www.txrrhistory.com - Tower 124 - Forth Worth (Bird's Siding)
A Crossing of the Fort Worth & Rio Grande Railway and the Gulf, Colorado
& Santa Fe Railway
The newly chartered Fort Worth & Rio Grande (FW&RG) Railway began to build
from Ft. Worth to Brownwood in 1886. Brownwood was reached in 1891. Ten
years later, the FW&RG was acquired by the St. Louis - San Francisco
("Frisco") Railway. Frisco funded additional construction south of Brownwood to
Brady (1903) and Menard (1911) to pursue livestock shipments from this region.
The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway, building north from Temple, reached
Ft. Worth in 1891, crossing the FW&RG tracks on the south side of town at a
location that became known as Bird's Siding. This location became an interchange
point between the two railroads. In 1926, a cabin interlocker was placed in
service designated as Tower 124. The use of a cabin interlocker at this location
indicates that traffic was light on the FW&RG. Santa Fe's line was a major
north/south route between Temple and Ft. Worth, continuing north into Oklahoma
to join other Santa Fe lines.
Much of the traffic on the FW&RG was livestock and related agricultural business
from the sparsely populated areas south and west of Brownwood. Santa Fe also
served Brownwood, and aggressively competed for the same traffic by building into Brady, Eden, San Angelo
and Sonora. In particular, Santa Fe's 1911
branch line that departed the main line at Lometa to reach Brady and Eden
paralleled a portion of the FW&RG near Brady. Santa Fe and FW&RG reached an agreement to share
a portion of FW&RG's
tracks in this area in exchange for payments by Santa Fe. The railroads also
cooperated in livestock shipments to Ft. Worth. It was not uncommon for cattle
being shipped on Santa Fe's main line to be handed over to the FW&RG in
Brownwood for transport to Bird's Siding where the shipment would be handed back
to Santa Fe. From a shipper's standpoint, this routing had the advantage of
being shorter in time and distance, and much less likely to face congestion
passing through Temple or Waco on the Santa Fe, important considerations when
shipping cattle that require feeding and watering. Eventually, Santa Fe decided to
purchase the entire FW&RG from the Frisco, a sale consummated in 1937, thereby
shortening their route from Brownwood to Ft. Worth by 117 miles.
Historic Map, Tower 124 and Vicinity
Above: This Sanborn index map c.1911 shows the location of Tower 124 in south Fort Worth.
The FW&RG line that the Santa Fe
crossed at Bird's Siding was a branch line that provided a
connection for the
FW&RG at Tower 53 further east. The tracks between Tower 124
and Tower
53 were eventually removed, probably after the Santa Fe's acquisition
of the FW&RG in 1937.
Santa Fe had better connections with the other railroads downtown, and this
would have
reduced or eliminated the need for the interlocking at Bird's Siding.
Below: These two excerpts from the legal journal Southwestern Reporter
Vol. 89 provide a snippet of the evidence in a
1902 lawsuit against Santa Fe and FW&RG regarding a cattle shipment from San
Angelo to Corsicana via Bird's Siding.
. . .
Modern Photo - Tower 124 (c.2002)
Above: On the remaining
interlocker cabinet at Tower 124, the word below "West End" is "Bird's".
(Jim King photo)
Below: A bird's eye view of Bird's Siding! It is easy to imagine that there
might have been large cattle
pens in the open space
adjacent to the crossing.
The abandoned FW&RG grade remains visible along the north edge of W. Biddison
St.
Location Map - Tower 124
