Henry O'Connor photo (1952) from the collection of Tim O'Connor
Crossing of the San Antonio Belt & Terminal (SAB&T) Railway and the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway
In 1917, the Missouri-Kansas-Texas (MKT, "Katy") railroad funded the construction of the San Antonio Belt & Terminal (SAB&T) Railway (and then leased it for 99 years) to provide switching services among railroads in the San Antonio area. One of the primary customers for the SAB&T's services was the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (GH&SA) Railway, a property of the Southern Pacific (SP) system that was eventually merged into the Texas & New Orleans (T&NO) railroad, SP's principal operating company in Texas. Tower 112 was established in 1919 at a crossing of the SAB&T and GH&SA railroads in southeast San Antonio.
Observations of A. Tyrrell Kott
This photo is looking northeast toward Tower 112. The MKT
line is in the foreground; the T&NO "Sunset Route" is in the background.
Note the searchlight signal and the black and white crossing gates for "old
Roosevelt Ave." which was the original alignment of Roosevelt Ave. before the
underpasses were built to the west of the photo. Tower 112 and Tower 109 were
absolutely identical concrete structures... These are Katy designed towers. There was a similar smaller concrete
tower in Denison (Tower 93) just
south of the passenger depot.
There was a second crossing of the T&NO and
MKT near Tower 112 at an industry siding of the T&NO. This crossing was
located about one block east of S. Presa St., three
blocks east of Tower 112 itself. The T&NO siding ran due south
from the curve of the double track T&NO
and curved across the Katy; the crossing was controlled by the tower operator
(inside the interlocking limits of Tower 112). Today, this is just east of the alignment
of I-37 on the map. The industry was located one block north of Page Junior High
School along Berkshire Street (in the large open space on the map four blocks
south of the Katy and one block east of I-37). My mother used to teach at Page
Jr. High which was torn down in the early 1950's. I saw T&NO 0-6-0's switch the siding
in the early 1950's and Tom Balzen of Austin, who attended Page
Jr. High in the 1950's, did too. I spent a LOT of time there in the
early 1950's.
See the Tower 105 page for another image by this photographer. See also the Watchman Tower page for towers used to guard automobile crossings near Tower 112.
Satellite Image, Tower 112 Location
The grade crossing in the center of this image is the Sunset Route crossing
of Roosevelt St. The abandoned right-of-way of the Katy railroad is visible
parallel to, and immediately south of, the Sunset Route. Tower 112 was located
in the white "gravel" area between the two railroads, just west of the Roosevelt
St. grade crossings. Further west, the rail bridges for both lines over St. Mary
St. are visible.
