www.txrrhistory.com - Interlocking Tower 79 - Paris, Texas
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Historic Text
The railroad first came to Lamar County in 1875, when the
Texas and Pacific was built through Paris to Texarkana. In 1887
the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway was built through Ladonia
to Paris, to connect with the Texas and Pacific, and in 1888 the
Paris and Great Northern was built from Paris to connect with
the St. Louis and San Francisco Railroad at the Red River. The
final railroad built in Lamar County during the nineteenth century
was the Texas Midland, which connected Paris and Commerce in 1893
and operated until 1975. In 1909 the Paris and Mount Pleasant
Railway was chartered and built; it operated between the two towns
until it was discontinued in 1956. The three original railroads
were still in operation in the mid-1980s, although each carried
less than a million tons of freight annually. Above information
from Handbook
of Texas Online
In late 2005, the only active railroad service to Pairs is from the Kiamichi Railroad using the former rails of the Paris and Great Northern between Hugo, OK and Paris, TX. The Texas and Pacific railroad is abandoned and rails removed east of Paris towards Texarkana. West of Paris to Bonham, TX the rails are still in place but there is no active rail service along this segment of the line. A rural rail district is working to acquire this segment of the line from the Union Pacific. From Bonham to Sherman the line is still in place, but the last active customer on the line in Bonham has discontinued rail service. This segment is operated by the Texas Northeastern/Dallas Garland and Northeastern. South of Paris, the former Santa Fe line to Garland has been removed all the way to Farmersville.
What is interesting is the diamond crossing between the Santa Fe and Texas and Pacific railroads is still in place in 2004!. Neither line is active but both railroads are still in place through the location of Tower 79. Foundation for the tower is still very evident although cedar trees now surround the site. The location of the tower is only accessible by rail or foot. No city streets even come close to the area of interlocker 79. One has to wonder how tower operators got to work during the era when the tower was in service.
Modern Photos Tower 79. Photos by Myron Malone 1/17/2005
Diamond crossing of the Santa Fe and Texas and Pacific railroads. View is looking northeast. Texas and Pacific line passes the line of cedar trees heading toward the T&P depot. Tower 79, if it was still standing, would be just out of view to the right of this image.
View of the foundation of Tower 79 in Paris TX. View is looking south. Steps for entering the tower are on the south side of the foundation.
Image of the foundation looking from the north-west corner of the building.
South side of tower foundation. Steps and pillow blocks for lever connections to switches and signals are still evident in 2005.
Tower foundation is across diamond just behind the short cedar trees in front. If Tower 79 was still standing we would be able to see the west and north faces of the structure. View is looking towards the southeast.
View looking north towards ATSF/SLSF Union Depot which is about 2 miles north of this location. Texas & Pacific line crosses left to right toward T&P Depot. Tower 79 would be just to the right, behind red stop sign.
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