www.txrrhistory.com - Tower
A - Galveston (36th Street)
Crossing of the
Galveston, Houston & Henderson (GH&H) Railroad and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe
(GCSF) Railway
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Tower A controlled a junction of the Galveston Houston &
Henderson (GH&H) Railroad and the Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe (GC&SF) Railway
at 36th Street, not far from Galveston Union Station. Though Tower A
eventually appeared at the top of the list of numbered interlockers
published by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RCT), it was not included on
the list until 1927 by which time more than 100 interlocking numbers had
been assigned.
As a late addition to the list, the authorization date
for Tower A was noted as "Prior to 1902", and it was probably constructed during the rebuilding of Galveston after the
Great Hurricane of 1900.
Most likely, the "Tower A" name was assigned by Santa Fe,
identifying it as the first interlocking tower on Galveston Island.
Apparently, Tower A's design was not submitted to
RCT for approval until after more than 20 years of operation, and this probably
motivated RCT to retain the common name (instead of assigning a new number) when adding it to the list of authorized interlockers.
Tower A stood close to (or perhaps on) the current
parking lot of Farmer's Marine and Copper Works. The controls were in the
middle of the room and were aligned parallel with the outside steps.
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Frank Perez, retired tower operator for Santa Fe, began his career for the
railroad in this tower in 1950. Frank tells of his first day on the job having engineers
whistling at him from all directions. He was so rattled he bolted
from the tower and was headed home when the phone rang. He went
back upstairs to answer it. It was his supervisor wanting
to know why all those trains were whistling for signals. When Frank told him he
did not know what to do, the supervisor said to let one
through at a time. That worked and Frank worked in the tower for
several years after that. At the time Frank signed on as a relief operator (he worked from 1950 to
1958), Arthur Wade was first trick operator, H.E. Smith was second
trick (and Frank is sure it is H. E. Smith standing on the tower
porch in the photo), and a Mr. Clifford was third trick operator. A Mr. Schrieber
was first trick operator before Frank went to work. Frank recalls that a signal maintainer named Boyd was killed when a train derailed
and crushed him against a corner of the tower. The other signal
maintainer Frank knew was named Rebsch. Thanks to Frank for helping us
positively identify this structure and understand some of its operations.
If you can assist with additional details of this tower or
other Galveston towers, please
contact us.
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Frank Perez is a retired railroad employee who began his career with Santa
Fe as an operator in Galveston's Tower A. Many Thanks to Frank for
providing much of the information on this web page. Frank is currently
an electronics
technician at the Galveston
Railroad Museum.
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Location Map Tower A
Above: The 1912 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map of Galveston shows the
location of Tower A where 36th St. intersected Mechanic St. (Avenue C).
Magnification of the map (right) reveals a two-story structure.
Below: A scan from the GH&H Office of Resident Engineer "Station Map - Track and
Structures" drawing (dated June 30, 1918,
revised Oct 1, 1933) for this part of
Galveston shows the location of Tower A ("Interlocking Tower"). The Santa Fe
roundhouse
appears along the left edge of the map. Thanks to Don Harper and the
Galveston Railroad Museum for
providing this drawing.
Modern Photos Tower A Site - Galveston, TX
Former Tower A operator Frank Perez is standing at approximately
the location of the bottom of the steps for Tower A.
This
view is looking northeast. The Galveston wharves grain elevators
are in the background (elevator B to the left, the
decommissioned
elevator A to the right). The Union Pacific yard to wharves interchange
track is to Frank's right. Farmer's
Marine and Copper Works
is the red brick building at the left edge of the photo. The
original interchange tracks ran to
Frank's left between the tower
and Farmer's. The concrete wall just across the tracks was
a large cotton warehouse in
days gone by. Union Depot, now
the Galveston Railroad
Museum, can be seen just to the right of the warehouse.
This view is looking
southwest. Again, Frank Perez is standing at approximately the bottom of Tower
A's steps. The
Farmer's Marine and Copper Works building is to Frank's left. Compare the architecture of the windows in this building
to the building
behind Tower A in the historic photo above. The original interchange track ran
between Farmers and
Tower A. The current UP to Galveston
wharves interchange track is seen at left and curving off to the left. The
former
GCSF yard track ran straight ahead and is partly torn up - note the pile
of old ties sitting atop the rails. Covered hoppers
seen in the far background
are in the UP (ex-GH&H) yard.
Historic Images, Tower A Vicinity
(scanned by Don Harper)
All three of the images that appear below are cropped and magnified from a
single large aerial photo of the east end of Galveston Island.
Above: Having studied the historic maps above, can you spot the interlocking tower in this
image? The Santa Fe roundhouse is near the center.
Below: The tower is adjacent to the far right corner [SE corner] of the large building
near the roundhouse. The proximity of the building
restricted the tower
operator's visibility and contributed to the need for whistle codes used by
engineers to signal movements to the tower operator.
Below: Don points out that all three Galveston roundhouses are visible in the
master scanned image. In the image segment below, the Santa Fe roundhouse is at
the top edge,
just right of center. The GH&H roundhouse is in the lower right corner, facing the opposite direction as the
Santa Fe roundhouse. The Texas & New
Orleans (Southern Pacific) roundhouse is
along the middle of the left edge of the image. What a great shot!
Whistle Codes, Tower A - Galveston
These whistle codes illustrate the complex series of movements possible
through this
interlocker. During the steam era, trains could whistle these codes
on approach to
Tower A and the operator would line up the movement requested (thanks to Don
Harper and the
Galveston Railroad Museum)
Satellite
Image, Tower A Vicinity
The Sanborn map shows Tower A at the intersection of 36th St. and Mechanic
St. (Ave. C). It is apparent from this satellite
image that 36th St. no longer
extends to Mechanic St. (if it ever did).
