www.txrrhistory.com - Interlocking Tower 69 - Celeste, Texas
Celeste was a major railroad crossing for more than a century,
but today sees little traffic. The town was established by the
Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway as it built a line between
Dallas and Paris in 1886. The Santa Fe chose this site to cross
the existing Missouri-Kansas-Texas ('Katy') Railroad line from
Denison to Greenville because officials of the nearby town of
Kingston refused to offer any incentives for the crossing to be
in their community. The Santa Fe line was sold in the 1980's to
the Kiamichi Railroad based in Hugo, Oklahoma. The Kiamichi
serves Paris, TX connecting there with the Santa Fe line.
The Kiamichi operated the line as the Chaparral Railroad with
an operations base in Wolfe City, TX. The ex-Santa Fe line
survived into the 1990s before abandonment and removal for scrap.
The ex-Katy line through Celeste remains in use and is operated
by the Dallas, Garland and Northeastern Railroad.
Historic Photos
Tower 69 - Celeste, TX
A very old photograph showing Tower 69 in Celeste, TX. Photograph
from the Mackie Don Baber
collection, courtesy of Jerry Hunter.
This is an interior photograph of Tower 69. On the back
of this photo is written "Chief White, Celeste RR Tower".
Photograph from the Mackie Don Baber collection, courtesy of Jerry
Hunter.
Modern Photos Tower 69
Facing northeast along the abandoned Santa Fe right-of-way, the
former Katy railroad crosses the at the location of the diamond
at Tower 69 in Celeste. The automatic interlocker cabinet,
which replaced the tower, remains standing at left. The
foundation of the former tower is located to the right. Photo
by Jim King.
The remainder of the foundation of Tower 69 is shown here. Location
is the southeast quadrant of the interlocker. Right of way
visible beyond the foundation is the abandoned ATSF. Photo
by Myron Malone.
Looking north on the former MKT at the site of the crossing. The
automatic interlocker cabinet still stands watch for a crossing
which is no longer in existence. The actual diamond was
discarded along the tracks, now covered by weeds.
Location Map Tower 69
Map by Jim King.
