Railroaders' Nostalgia > Mad Dog Chronicles # 32: Galveston Subdivision Geograph

Galveston Subdivision Geography, 1971

To tell the next couple of stories, you all need to understand a little bit about the geography of the Galveston Sub.
I am using a 1996 SP engineering track chart to help me try to paint a word picture of what the subdivision looked like twenty-five years earlier. Let’s see if you can follow all of this. You might want to draw a line diagram if you are getting confused

As you leave Englewood Yard from the local yard you turn to the south and traverse a section of two main tracks for approximately 4 miles. At milepost 3.6 you pass Tower 86 interlocking, the crossing of the HB&T (Houston Belt and Terminal). At the end of double track, the lead to the Clinton Docks area diverges to the left as you proceed toward Galveston. The Clinton Docks are on the North side of the Houston Ship Channel, and are switched by Yard Engines from Englewood. At mp 4 you are on single track and at mp 5.1 there is a junction coming in from the left for the PTRR (Port Terminal Railroad). Now you are on joint trackage and cross the Buffalo Bayou swing span at the head (west end) of the Houston Ship Channel. At mp 5.7 you come to the north switch of the controlled siding at Booth. This is a 4900 foot siding.

Manchester Junction is at mp 7.8. Here the joint track ends and the PTRR leaves the Galveston main line to enter their Manchester Yard. Next comes the siding at Sinco at mp 9.4 This is a 1.5 mile long siding, with a crossover in the middle and a lead passing under Texas Highway 225 diverging from the north end of the siding to the right as you head toward Galveston. Down this lead are located Goodyear rubber and Petrotex. This is where the Sinco turn spent most of its time.

One night in April of 1971 the Sinco turn had gotten a bunch of cars on the ground when they split the switch at Best Fertilizer. This was serious enough to require the Rerailing truck from Houston and a track gang, too, since lots of rail was turned over on the lead. We had set up several rerailing frogs and some oak blocks and were just finishing rerailing the derailed cars when the engineer of the Bayport Turn leaned out of the window of the cab of the engine to tell me that the Dispatcher had just called to tell me that it was time for me to take my wife to the Hospital for the birth of my first child. JSN was on his way to take over. I left in a hurry.

At mp 11.4 the PTRR again joins the Galveston Sub at Sinco Jct.. But in this case the joint track is really on the PTRR alignment since the SP was relocated to the north from the east end of Sinco to Deer Park to facilitate the widening of Texas Highway 225. At mp 11.7 is Pasadena Jct. Where the PTRR enters their Pasadena Yard. Diverging to the left. At mp 12.0 is the house track at Pasadena where the Pasadena Switcher ties up. Joint track continues to Deer Park Jct. Here the PTRR left the Galveston Sub for good in 1971. The mainline now curves to the right, runs along the length of the Shell refinery and swings back to the left to the original alignment at Deer Park at mp 17. Just before it does, it passes the lead in to Shell Refinery complex at mp 16 and passes under Texas Highway 225. Basically from Sinco to Strang the Galveston Sub is running due east on the south side of the Houston Ship Channel. The PTRR is paralleling the SP Galveston line and runs between the Ship Channel and the SP.

My 1996 track chart shows a 6100 foot siding at a point called Emmett Joe at mp 18.9. I think that this was the siding named Link Five in 1971. Just past this siding starting at mp 19.5 is the new 6590 foot siding of JJ.

The north leg of the wye at Strang is at mp 22.2. Here the main track makes a right angle turn. The south leg of the wye is at mp 22.6.

The north end of the Bayport Loop is at mp 25.2. Here there is a whole complex of leads and chemical plants. There is even a passing track on the three mile loop which is on the west side of the main track. The loop rejoins the Galveston Mainline at mp 28.2. There are also at least two leads off of the Galveston main that take off to the west and also serve parts of the Bayport complex.

Next to the south is a short runaround track at Joyce at mp 28.9. This was the regular turning point for the Bayport Turn in 1971.

In 1971 there were turn spans(movable bridges) in regular operation at Seabrook at mp 31.96 and at San Leon at mp 38.82. Texas City Jct. Is at mp 46.8. The Galveston Island Lift Bridge is at mp 51.7. The yard at Galveston is at mp 55.6

Most of the Galveston Subdivision is flat with grades of less than one tenth of a percent, except for the short grades at bridge approaches. On this section of railroad, if you could start them with your engines, you could move them across the subdivision. This was just about the only place that I ever worked where the engineers still “took slack” A practice which had died out with the steam engines.

To be continued.

mdo