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Text by Jim King:
Tower 53 was listed by the Railroad Commission as "South
Ft. Worth (Ney)", and was located at the south end of the
Katy Railroad's Ney Yard. The tower controlled a junction of three
railroads: the MKT (Katy), the Houston & Texas Central (Southern
Pacific), and the Fort Worth & Rio Grande (Frisco). Originally,
the H&TC crossed the Katy at Tower 53, intersected with the
FW&RG, and proceeded north to Polk's Tower (Tower 126) and
downtown Ft. Worth (Tower 55). Eventually, track changes and automatic
interlocking systems eliminated the need for Tower 53. Today,
the Katy and SP lines remain in use by Union Pacific.
The Railroad Commission's records also list the International & Great Northern (I-GN) as having tracks controlled by Tower 53. This is somewhat problematic because there are no known I-GN tracks in the immediate vicinity of Tower 53. However, there is an I-GN/H&TC crossing located 1 mile southeast of the site of Tower 53. In modern times, this is not a grade crossing, but it is possible that in earlier times, there was either a connecting track or a grade crossing at this location that could have been controlled by Tower 53. The precise involvement of the I-GN with Tower 53 remains to be researched.
In 1886 the Fort Worth and New Orleans Railroad was built from Fort Worth east to Waxahachie to connect with the Houston and Texas Central Railway branch which ran from Ennis to Waxahachie. Shortly thereafter, the FW&NO became a part of the H&TC. (Who built 2nd to cause the crossing?) Originally, the crossing was protected by a gate. On July 23, 1904 this crossing was given the designation of Tower 53, to be controlled, maintained, and manned by the MK& T.
As a manned interlocking, Tower 53 had twenty five functions. It served the MK&T, H&TC, I&GN, and FW&RG. The Fort Worth and Rio Grande was official name of the Frisco Lines in North Texas. Apparently, the I&GN track from Fort. Worth south didn't always run out of the I&GN Yard east of Tower 55, but branched off near enough to Tower 53 for it to control the switches of the I&GN.
It continued in operation as a manned tower until retired in 1957-58 and replaced with an automatic interlocking.
On August 8, 1997 the railroad crossing at Tower 53 passed into history. The crossing had been in continuous service for 111 years, being built in 1886. The removal of the crossing will allow Union Pacific trains on the SP Ft. Worth branch to operate via the x-MKT Ney Yard main lines to Tower 55. The BNSF trains will operate south of Tower 55 on the old SP Broadway Yard main line to Allen Street. UP trains will operate south from Tower 55 to Allen Street on the old Santa Fe then from a new connection at the old SP main and switching lead at the south end of Ney Yard.
Additional information on Tower 53 contributed by: Kal Silverberg
Concerning Tower 53, the relocations are a little more complex than what is described above. Here is the narrative as I know it.
The Fort Worth and New Orleans was the last of the three roads into Tower 55 from the south. (I don't have a construction date for the GC&SF south of Tower 55 handy, but the MKT line south of Tower 55 was built in 1881, five years before the FW&NO was constructed.) The only land it could get for a yard was west of the ATSF and MKT at Broadway Street, so it had to cross over both lines to go east. The first crossing with the ATSF was at Polk Street Tower (Polk's), just past the south end of Broadway Street yard. The tracks then went southwest paralleling the ATSF past Main Street, then turned southeast to cross the MKT and the FW&RG connecting track at Tower 53. The former bridges of the tracks over Rosedale Street were labeled with the railroads which built them.
At some later time, most likely due to SP not being able to switch at the yard because ATSF trains were blocking the lead, a track swap was arranged between SP and ATSF. The diamond at Polk's was removed, and the roads swapped tracks. A new diamond was placed underneath the Allen Avenue bridge, and the tracks swapped back. This gave SP more room to switch at the south end of Broadway Yard, and led to the confusing state where ATSF used the SP bridge over Rosedale, and SP used the ATSF bridge. There was a hand throw connection to the MKT from the SP just south of the diamond under Allen Avenue. The new diamond was protected by automatic signals, and to my knowledge was never under control of any tower. Since this diamond and Tower 53 were not interconnected, it was possible for the SP to have a green signal at Tower 53 (once it was automated), a red signal at the new diamond, and if the train was long enough, block the MKT main line until they could pull into Broadway Street Yard.
An aside about the FW&RG being part of Tower 53. There was a connecting track from the Frisco yard at 8th Avenue that turned east at Belt Jct. just past Benbrook Blvd. It paralleled Biddison Street, crossing the ATSF at the south end of Bird's siding, and turned to the north at the MKT tracks just east of Hemphill. It ran into Tower 53, where it connected with the SP and the MKT. During Frisco ownership, it was possible for the MKT, SP, and SLSF to interchange cars without having to go through Tower 55.
The final realignment is correct as noted. The former SP line was swapped back to its original alignment, except that it followed the ATSF alignment from Polk's to Tower 55. The ATSF the followed the SP alignment to Tower 55, thus eliminating the diamonds.
One final note regarding Tower 55. There used to be three north/south
tracks crossing the T&P. The west one was built and maintained
by the SP; the middle one by the ATSF, and the east one by the
MKT. With the mergers, the SP line was removed, leaving only two
north/south tracks through Tower 55.
