Guardian of the Rails

As a railfan, one of the best locations to watch trains when we lived in Rosenberg, TX was Tower 17. Tower 17 was the last railroad interlocking tower in Texas to be deactivated from service. Railroad interlocking towers controlled the operations of two or more different railroads crossings before the days of modern railroad dispatching. Most all tower control cabs were on the second floor so the operator had a good view of the railroad that he controlled.Once when a friend and I were at the tower to watch trains, the operator invited us up to the control room to observe train movements from his vantage point.

My friend Rich (on the right) at the interlocking machine in the control room of Tower 17.

Tower 17 was authorized by the Texas Railroad Commission on July 23, 1903. It controlled the crossing of the Gulf Colorado & Santa (Now Burlington Northern Santa Fe) and the Galveston Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company (now Union Pacific).

The tower was in service until February 10, 2004 and was dismantled and moved about a half mile east to the Rosenberg Railroad Museum which is just south of the BNSF tracks. The tower has been restored to its operation condition with track and signals similar to what it would have been in its early days. The railroad crossing is now controlled by a dispatcher in the Union Pacific yard in Spring, TX about 40 miles away.

With mergers and buy outs, the railroads that intersect here today has changed a lot since the tower operations began over a hundred years ago. This map shows the railroads that traverse this crossing now.

About 54 trains pass through this crossing per day. 35 UP trains, 15 BNSF trains, 2 KCS trains and 2 Amtrak Sunset Limited. The Union Pacific dispatcher controls the movement of all the trains. Up, BNSF, and KCS have small railroad yards in Rosenberg.

Tower 17 just after being moved to the Rosenberg Railroad Museum.

Here is the interlocking machine after it had been deactivated. The electro-mechanical interlocker controlled the railroad signal and switches, and only one railroad route could be set up at one time to prevent accidents by allowing only one train trough the crossing at one time.

The inside of the interlocking box showing all the electrical switches .

This interlocking machine is an advance version that controlled the various switches electronically. The original machine was controlled by strong-arm levers, where the tower operator actually opened and closed the switches by pushing and pulling on the levers. Named strong-arm levers because the operator used brute force to move the switch and signals by rods that were connected to these levers.

An example of strong-arm interlocking levers.

Here is the diagram of all the tracks and switches that were in the tower control room. Lights on this diagram indicated to the operator what tracks were aligned with each other.

Here is the controller cabinet at the crossing that replaced the tower operations. Radio signals from the dispatcher in Spring, TX to this cabinet controls the individual switches at the crossing.

New switch activator that opens and closes the switch.

Trains at Tower 17.


In May 2001 Burlington Northern Santa Fe ran an Employee Appreciation Special using the Steam Locomotive Frisco 1522. This Employee Appreciation Special ran from Tulsa, OK trough Oklahoma, OK; Fort Worth, TX; Temple, TX, Rosenberg; TX, Houston, TX and Beaumont, Tx and back to Arkansas City, KS. This steam engine traveled by Tower 17 in late May, 2001. Unfortunately I was in St. Louis at the time visiting family. But my friend Rich was track side at Tower 17 to wave at it as it steamed by. This 4-8-2 'Mountain Type' steam engine was built in 1926 and was in service for the Frisco railroad until its retirement in 1950 and was donated to the Museum of Transportation of St. Louis. It was restored to service in 1988. It ran many excursions until it was retired again in 2002 due to the rising cost of operation. It now remains in display an the museum. This photo was taken in Kirkwood, MO by Richard Sheffold of Crestwood, MO. Courtesy of www.frisco1522.org.

This link will allow you to see and hear this engine in action. Crank up the sound when you watch it! (Note! You must have Real Player running on your computer to see and hear this video.)

For free download of Real Player got to this link.

The back end of it's train as Frisco 1522 passes by Tower 17