Rob, I would suggest that you make another trip to Lubbock, and soon.
The railroad from Lubbock to Slaton has not yet been upgraded, and still has searchlight signals and a two-crossarm pole line, but this will not last indefinitely. The two main tracks through Lubbock itself -- between this cantilever signal on the west and the former FW&D crossing on the east -- is no longer signaled. It was ABS until the 1980's when some genius sold upper management on the idea of removing the signals there, adjacent to the two yards, and doing away with the maintenance on the track circuit, because there were numerous turnouts and crossovers in that section. For a while it was operated as Restricted Limits, but, after a couple of close calls, it was changed to TWC, with a maximum authorized speed of 20 MPH.
Originally, it was semaphore ABS between Lubbock and Slaton, and dark between Lubbock to Farwell and from Slaton to Pyron, with semaphore ABS from Pyron to Sweetwater. In 1950 and 1951, CTC was installed all the way from Farwell to Sweetwater with an island of ABS at Lubbock. It was a low-budget job, and the controlled signals installed at each end of the sidings between Lubbock and Farwell were reclaimed semaphores which had been stockpiled after being replaced by searchlight signals across the transcon between Cloviis and Barstow. Yes, I know it's hard to believe, but Santa Fe made new installations of semaphores in Texas from 1949 to 1951. The ABS from Temple to Brownwood was installed in 1949, entirely with second-hand semaphores from the transcon.
Anyway, I'd suggest making your visit to the Lubbock cantilever without delay. It's close to Avenue Q, and it's convenient to just sashay down the Avenue to Orlando's for some rigatoni and meat sauce (and maybe also an order of Mafia queso) while you're there.
