Above: The site of the original crossing of the MoPac's Livonia-Houston
line and SP's Sunset Route is now
referred to as CP (Control
Point) 459. This view is looking east, with the Amtrak station/Tower
74 (new
version) to our back. The foreground track alignment
is that of the SP, whose main continued eastward through
downtown Beaumont. The alignment veering to the right is that of the MoPac
toward GCL Jct. where it joins
the KCS mainline to DeQuincy,
LA. When the MP and SP consolidated their trackage into a double-tracked
joint corridor in the mid-1960's, the SP line was used from the
west end of Beaumont (where MoPac built a
new 1-mile connection to their original line) to Tower 74. The crossing was removed,
and the corridor then
followed the MoPac alignment east through
town. The track diverging to the lower left is a remnant of the
old
MoPac main used to serve a gravel company. The track diverging
to the upper left is remains of the former SP
main, referred
to as the "NO Main", for New Orleans main. The yard
in the distance on the right is the MoPac
downtown yard, and the
track running on the far right is known as the "Roy Jones"
connection, and connects
to SP's yard which lies west (behind
the photographer). The site of the original Tower 74 building
is to the right
just out of the photo. Photo and caption by Ted Ferkenhoff.
Above: This photo was the "new" Tower 74, which unceremoniously
shared a building with the Amtrak waiting
room at Beaumont until
it closed during April 2000. It was replaced by dispatcher control
at Spring, TX. The
windows to the far left are the waiting room,
the windows to the right are the operator's office where the CTC
board, printer, fridge, and sundry other items were located.
The remainder of the building to the right of the
windows was
a room full of relays and other electrical gear. This installation
replaced the original Tower 74
building in the mid-60's when MP and SP consolidated their mainlines into a
single corridor through Beaumont.
Photo and caption by Ted Ferkenhoff.
