From a Conversation started by Bill Pollard: Hi, I am trying to determine the time when Bridge Junction, AR was closed as a tower (becoming an automatic interlocking), comparing pages in the ETTs that you have posted along with some of my own. Eastern Division ETT #39, 5-9-1954 appears to end at Thayer, rather than continuing on to Memphis. There are Memphis details in the special instructions, so I was wondering whether a page might be missing from that PDF file which would have contained Thayer-Memphis. Thanks, Bill Pollard (arkrail) update: Preliminary research indicates that Bridge Junction closed as a continuous train order office sometime after Eastern Division timetable 38b (9-28-1952) and probably with or before timetable #39 (5-9-1954). The Memphis subdivision page is missing from the PDF file of timetable 39 posted here, but the special instructions for that time table indicate that Bridge Junction was a semi-automatic interlocking, with power switches and home signals controlled by the operators at nearby Turrell, AR, which was a 24/7 train order office. Hopefully someone can provide a more accurate date. Bill Pollard (arkrail)
Bridge Junction was on the Memphis Subdivision. The Memphis Sub bounced from the Eastern Division to the Southern Division and back at different times. Unfortunately, I do not have detail for those occurrences, however it would require looking at timetables from both division to sort that out unless someone more knowledgeable has that on the top of their head. The Eastern Division Employee Timetable #39, May 9, 1954 is not missing any pages based on the page numbers and my double-check. There may have been a Southern Division Employee Timetable issued about the same time that would have the Memphis Subdivision listed that is not posted on this web site. If anyone has one, we would really like to scan and post it.
The 1952 Annual Report notes that CTC has been authorized on 217.4 additional track miles from Rosedale, KS to Paola; Clarkdale, AR to Critco, AR, and Nonco, TN to Amory, MS. The 1954 Annual Report confirms that the 14.3 miles between Clarkdale and Critco was completed. This completed the CTC installation between Turrell and Shelco. This stretch of CTC was controlled by an operator in Turrell, and it included the crossing at Bridge Jct. The closure of the interlocking plant at Bridge Jct was completed during 1953.
Thanks much for the confirmation of closure of Bridge Junction in 1953. There was an earlier tower system on this territory between Marion and Memphis in the years prior to the 1916 opening of the Harahan Bridge. The October 1904 Frisco Telegrapher Schedule (Southern Division) lists Tower No. 1, Tower No. 2 and Tower No. 3, all located between Marion and Memphis. Frisco Ozark Division timetable #28 5-24-1914, lists Tower 1 as milepost 481.0, Bridge Junction (a continuous train order office) as milepost 481.4, and Tower 3 (also a continuous train order office) as milepost 483.0. Presumably Tower No. 3 was at the east end of the bridge; would Towers 1 and 2 have been where the MP and Rock Island tracks crossed the Frisco en route to their ferry landings? Obviously these two would have been replaced by Bridge Junction once the Harahan Bridge opened. I have not identified when Tower No. 3 was closed as a continuous train order office, but it might have corresponded to the opening of Kentucky Street office in Memphis (which Frisco timetables always referred to as Union Railway crossing.) The Tower No. 3 listing, no longer a train order office, disappeared from the employee timetable in 1938-1939.
