RRM Tower 17

Tower 17 was "authorized" by the Texas Railroad Commission on July 23, 1903. The photo above left shows how the tower appeared in 1907 and the gentleman is Mr. C. C. Harris, one of the towermen employed there. Tower 17 controlled the crossing of the Gulf Colorado & Santa Railroad (Santa Fe) and the Galveston Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company (Southern Pacific). The towerman's job was to allow only one train at a time through the crossing, and the interlocking machine shown below facilitated this function. When the telegraph operators/clerks were transferred from the Rosenberg depot to Tower 17 in 1955, the building was enlarged to its current size. The second photo (from left) was taken in 1985, and the third in 1995. The tower was in service until February 10, 2004 and was dismantled and moved approximately 1/2 mile to the Rosenberg Railroad Museum, where it has been restored. It's present appearance is shown in the top right photo. The paint scheme is based on Southern Pacific Standards Book information and from paint scrapings gathered from Tower 17 itself.

At left is an image of the interlocking machine as it looked just days after Tower 17 was closed. The electro-mechanical interlocker controlled the railroad signals and switches, and only one route could be set up at any one time, and helped to prevent accidents by allowing only one train through the crossing at a time. The electromechanical interlocker was sort of a 19th century computer. The towerman used a reference board which showed which levers had to be pulled in exact sequence to line up the route. To set up a different route, the towerman had to "take down" the existing route by pushing in the levers in exact reverse order that they were pulled. This reset the interlocking machine and then the new route could be aligned. Although more advanced technology was connected to the interlocking machine, it basically functioned in the same manner for over 100 years! When you visit the Rosenberg Railroad Museum, you can operate the interlocking machine just as the towermen did.

This site was last updated 05/27/07