This Week in Odessa History

When BNSF trains going in opposite directions pass each other there appears to be perfect synchronization as one train eases onto the Odessa sidetrack and the other speeds by.

One hundred and one years ago, before radio control and electronic switching, engineers of the steam locomotives relied on telegraph messages they picked up from one station to the next along the rail line to determine the positions of other trains on the track. Railroad operations weren’t as smooth then as they are today.

The Odessa Record, in its issue of December 15, 1911, reported this head-on collision within Odessa...