The most significant railroad serving San Antonio was Southern Pacific. With a main line east to Houston and New Orleans, a main line west to El Paso and Los Angeles, and three branches. The Cuero Subdivision extended southeast to Victoria, the Corpus Christi Subdivision extended south to Corpus Christi, and the Kerrville Subdivision extended northwest to Kerrville.
Originally, the Southern Pacific east west main line through San Antonio was the Galveston Harrisburg & San Antonio Railroad. And the Corpus Christi Subdivision and the Kerrville Subdivision were connected as one line of the San Antonio & Aransas Pass Railway. Those railroads crossed at Tower 2. But later, the merged Southern Pacific reconfigured the Corpus Christi Subdivision and the Kerrville Subdivision as branch lines connecting with the main line. With the latter line diverting at Tower 112. Tower 112 originally was basically a crossing between the main line and the Missouri Kansas Texas main line.
Significant Locations and Distances from Station
Salado Jct. (5 miles E) - junction of SP main line, Cuero Subdivision.
Tower 112 (2 miles W) - junction of SP main line, Kerrville Subdivision.
Tower 2 (2 miles W) - junction of SP main line, Corpus Christi Subdivision.
San Antonio was located on the Missouri Pacific former International Great Northern main line southwest from Palestine to Laredo, with MP using its own station. At Sosan, 5 miles southwest of the station, a branch diverged southeast to Corpus Christi.
Missouri Kansas Texas originated at its own station in San Antonio, extending north to Kansas City and St. Louis.
Throughout Texas, interlocking towers were assigned numbers, in the order in which they were registered with the Railroad Commission of Texas. Further information is at the Texas Railroad Interlocking Tower Web Site.
Amtrak continues to use the Southern Pacific main line through San Antonio. Amtrak service north primarily uses the Missouri Pacific main line, but connects with the Southern Pacific main line using the Kerrville Subdivision between Tower 112 and Apache Jct. Those trains might also use the Missouri Kansas Texas main line between between Tower 112 and Craig Jct., a connection with the Missouri Pacific main line 23 miles north. All of these lines are now part of Union Pacific.
Apache Jct. is formerly a crossing of the Missouri Pacific main line and the Southern Pacific Kerrville Subdivision. North of Apache Jct. those lines formerly paralleled close together, continuing a mile north. The Kerrville Subdivision is now reached via a connection from the Missouri Pacific main line, a short distance north of the former location of the Missouri Pacific station.