I left the 2014 NRHS convention, took a new way to exit Springdale and was out on US Highway 421 within 12 minutes. I took this to Arkansas 59 and went south but realized that I was on the wrong road when I did not have the Kansas City Southern main line running beside me. I should have been on US 59. Scanning the map while I was driving, I realized I could take US 62 west to Westville, Oklahoma then pick up US 59 then go south to Stilwell. I reached the KCS in Westville where it was quiet and it stayed like that all the way to Stilwell. I arrived there and pulled into the station parking lot.
Stilwell, Oklahoma Kansas City Southern station built in 1915. From here I headed north on US 59 then Oklahoma 51 to Wagoner, then US 69 four miles north to my next stop.
The Wagoner Missouri-Kansas-Texas station, passenger car and caboose.
Missouri Pacific caboose 13540 built by International Car in 1971 painted as Missouri-Kansas-Texas 13540
Pullman 10-1-2 sleeper "Sikeston" built by the company in 1915, sold to Missouri Pacific then later used in maintenance-of-way service as Missouri Pacific bunk car X3436.
Views of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas station built in 1896. From here I took the Muskogee Toll Road into Tulsa to my next stop at the southwest corner of the Fairgrounds off 21st Street.
Dierks Forest 2-6-2 207 built by Baldwin in 1912 for the Texas, Oklahoma & Eastern Railroad.The TO&E was incorporated in 1910 by the Dierks Lumber Company as an extension of the DeQueen & Eastern Railroad from the Arkansas state line to Valliant, Oklahoma. 207 was donated to the Tulsa Exposition Fair Corporation and is now on display at the junction of St. Louisville Avenue and East 21st Street on the Tulsa State Fairgrounds. In 1969, the Dierks Company sold all its holdings to the Weyerhaeuser Company and, although a wholly owned subsidiary of the DQ&E, the TO&E operated independently until it was absorbed by Weyerhaeuser in 1996.
I then drove into downtown Tulsa and found Tulsa Union Station.
Views of Tulsa Union Station built in 1931 and was the first central station in the City of Tulsa, unifying the small St. Louis-San Francisco Railway, Missouri-Kansas-Texas and and Santa Fe depots. My next stop was at Route 66 Park.
Route 66 Park in Tulsa.
Frisco 4-8-4 4500 built by Baldwin in 1942 and powered the overnight Meteor passenger service from Oklahoma City via Tulsa to St. Louis. 4500 was retired in 1950 and towed to the Frisco Railroad shops in Springfield, Missouri, for a clean-up and re-paint. It was then donated to the City of Tulsa in 1954 and parked in Mohawk Park Zoo until 1991 when it was pulled to the Owasso, Oklahoma rail yard to be renovated. Renovation was slow with most of the work done on weekends by volunteers and it was not until 2011 that work was completed and it was moved to its current location.
Tulsa Sapulpa Union Railroad 6 double bedroom-lounge-solarium 4 "Murray Hill" built by Pullman in 1929 for the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the Pennsylvania Railway's "Federal Express" train. It was formerly located in Sand Springs as part of the Sunbelt Railroad Historical Society collection.
Cosden double-dome tank car built in 1917 which has been hand-painted and logos of the various oil companies related to Tulsa's rich history have been reproduced on the sides.
St. Louis-San Franciso caboose 1157 built by the railroad in 1938 as a boxcar and converted to a caboose in 1952.
One last view at Route 66 Park before I drove to the Super 8 and spent the night there.
6/15/2014 It was raining when I arose after 7:00 AM and now well rested, put in the corrections from two days ago and posted them on my website and Trainorders. Next I went to have the hotel's breakfast and the hotel computer was out of ink so the front desk clerk printed my boarding pass. I went back to my room, wrote the Monett story and sent an e-mail to Winston to let him know it was ready to proof then checked out of the hotel at 8:45 AM, really late for me, and made one stop in Sapulpa.
Sapulpa Trolley and Rail Birney safety car 375 built by Wason Manufacturing in 1933. It operated as Tulsa Street Railway 375 from 1927 to 1929 then United Service Company 375 from 1929 to 1933 followed much later by Sapulpa Trolley & Rail 1997-present. It is nicknamed "Maggie M." and lettered Sapulpa Trolley & Rail.
From here I drove west on Oklahoma 33 to the Drumwright Historical Museum, my next stop of the morning.
St. Louis-San Francisco coach 1064 built by American Car and Foundry in 1910 and currently numbered 1062. It was moved here from Jenks in 2006.
Frisco wooden caboose 1119 built by the railroad. It was acquired from an area family who had used the car as a guest house on their farm.
The Drumright Santa Fe station built in 1916. The Santa Fe and Oil Field Railroad was the first line to come into the Cushing Oil Field area in June 1915. This depot was completed on January 1, 1916 and began freight and passenger service to the Cushing Oilfield. Operations were curtailed significantly in the 1930's when oil production fell off, but service continued until 1946 with passenger and equipment, and until 1964 with freight. The railroad sold the depot to the City of Drumright in 1964, when it was refurbished and made into the Drumright Oil Field Museum.
I made my way to Cushing and had a McDonald's breakfast, accessed the Internet there and put the corrections into the Monett story then posted it on my website and Trainorders.com before I updated my rail mileage for the last two days of the convention. I tried to find the Cimarron Valley Railroad Museum in Cushing with no luck but did find the old Santa Fe station.
The Cushing Santa Fe station built in 1918 and abandoned in the 1980's. From here I drove west down Oklahoma 33 to Perkins where it was easy to find what I was looking for.
The Yale Santa Fe station built in 1916 restored by the Cimarron Valley Railroad Museum.
Canadian Pacific observation car "Metapedia" built in 1903. The heavyweight wooden dining car was converted to a parlor car in 1917 then converted to a business car in 1919 and named "Assiniboine". The car was upgraded with a steel undercarriage and side sheathing and was renamed "Metapedia" in 1929. Canadian Pacific retired the car in 1975 at which time it went into private ownership. The Kenneth Mitchell family donated "Metapedia" to the Oklahoma Territorial Plaza in 2013.
Santa Fe caboose 999627 built by the railroad in 1949 as 2234. From here I took US 171 to Stillwater.
The Stillwater Santa Fe station built in 1900. I saw something else of interest here.
Detroit & Toledo Shore Line caboose 121 built in 1950 and moved here from Michigan in 2006.
Stillwater Central WMAX GP7u 7022, ex. SLWC 2178, exx. Eastern Idaho Railroad 2178, exxx. Watco 2178, exxxx. South Kansas and Oklahoma 2178, exxxxx. Santa Fe 2178; nee Santa Fe 2779 built by Electro-Motive Division in 1952. I headed south to take a picture of something I saw on the way north.
The Railroad Yard "We deal in Steel" has a caboose out by the highway.
Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific caboose 17004 built by International Car in 1958. I headed south down US 171 back to Oklahoma 33 west to my next stop in Coyle.
The Santa Fe Coyle station built in 1899 by the Eastern Oklahoma Railway, a subsidiary of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, which built a branch line from Guthrie to Cushing. Not too many years ago, after no longer being used by the railroad, the building housed Coyle's city hall, police and fire departments. Today, it is vacant and falling into disrepair. From here I headed to Guthrie.
The Santa Fe Guthrie station and Harvey House built in 1887 and originally constructed as Guthrie Union Depot, used by the Santa Fe, Fort Smith & Western, and the Missouri- Kansas-Texas Railroads.
The historical sign here. I walked a block over to 2nd Street.
Guthrie still has trolley tracks of the Oklahoma City Railway Company in one of their streets.
The Rock Island freight house at Perkins and Division Street built by their subsidiary Choctaw, Oklahoma & Western which ran from Guthrie to Chandler, and was also used by Oklahoma Railway as a freight depot after the Rock Island was abandoned in 1924. Next I went to KFC for lunch then headed to the two stations in Oklahoma City.
The Santa Fe station built in 1922 and currently serves Amtrak's Heartland Flyer.
The Oklahoma City Frisco station built in 1931 and served as a "union station" from then until 1967, built as part of a plan to move surface rail lines and passenger stations of the Rock Island and Frisco railroads out of downtown Oklahoma City. Grade-separating the tracks of the Santa Fe was also part of the plan. Bonds were issued by the city government to repurchase the rights of way of the Frisco and Rock Island and to pay for new civic buildings on the vacated land.
Prior to the construction of Union Station, the Rock Island had its depot on North Broadway between West 1st and West 2nd Streets. The Frisco had its passenger facilities a few blocks to the west between West Main and West 1st Streets fronting on North Hudson Street. The previous stations were last used on November 30, 1930, with passenger traffic being moved to a temporary station at the foot of South Hudson Street the next day. The Santa Fe Depot remained in use and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad also continued using its own station.
The depot closed to the public in 1967 following the discontinuance of the last passenger trains serving Oklahoma City. Frisco passenger train service ended in May 1967 and Rock Island passenger train service ended in November 1967. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and now houses the main office of the Central Oklahoma Transportation & Parking Authority.
View of Oklahoma City. From here I drove to a 7-11 for petrol then out to the Will Rogers Airport where I returned the rental car then went through Security with no problems, and wrote this at Gate 9 as I waited for my plane to Denver.
United Airlines Flight 5156 6/15/2014This flight to Denver was uneventful.
United Airlines Flight 5156 6/15/2014This flight, which took me to John Wayne Airport, was also uneventful and it was good to be home. Winston picked me up and took me home, ending the 2014 NRHS Convention trip.
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