Railroad Commission of Texas interlocking towers records

A Guide to the Collection

Historical Note

The Texas Railroad Commission, the oldest regulatory body in the state, was established in 1891 to regulate the state’s rail lines. In the one hundred years of its existence, the Commission has also been charged with regulating other Texas industries, including the production and distribution of oil and natural gas, as well as trucking and mining. The TRC is considered part of the state government’s executive branch. As such, the body is made up of three commissioners who are elected to six year terms; like U.S. senators, they serve staggered terms, with one up for reelection every two years.

The chief task of the Texas Railroad Commission in its early years was oversight of railroads operating within the state. Charters providing for the construction of rail lines had been issued as early as the late 1830s while Texas was still an independent nation, but it was not until 1853 that the state could boast of its first operating railroad.

Growth of railroads in Texas following the Civil War (as well as the growth of unfair business practices) made regulations governing the industry necessary. In addition, greater use of rail transportation necessitated rules to ensure the safe passage of trains over intersecting and connecting rail lines at locations where trains crossed lines owned by a different company.

Following the passage of state legislation in 1901, the TRC established such rules the following year. Interlocking systems (interlocking towers) were to be built at locations where trains crossed intersecting lines or where trains switched from one line to another; the purpose being to ensure that two trains did not end up on the same line. Railroads were not required to implement interlocking systems, but the TRC’s regulations provided that trains come to a complete stop before crossing or switching onto the other line, in any location for which there was not a system in place. Thus railroads had an incentive to install interlocking towers, at least at heavily-used rail intersections.

The TRC assigned a number to each interlocking tower built, and such towers were constructed over roughly a sixty-year time period. Heavily-used intersections had railroad employees stationed in the towers to alter the switches as needed. The need for such interlocking towers diminished with the advance of technology. By the mid-1960s, the switches at rail intersections could be controlled electronically, making the continued manual operation at each site no longer necessary. In 1966, the final tower was established, number 215 in Bloomington, Texas. Most of the towers are no longer standing.

Sources:

King, Jim. "Railroad Interlocking Towers of Texas." Texas Escapes online magazine: http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRailroads/Railroad-Interlocking-Towers-of-Texas.htm. Accessed September 29, 2009.

"Railroad Commissioners of Texas." Railroad Commission of Texas: http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/commissioners/index.php. Accessed September 29, 2009.

"Texas Politics: The Executive Branch." September 29, 2009. Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services, University of Texas at Austin: http://texaspolitics.laits.utexas.edu/1_9_8.html. Accessed September 29, 2009.

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Scope and Contents of the Collection

Series 1 comprises the majority of this collection, and is made up of correspondence, blueprints depicting railroad lines and the placement of interlocking towers and signals, manipulation charts, and other materials on the interlocking towers built in Texas from about 1900 until 1966. They are arranged in numerical order according to the number assigned to each tower. The correspondence throughout this series concerns both the construction of towers and the changing of interlocking equipment.

Users should note that multiple towers may have been built in or around a city or town; these are not necessarily grouped together, but rather in the order in which they were built and assigned a number.

Users should also note that this collection has records for each interlocking tower (in terms of numerical order, below), except the final one, number 215, which was built at Bloomington in 1966 (from the Historical Note, above). We do not have any records on tower 215 in this collection.

Series 2 contains information on interlocking reports. It is important to note that the material in this series is not of the same time period as the interlocking tower records from Series 1. The interlocking reports date from 1969-1974, and therefore come after the final tower was built in 1966.

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Restrictions

Access to Collection:

Collection is open for research use.

Publication Rights:

Permission to publish materials must be obtained from the Director of the DeGolyer Library.

Copyright Statement:

It is the responsibility of the user to obtain copyright authorization.

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Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Railroad Commission of Texas interlocking towers records, DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University.

Acquisition Information

Acquired, 1987; accession file indicates that this collection is on "long-term loan" from the Texas Railroad Commission.

Finding aid written by

Paul H. Santa Cruz, 2009.

Encoded by

Lara Corazalla, 2009.

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Detailed Description of the Collection

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