Last Revised: 09/01/2005 - Contact the Texas Interlocking Towers Page.
Little is known about the locations of Tower 178 and Tower 180. Interlocker 178 is listed in Magnolia, a crossing of the International Great Northern and the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Company. Interlocker 180 is listed as Milepost 95.2 on the Burlington-Rock Island and a crossing of the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Company. Below is a series of e-mails where these interlockers were discussed on the Railspot E-Mail List.
> -----Original Message-----<
From: Jim King
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2002 6:57 PM
To: Railspot
Subject: Re: RS: BNSF Houston Sub old Xing
Noticing the milepost numbers in Bob's message reminded me that Tower 180 (which was actually a gated crossing for a Grogan-Cochran Lumber Co. tram) was located at "MP 95.2 on the B-RI" according to RRC records. Can anyone say with some precision exactly where MP 95.2 would be located? Tower 180 was retired in the late 30's or early 40's.
Jim King
----------------------
From: "Kline, Thomas W." wrote:
Hi Jim and Listers,
I did some looking and here's what I found. MP 95.2 is between the stations of Karen and Ventura on the old B-RI. It is just south of a crossroads called Mostyn. If you get out the Roads of Texas and look on pg 126 at grid intersection A & b, you'll see the junction of FMs 149 and 1488. Just south of there, right at the bottom of the FM 149 box, is MP 95.2. Next time I'm up there I'll have to take a closer look and check it with the odometer. There isn't a visible grade anywhere to be seen, and I've taken a number photos in that area over the years. I've never heard of this crossing from any of the old heads I worked with on that line, and my timetables don't go back that far. The curious thing is that the railroad runs through a ten to twelve foot cut along that stretch. Now you've piqued my curiosity!
Take care,
Tom Kline
------------------------
From: Jim King
Date: Mon, 04 Feb 2002 19:19:53 -0600
Subject: Re: RS: BNSF Houston Sub old Xing
Tom
One of my notes from the DeGolyer Library files states that the
Tower 180 crossing was "1,247 ft. from PS Mostyn". And
the sketch I made that goes with this note implies that this was
north of Mostyn. Then, this weekend, I was in the area visiting
my dad and we drove out to Mostyn to take a closer look. I read
the MP marker on the BNSF crossing gate control at FM1488 as being
95.06. Since the MP numbers get larger to the north, I assume
that 95.2 is 0.14 mi. north of FM1488 toward Karen. This surprised
me - I had projected that the 95.2 location would be south of
FM1488. If true, then the Grogan-Cochran Lumber Co. ROW would
have crossed FM1488 because it definitely crossed the I-GN line
0.9 mi. south of Magnolia. My note also states "in service,
2/23/34". The corresponding I-GN crossing (Tower 178) was
abandoned June, 1940 so the same date is likely for Tower 180.
One other note - the Tower 178 file mentions "Alethia, Texas"
as either the mill location or perhaps the tower location. Anyone
ever hear of a community in the vicinity of Magnolia called Alethia?
Jim King