Junction of the Galveston, Houston & Henderson (GH&H)
Railroad, Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway,
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (GC&SF) Railway, Galveston - Houston Electric
(GHE) Railway,
and the Gulf Intra-Coastal Waterway
Galveston Island was a major port and economic center in 19th century Texas, so it is not surprising that railroads sought to provide service to the island. The first railroad bridge was completed in 1860, and additional rail bridges were built in 1875 and 1896. When a hurricane struck Galveston in September, 1900, two of the three railroad bridges onto the island were destroyed. The Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway bridge survived and proved to be a critical asset in the rebuilding of Galveston. In 1911, a reinforced concrete 2-mile causeway opened between the island and Virginia Point on the mainland providing a bridge for both railroads and highway vehicles. Since the causeway tracks were shared by several railroad companies, interlocking towers had to be located at each end of the causeway to manage access to the bridge. And because the causeway was not significantly elevated above the surface of the waterway, a lift section was incorporated into the railroad bridge to enable maritime traffic to pass. This required an additional interlocker in the middle of the causeway to manage the lift bridge controls and related approach signals and safety devices for the railroads.
The three interlocking towers associated with the Galveston Island Causeway
were numbered Towers 96, 97 and 98 by the Railroad Commission of Texas
(RCT). According to the Annual Reports of the RCT, all three towers officially
controlled junctions of the same four railroads: the Galveston, Houston &
Henderson (GH&H) Railroad, the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (GC&SF) Railway, the
Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway, and the "Interurban", which
was actually the Galveston - Houston Electric Railway. The "Interurban" was
dropped from the list beginning with the 1924 RCT Annual Report and there was a
corresponding decrease in the number of functions listed for each of the
interlockers. Since the Galveston - Houston Electric Railway remained in service
until 1936, the reason for this change is unclear.
Tower 96 (Island - Causeway)
RCT reports list the location of Tower 96 as "Island - Causeway". Although the
name "Island" could be assumed to result from Tower 96 being located on
Galveston Island where the causeway came ashore, Island was actually the name of
a small community on the peninsula of land between Offatts Bayou and Galveston
Bay. Island had its own school and retained a separate identity until eventually
being consumed by the growth of the city of Galveston. Tower 96 was built on the
peninsula at Island and authorized
for service on September 6, 1912 with a 67-function electrical interlocker. The 1930 Annual Report lists Tower 96 as no
longer in service, having been "consolidated with No. 97" sometime during 1929.
At the time of its decommissioning, the number of interlocker functions had
dropped to 61, and the "Interurban" was no longer listed as one of the
interlocked railroads.
Despite losing the interlocker function, the Tower 96 structure remained
standing for many decades, perhaps in use by the railroads for storage or some
other purpose, but has since been razed.
Historic Photos of Tower 96
Above: Two photos of Tower 96 showing the north side (left photo) and northwest
corner (right photo) of the tower. Note the small phone shanty located behind
(south of) the tower.
[Photos from the Galveston Railroad Museum collection]
Tower 97 (Lift Bridge - Causeway)
Tower 97's location was listed in RCT reports as "Lift Bridge - Causeway",
authorized for operation on October 23, 1912 as a 34-function electrical
interlocker. This interlocker was located adjacent to the lift bridge in the
middle of the causeway. It provided the safety system for the lift bridge by
arbitrating access between the railroads and maritime traffic. The original Tower 97
structure was eventually replaced with a modern building which continues today
controlling the lift bridge, derails, and signal lights and switches on both
approaches to the bridge. The recent retirement of Tower 17 in Rosenberg leaves
Tower 97 as the last manned interlocking tower in Texas.
Photos of Tower 97
Above: The photo at left, taken by Don Harper, shows the two Tower 97
structures at the lift bridge. The left structure is the earlier Tower 97 building;
the right structure is the current Tower 97 building that was constructed when
the lift bridge was replaced. The photo at right, taken by Daniel Walford, is a
close-up of the older Tower 97 structure, now abandoned. This is presumably the
original structure commissioned in 1912.
Message from Don Harper, 9/3/2002:
The tower at the causeway bridge IS an interlocking tower.
I watched while signals and switches were aligned several times.
All pushbutton operation. I did learn that the present bridge
is scheduled to be replaced by a vertical lift bridge by 2007.
Not sure what the advantage of that move is, as it has to be expensive,
and the current bridge is only about 13 years old. The tower is noisy. There are at least 3 radios in there, one
BNSF, one UP, and one on channel 16 for boat traffic. The operator
was kept hopping much of the time I was there. Several vessels
passed through, the Gulfliner went through 3 times and a BNSF
outbound passed by. ...An interesting sideline: the tower operator records the names
of tow boats passing the tower, what their load is, and the direction
they are heading...at the request of the Coast Guard. If a
vessel is reported missing or sinking, the Coast Guard has a general frame
of reference as to where the vessel might be.
Message from Don Harper, 9/13/2002
On page B8 of this morning's Galveston County Daily News is
an article entitled " Railroad causeway due for work."
The article says that the causeway, built in 1909, has a 110 foot
opening to allow passage of vessel traffic using the Gulf Intra-Coastal
Waterway. The plan is to widen the opening to 250 to 300 feet. Maybe that is why a new vertical lift bridge is being planned.
There must be some limit to the length of a bascule bridge after
which the bridge would buckle as it was in a near horizontal position
during lifting or dropping. The cost of this widening project is $33.3 million.
...Something I did not know - the County owns the bridge, but under
agreements between all interested parties, the railroads pay 80%
of maintenance costs of the draw bridge and 66% of the causeway
bridge.
Tower 98 (Virginia Point - Causeway)
Tower 98 was a 71-function electric-pneumatic interlocker located at Virginia
Point at the mainland end of the causeway. It was commissioned for operation on
October 14, 1912 and decommissioned in 1929 when its interlocking functions were
transferred to Tower 97. Virginia Point dates back to at least 1840 when a
community was organized at the site of a ferry operation. The GH&H railroad
began construction at Virginia Point, building north to Houston by 1859 and
completing the first railroad bridge to Galveston in 1860. Virginia Point was
intended to become the founding site of Texas City, but that town was laid out
further north after the hurricane of 1900. Virginia Point expanded as a result
of the completion of the new causeway in 1911, but the community was wiped out
again by the hurricane of 1915. Some portions of the community were rebuilt, but
it remained underdeveloped and was annexed by Texas City in 1952. Despite
decommissioning in 1929, Tower 98 remained standing into the 1980s.
Historic Photos of Tower 98
NW corner of Tower 98 (Galveston Railroad Museum collection)
Southwest corner of Tower 98 (Tom Kline, 1978)
Additional Photos by Don Harper (click to enlarge)
lift bridge
Tower 97 old (left) and
Tower 97 interlocker panel and bridge
Interior view, Tower 97 Causeway,
November 1957
counter-weight new (right)
controls
Gulfliner northbound
Gulfliner southbound past old
merging onto causeway lift bridge
approach
Tower 97 and over the bridge
(photo from cab)
(photo from cab)
Images from the Post Card Collection of
Bruce Blalock (click to enlarge)
Additional Photos of Tower 96 (click to enlarge)
Photo by Bob Nicholson
Carl Codney collection, Ralph
Back photo, 11/14/71 East side of tower North side of tower
September 1970
undated Photos from the Galveston Railroad Museum collection
Additional Photos of Tower 98 from the collection of the Galveston
Railroad Museum (click to enlarge)
Tower 98, east side Southwest corner
Tower 98, west side
Virginia Point interior
Additional Photos of Tower 98 from the Tom Kline collection (click to
enlarge)
GC&SF/GH&H split
Tower 98 approach
Tower 98 east approach
North side of tower
Additional Photos of Tower 98 by Mark Nerren in 1980
West side of tower
Northeast corner
Section house
Photos from the Steven M. Baron Collection and the
Houston Streetcars
History Pages
Interurban crossing lift bridge
Interurban viaduct
Interurban on causeway
Tower 98 at Virginia Point after the Hurricane of 1915
Satellite Images of the Sites of Towers 96, 97 and 98
Island (Tower 96 site) Tower 97 and lift
bridge Virginia Point (Tower 98 site)
