This was an unusual combination depot and interlocking tower. Photo taken Jan 1, 1935 by H. F. Spivey and provided courtesy of the Santa Fe Railway Historical and Modeling Society.
Additional photo of Tower 50 and the station at Morgan, TX from the collection of Mark Nerren. Compare the construction details of the station in both photos. It is hard to tell, but this appears to be an "L" shaped building with the tower at the corner of the "L". Each end of the station seems to have different construction methods. Is this really the same location in both photos?
The town of Morgan, 40 miles northwest of Waco, was founded
in 1879 in anticipation of the arrival of the Texas Central Railroad.
But it was the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway that arrived
first, in 1881, as the railroad built from Temple to Ft. Worth.
The town was named for Thomas Morgan, a Santa Fe official. The
Texas Central Railroad, building to Albany from Waco, passed through
Morgan in 1882, crossing the GCSF Ry at grade. The service provided
by two railroads made Morgan a commercial center for this part
of Bosque County, but the rural environment was mostly suited
to large ranches and small populations. Morgan's population was
never very large and it declined after the turn of the century,
remaining largely static since then. The Katy Railroad acquired
the Texas Central line in 1914 and continued to operate it until
the line was abandoned in 1967. Today, the former GCSF rail line
is a main north/south route for BNSF.
