Above: This image was cropped from a photo taken by R. D. Evans, March 8, 1956
as it appears in Texas & New Orleans Color Pictorial by Steve Allen Goen,
Four Ways West Publications, 2004; used with permission
Crossing of the Texas & New Orleans (T&NO) Railroad [Southern Pacific] and the Gulf, Beaumont and Kansas City (GB&KC) Railway [Santa Fe]
Above: This image was cropped from a photo taken by R. D. Evans, March 8, 1956
as it appears in Texas & New Orleans Color Pictorial by Steve Allen Goen,
Four Ways West Publications, 2004; used with permission
Location of the Tower 32 crossing in Beaumont as seen in August, 2004 (photo by
Jim King)
Tower 32 shows up on the 1929 Sanborn Fire Insurance map of Beaumont. From this map (below), we can see that in addition to the main Santa Fe north/south track, there was also a north/south T&NO track that crossed the east/west T&NO main at Tower 32 (small square at bottom center of map). Magnification (second below) confirms that Tower 32 was a 2-story structure with an outer staircase on the north side of the building.
Historic Map, Tower 32
Observations by Gary Williams:
The diamond at Tower32 was removed December 14th, 1998. This
crossing of the old T&NO and the Sabine
& East Texas had been there since before the War Between
the States. In more recent times it was a gate controlled crossing.
The track that was the the main to New Orleans had become
an industry track. The S&ET track connects to the Santa Fe.
This is the route used by Santa Fe trackage rights trains going
to New Orleans. The old foundation of Tower 32 is still
there. It is located between this track and the abandoned
Santa Fe (even older Gulf,
Beaumont, and Kansas City of John Henry Kirby) track that
went to the downtown depot on the corner of Neches St. and Crockett
St.
Tower 32 Location Satellite Image
Tower 32 Location Map
The map above depicts the historical locations of the main rail lines and
junctions in the Beaumont area, some of which are no longer in service.
Legend: Yellow => Missouri Pacific (MP), Blue => Southern Pacific (SP), Purple
=> Kansas City Southern (KCS), Green => Santa Fe (GCSF)
