists as a red barn along Hwy 185 about two miles east of Seadrift. The flyer posted to the gate identifies Lela Pens as stop #22 on the historical tour of Seadrift published in a 2016 Calhoun County visitor's guide. The guide explains that the barn was built in 1907 by a local ranching family and the site became the area loading point for livestock shipments by rail. The tracks were located in the foreground between the highway and the barn. (Google Street View, 2016) Street View shows that as of April, 2023, the building remains standing, but the flyer atop the gate is no longer present.

 
Last Revised: 12/20/2025 JGK - Contact the Texas Interlocking Towers Website