Passenger Trains > Tower 55 Program: Temple, TX Saturday, September 6

The Central Texas Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society invites you to join us for a discussion of modern day railroading on Saturday, September 6th at 2 pm on the 3rd Floor of the Temple Public Library, 100 West Adams Avenue. The program will discuss a popular Texas railroad landmark-Tower 55- known to railroad enthusiasts from throughout the world.

Towers across Texas such as Tower 55 were constructed by the railroads shortly after the Texas Railroad Commission required the installation of towers with operators to control intersecting railroad mainlines to prevent collisions of trains. The railroad commission approved tower construction by number, for example, Tower 55 was the 55th tower constructed since the 1901 law was passed. Tower 55 operations began on September 26, 1904 under the ownership of the Texas and Pacific Railroad and ceased operations in 1996 under ownership of the Union Pacific Railroad. The structure still remains in Ft. Worth but all train operations are remotely dispatched from a distant dispatching center.

Our guest, Mr. Ken Fitzgerald, of Ft. Worth is a contract photographer for both the Union Pacific and BNSF Railroads who often is called upon by the railroad to produce public relations photos. He will be sharing his documentary photography of the various phases of the multi-million dollar construction project to re-configure the Tower 55 railroad crossing to better handle the increased railroad traffic through Ft. Worth and to keep the historic tower in place.

The Central Texas Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society invites you to attend this one-of-a kind program you do not want to miss!! The public is invited. We will allow time for questions at the conclusion of the program. For additional information about the program or society, please contact Jeremy at 254-773-4759

I heard that all work on Tower 55 was completed a couple days ago, so everything is up and running. I understand that testing of all the signal circuits took the last several weeks.