Modern Photo - Tower 161
Interlocking control cabinet for Interlocker 161, Arcola, Texas.
Photo by Jim King
Modern Photo - Tower 161
Interlocking control cabinet for Interlocker 161, Arcola, Texas. Photo by Jim King
One of the earliest railroads constructed in the state was the Houston Tap & Brazoria Railroad built in the late 1850s. This railroad ran from Houston through the cotton and sugar plantations south of town, reaching East Columbia, 50 miles away, in 1860. The railroad was subsequently acquired by the Houston & Great Northern RR through which it became the property of the International and Great Northern (I-GN) RR. The I-GN was later merged into the Missouri Pacific Railroad.
The Houston Tap and Brazoria Railroad passed through a community known as Arcola, named for the Arcola Plantation, a cotton and sugar plantation owned by Jonathan Waters. In 1877, as the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railroad built northwestward out of Galveston, the new line crossed the Houston Tap RR at Arcola which became a major rail junction.
A decade later, another railroad was constructed into the sugar cane growing area. The Sugar Land Railway was chartered in 1893 to build south from Sugar Land to Arcola to tap the sugar cane grown in this area to feed the sugar mills at Sugar Land, southwest of Houston. The railroad crossed the Santa Fe at a location that became known as Sugar Land Junction. South of Sugar Land Junction, the railroad curved sharply to the east at a location called House Junction. to reach a connection with the I-GN near Arcola.
In 1912, the Sugar Land Railway bought 17 miles of private track from the Cunningham Sugar Co. that ran south from House Junction. The four miles between House Junction and the I-GN connection were abandoned in favor of a new I-GN connection at Anchor, further south on the newly acquired trackage. The 21 miles from House Junction to Anchor were abandoned in 1932 and the remainder of the Sugar Land Railway was merged into the Missouri Pacific system in 1956. By 1962, the Missouri Pacific had abandoned the remaining Houston Tap line south of Rosharon, a community a few miles south of Arcola. In the 1970s, the remaining portions of the original Sugar Land Railroad were abandoned.
The two north/south rail crossings of the Santa Fe line, at Arcola and at Sugar Land Junction., were assigned interlocker numbers 161 and 162, respectively, by the Texas Railroad Commission. Interlocker 162 was dismantled when the Sugar Land Railroad was abandoned. The other crossing diamond remains in place so that Union Pacific (successor to the Missouri Pacific RR) can reach recently constructed tracks that parallel the Santa Fe line from Arcola to the west to reach the Smithers Lake Power Plant. This new track allows the Smithers Lake plant to receive coal shipments from either BNSF or UP. Text by Jim King.
Location Map - Tower 161
Map by Jim King.
