mook Wrote:
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> Interesting question. Don't have an answer. But it
> raised my interest in whether WP actually had a
> ATSF diamond; it's been combined with UP for so
> long. They did. David Rumsey collection map:
> [www.davidrumsey.com]

The concrete interlocking tower at Stockton, CA controlled the crossing of the Santa Fe main line to Richmond, CA with the parallel main lines of the Western Pacific to Oakland and the Southern Pacific from Sacramento to Bakersfield. The building itself was relatively young as towers go. It was completed in 1943, replacing an earlier frame tower which had in turn replaced the original San Francisco & San Joaquin Valley RR tower built in the late 1890's. The final tower was a three story concrete structure, similar in overall dimensions to the concrete interlocking tower standard plans shown on pages 218-221 of Santa Fe System Standards, Volume 2, but varying in door and window placement and in the stairway configuration. East Tower at Amarillo, TX had a similar configuration (see below). For most of its existence, the exterior of Stockton Tower was just bare concrete, but in its final years, it was painted in the attractive white and brown scheme shown. The tower closed in January 1999 as both the BNSF (ex-ATSF) and Union Pacific (ex-SP) lines were converted to Centralized Traffic Control. The former Western Pacific line, also under UP control, was subsequently abandoned through Stockton in favor of the parallel ex-SP line. Stockton Tower was demolished May 26-28, 1999.

KRK