Tower 87 - Houston TX

RAILROAD SIGNALS of the U.S.

RAILFAN GUIDE to
TOWER 87 at Englewood Yard
Houston TX

The Diamond at Tower 87
Signal Pictures
Tower 68
Signals at the south end of Settegast
Other Pictures

This page covers Tower 87, a diamond located at Englewood Yard in northeast Houston TX.

Below are a couple of maps; an area map of the northeast side of Houston, and a site specific map of the signals at Tower 87. There is also a snapshot of a Google satellite view of the Tower area. The map is oriented as you would be looking at the signals in Englewood yard from Liberty Rd. I also inverted the Google Earth map so it would be in the same orientation. In the picture and on the map, you will notice a dirt road that not only services the fenced in employee parking lot, but it goes on down to the frontage road that goes under I-610. Time was short the last time I was there, so I missed getting good pictures at all of the locations, if you can help out, it would be appreciated.

Getting Here:

If you look at a map of Houston, you will notice two loop highways (Beltways if you are from the northeast or DC area), and one of them, the inner loop, is interstate 610, the Loop Freeway. The outer loop is the Sam Houston Tollway. Highways in Texas are generally superior to those elsewhere in the country. Houston is no exception. If you've never been to Texas before, the majority of their highways have service roads that run parallel to the highway, on both sides. This makes getting on and off easier, as the service roads are one-way. At most of the intersections that go over or under a freeway, there are usually U-Turn lanes where you do not have to wait for the light to change or go thru the intersection to make the U-Turn. Wish other places had em both!!!

From the downtown area, I would come out of town on US59, heading north, and then take 610 east to exit 22, Homestead Rd. Take a right, and it will run into Liberty at the yard... take a left. When you come to a highway overpass, you're at the location. There's a grade crossing with the original UP line, and you should be able to pull off the road along Liberty.

Coming from the east on I10, take I610 at exit 775, and head north on the loop to exit 23a. Take the service road to Homestead, where you'll take a left,. Then follow the above directions.

From the west on I10, take US59 north from the downtown area, and follow the instructions above.

If you're coming up I45 from Galveston, I would probably take I610 around to exit 22.

From the north on US59 or I45 for example, I would take I610 east to the above mentioned exit.

Additional Info:

For a great guide to the area, check out Steve Sandifer's Houston railfan guide at: http://www.trainweb.org/jssand/Houston/Houston.htm

For more info on the towers of Texas, check out:
http://www.towers.txrrhistory.com/index.htm (the motherload of information!)
http://www.texasescapes.com/TexasRailroads/Railroad-Interlocking-Towers-of-Texas.htm

Another great site with info on railroad structures in all of Texas (listed by county, ie: The city of Tyler is in Smith county, so don't click on Tyler county) is at : http://www.rrshs.org/Texas/txrrstruc.htm

Tower 87

The diamond at Tower 87.

The Signals at Tower 87

1 2 4 For signals at these locations, check out my Englewood page at: https://railroadsignals.us/texas/englewood/index.htm

Color light signals at location 3, by the approach to the hump.

5 6 7

Looking south-ish under the flyover bridge towards signals 2, 3, 4, and 5.

The diamond at Tower 87.

8 9 If anyone has any pictures of the signals at these two locations, or additional photos of any of the signals, it would be greatly appreciated, please send them to toddgp30@yahoo.com.... and thanx.

The two US&S searchlight dwarfs at location 10.

Color light signals for location 11.
The two photos at the right illustrate two different aspects for "restrict", one is L/R, the other is R/R/L.
(More info on UP signal aspects at: http://www.lundsten.dk/us_signaling/aspects_up1988/index.html )

Color light signal at location 12.

Signal bridge at location 14 with tri-lights for eastbound movements.

the Tower 68 end of Englewood Yard

Dwarf searchlights dominate the yard for yard movements.

The Union Pacific is leasing quite a few of these CEFX engines with Caterpillar prime movers.

Haven't seen any EMD lease engines since being in Minneapolis!

Tower 68, one of the few remaining towers still intact (altho not in service).

For more pix of Tower 68, click here, or for more pix and info, here.

FYI - Other Towers

The only active tower in Texas is Tower 97 on the bridge between Galveston Island and the mainland.

Tower 17, which has been moved several hundred feet, now resides at the Rosenberg Railroad Museum.

I believe Tower 55 in Ft Worth is still standing, but not active.

Some signals at the south end of Settegast

A GRS Searchlight at Kirkpatrick Junction, the only one I saw during my 3 day trip.

A view looking west from Kirkpatrick Junction, still lotsa dwarf searchlights used. The middle searchlight is displaying a lunar white for restrict.