Western Railroad Discussion > Any coaling towers still standing in Arizona?

Dear TOs, I travel to Arizona often (Green Valley, Tucson) i would like to photograph a coaling tower, i have found water tanks.  TIA  robert new york

robert162 Wrote:
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> Dear TOs, I travel to Arizona often (Green Valley,
> Tucson) i would like to photograph a coaling
> tower, i have found water tanks.  TIA  robert
> new york

All gone. They were removed shortly after the take over of the SP some 20 plus years ago.

Was the coal tower down by Benson the last to come down?

Posted from Android

Lackawanna484 Wrote:
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> Was the coal tower down by Benson the last to come
> down?
>
> Posted from Android

There was no coal tower at Benson. The coal towers west to east were: Tucson, Mescal, Bowie, Lordsburg, and  Deming. The last to come down was Tucson. It was said that Tucson's demolition was delayed because a homeless person was living in the tower and it took a while to remove him. 

The cement coal towers were constructed around 1925 when the SP absorbed the El Paso and Southwestern (EP&SW) in November, 1924. The EP&SW was a coal burning railroad and the idea was to use coal, as well as oil, on the North Line, Tucson to El Paso. There was also a coal tower of steel construction at San Simon, but it's been gone for years. Probably removed not long after 1950, when SP discontinued the use of coal as a fuel.