In a huge surprise it seems that Fort Worth's iconic TOWER 55 is under threat of immediate demolition with work to begin on Monday, November 14th. A report went out on Twitter, but the planned date was pushed back.
The iconic railroad interlocking Tower 55 in Ft. Worth is being demolished today noooooooo ðŸ˜
— Metalheadrailfan 🎅 (@metalheadrailf1)
RIP King pic.twitter.com/PBr9gWMfm7
As we have seen with demolition efforts with AR and MG towers near Altoona there are numerous factors that could yet scuttle the demolition plans, including detection of hazardous substances like lead or asbestos. It is also unknown if the tower will need to be gutted first or simply demolished as-is.
TOWER 55 is located in downtown Fort Worth and consists of a3x2 diamond crossing between two major Union Pacific main line with connecting tracks on all four quadrants. The junction is so complex that it has its own signal committee posting handy "you are here" signs. It is on the order of such towers as SANTA FE JCT in Kansas City or F TOWER in Fostoria.
The tower checks none of the boxes of demolition risk. It's made of brick, in very good condition with modern windows on the operator's level. It is located in a quadrant of the jct behind a fence line and is used by local MoW or C&S crews. The most likely explanations are some sort of spite (aka "cost cutting") or a need to expand the east-west line from 2 tracks to 3, which could require running the new track through the tower's footprint. If anyone knows anything more specific or has updates about TOWER 55 please leave them in the comments.
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