Crossing of the Texas & Pacific Railway and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway
Tower 22 was located east of downtown Dallas at a crossing of the Texas &
Pacific (T&P) and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (GC&SF) railroads. The T&P line
was the original main built into Dallas from the east in 1873. The Santa Fe line
traces its roots to 1880 when the Dallas, Cleburne & Rio Grande Railroad
completed a narrow gauge railroad between Dallas and Cleburne. The new line was
immediately abandoned upon completion, and the assets were acquired by the newly
chartered Chicago, Texas and Mexican Central Railway. GC&SF acquired the line in
1882 and completed the conversion to standard gauge. Tower 22 was established in
1903 and undoubtedly saw significant traffic. Within a decade, Dallas' growth
resulted in a plan to build bypass tracks to reduce congestion through downtown.
This eventually resulted in the T&P main being abandoned along Pacific Ave
in the late 1920s, with
the former main becoming an industrial spur. Main line T&P traffic was routed
south of downtown via the Dallas Belt Line past Towers 106,
107, 118 and
119. The T&P abandonment allowed Santa Fe to propose closing Tower 22, and
its interlocker controls were combined with those of
Tower 10 sometime prior to 1961. Tower 10's controls were transferred to
Tower 19 in 1933, but it is not known whether this
transfer also included Tower 22's controls.
The Santa Fe line remained viable into the 1990s before it was abandoned. The
former Santa Fe yard southwest of Tower 22 became the maintenance yard for the
Dallas Area Rapid Transit (DART) light rail system. For many years, the T&P line
was out
of service west of the Age of Steam Railroad Museum at Fair Park
although the tracks remained in place. This has now changed as DART is using a
portion of the T&P right-of-way to construct a light rail
line to southeast Dallas. The line will pass the site of Tower
22 and then turn south along the front of Fair Park before resuming eastward
progress along the former Texas Trunk (Southern Pacific) right-of-way south of
the park.
1930 Aerial Photo, Tower 22
In October 1930, Sherman Mills Fairchild took 93 aerial photographs
of
Dallas and
surrounding
areas commissioned by the City of Dallas,
now available on-line
from
Southern Methodist University. This magnified
image shows the vicinity of Tower 22.
The poor resolution and mix of shadows makes positive identification of the
actual
tower structure difficult.
Looking northeast down the Santa Fe right-of-way, the T&P
tracks are barely visible at the rear
of the building to the right.
Tower 22 would have been visible just behind the trees on
the left.
Above: Tower 22's location in the northwest quadrant of the crossing
is shown on this 1905 Sanborn Fire Insurance map.
Under magnification, the printing in the rectangle depicting the
tower says "Switch Tower, 2" (indicating a 2-story structure).
Below: The Tower 22 crossing is under construction for the DART light rail line
to southeast Dallas. The T&P ROW crosses
the image horizontally and will have tracks; the Santa Fe ROW is being used for
construction vehicle access.
