Recent Digital Photos
by Mike Condren

51 Years of Railroad Photography 1960-2011

July 12, 2011

On my way to Memphis from Tahlequah, I spotted this northbound train as I turned onto US59 in Stilwell, OK. There was no time to get to the sunny side of the tracks, so I grabbed this shot at the north end of town.

In Van Buren I find another KCS unit as the second unit in this consist at the South 28th Street crossing preparing to depart east. This unit is from the Mexican subsidiary.

July 15, 2011

On July 15 Matt Condren, Kenny Young and I left Memphis about 8am with a goal of erecting the rest of the tables of the Missouri & Arkansas layout in our basement in Tahlequah, OK before bedtime. We made a side trip at I430 in the Little Rock area. As we crossed the Arkansas River bridge, I spotted a blue SW1500 switching at the Port of Little Rock. We made an emergency egress of the Interstate and found this unit switching.

As we approached western AR, I heard a track warrant issued to a west bound to leave "Dyer and proceed to MP 495". We exited I40 at Alma and headed west on US6471 to Shibley Road and then to Hill Top Road. I let Kenny out while I turned around. There is no parking near the crossing so I slowly approached the crossing until I heard the horn. I then speeded up and got out for my shot, parked in the middle of the road. The signal blocked the front of the unit but I got it.

We then raced to South 28th Street in Van Buren and got the train as it entered the passing track of the former MP yard.

We then drove to the parking lot of the former Van Buren Public LIbrary across the tracks from the site of the former high school. Only the gym remains from my days at VBHS. We waited in the shade for the return of the Winslow Turn. This day we got #30 on the point with the cab leading, the engine which had pulled our Rare Mileage Trip on Sept. 12, 2010. The first shot shows our subject at the former 12th Street crossing. During my high school days we lived at 510 North 12th, about 3 blocks north of this site.

We then moved to the First Baptish Church parking lot for shots of "changing ends" of the train by the engine.

We then parked at the station for a couple of shots of the train as it approached the station and then unloaded and loaded its passengers.

The engine is now coupled to its train and preparing to head back to Springdale, AR.

These are the last tables of the Missouri & Arkansas layout in the basement of our home in Tahlequah, OK. This photo shows the result of our work on the evening of July 15. We were able to lift the table and first sit it on 2 Black & Decker Work Mates. We then attached legs to the L-girders along the back side of the tables. We then removed the Work Mates and set the table on its own legs. This was done with the help of Matt Condren, Kenny Young from Memphis, Raymond Hamm from Muskogee, Bob Moreau from Westville, OK, and myself.

July 16, 2011

On our way to Tulsa, an empty unit coal train from the Muskogee Power Plant stops us at the State 51 crossing in Wagoner, OK.

Our first train at Cherokee Yard in Tulsa is the cars for the UP interchange near Tulsa Union Depot.

Our next train was the WAMX train off the Watco line to Oklahoma City on its way to the SKOL connection at Urban Jct, NE of downtown Tulsa. It was great seeing 4 green, ex-BN SD40-2s on this train.

These trimmer units are working the yard out the southwest leg of the wye.

The new Route 66 Station is located along Southwest Blvd. in west Tulsa, about even with the Cherokee Yard hump.

Note that they forgot to return the power reverse to forard motion after backing the engine into place. The same thing happened in Ft. Smith with SLSF 4003 when it was placed in Exposition Park.

The newest display is this two dome tank car.

This is the hump job pulling a string of cars from the Receiving Yard. Note the definite grade toward the hump, a rare downhill hump which once required brake-sleds made from steam locomotive tenders. These sleds were used with FM H1244s. As business increased H1244s were used in pairs on the hump. The Frisco then bought 2 SD38-2s with dynamics for this hump. The more normal hump in Memphis got 2 SD38-2s without dynamics.

Driving to Sapulpa, Kenny spotted some engines along the TSU tracks behind a building. Here is what we found.

We found our target east of downtown Supulpa along Dewey Ave.

Next to the shop is this small museum dedicated to Tulsa Supulpa Union's ancestry as an interurban that ran from Supulpa to Tulsa.

This is the track side view of the TSU shop building.

This is the view of the former Frisco station at Sapulpa, OK from the TSU shop area.

Sapulpa was the point on the Frisco where the line to Texas left the mainline to Oklahoma City. Today the line to Oklahoma City is served by the Watco network of shortlines and the Texas line is served by the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad. The track to the right is the BNSF line to Texas. The track to the left is the Watco line to Oklahoma City.

This former Southern Pacific slug is parked on TSU track behind their shop in Sapulpa.

On our way back to Tulsa, we ran into this southbound freight.

Another transfer job was seen leaving Cherokee Yard.

A trimmer set was switching the yard.

The transfer run to the UP yard was seen returning to Cherokee Yard.

This consist was on an outbound train.

Three sets of power sat on their trains.

The first stack train for us was this one coming off the Avard Sub.

We chased the stack train across the Arkansas River on the US66 bridge to downtown Tulsa.

Our next train was at the end of CTC NE of downtown near the location of where the Midland Valley and Katy crossed the Frisco and the Santa Fe had their station.

This stack train was west bound east of downtown.

Upon returning to the 17th Street crossing, we found a train blocking said crossing. It had some interesting power, including a NS unit, a warbonnet, and 2 of the new GEs with the A-1-A trucks. Below you see a closeup of one of those trucks which can lift the center axle off the rails. Note the air cylinder connected to a lever which in turn lifts that axle when activated.

The first two units of this train both had these A-1-A trucks.

Here we see the NS unit as the train makes some switching moves.

Now the warbonnet.

And now the A-1-A GE ES44C4s.

Our last train in Tulsa was the stack train we shot earlier but now stopped at the 17th Street Crossing waiting for Fort Worthless to issue it permission to enter the Avard Sub. We gave up on it getting permission soon when a hi-rail truck headed out the Avard ahead of it. The temp was 104 degrees air temperature and a run at expressway speed with the AC running seemed a better idea that sitting in the heat, even with the motor running. Note the remains of some derailment and the destruction of the westbound bridge over the Arkansas River which will be replaced with a two level bridge with commuter rail on the lower level and highway on the upper level.

We stopped at Wagoner on the way back to Tahlequah. After the "10 minute rule", we started to leave. At the State 51 and 16 junction east of town, we found a crew taxi. We turned back to the diamond area. We parked along the former MP tracks along which the crew taxi had been parked. However, the train appeared on the former MKT track, in dynamic braking, preparing to take the connecting track to the former MP track toward Coffeyville, KS.

We changed our route to Tahlequah by taking State 16 to Muskogee to see what might be there. We found the following at the former MKT engine terminal service area.

On our way out of town, we discovered a unit ethanol train stopped for fuel under the US62 overpass of the bypass, Shawnee Street.

July 17, 2011

We caught this DPU at the Main Street fueling station. However, it started moving soon after we got our shot. We headed to the east end of the yard but discovered another train east bound. We headed to Alma and waitied well over 15 minutes before we headed toward Memphis.

East of Conway, we spotted a loaded unit coal train so we got off I40 at Mayflower. We headed to the crossing near the south switch. After a few minutes, the scanner announced a train passing the south switch at Mayflower. That train turned out to be a loaded rock train. It met the loaded unit coal train.

The loaded unit coal train kept waiting for a track warrant to proceed. We finally gave up and headed to Memphis after we got this shot of the train.

This page was designed and is maintained by Mike Condren. If you have materials
that you would like to contribute, contact me at mcondren@cbu.edu