Trains No 9 And No 10, The Meteor - Train Consist - 1950

Here is a Meteor consist taken from an aerial photo in a January 1950 "Trains" magazine article.

The train was westbound on the Oklahoma Subdivision in Creek County Oklahoma, between Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

Single E7A (EA7) diesel - in original Meteor silver sides scheme
Lightweight RPO-Baggage
Heavyweight Baggage - in red and silver scheme
Lightweight Chair-Dormitory
Lightweight Chair Car
Lightweight Chair-Buffet-Lounge
Lightweight 14-4 Sleeper - St. Louis-Oklahoma City sleeper line
B&O Lightweight 14-4 Sleeper - Jersey City-Oklahoma City sleeper line
Lightweight Diner-Lounge-Observation

Tom G.

 

Very nice find, Tom.

1950's magazine photograph.

Thanks for the info.

 

I've come to find out, that for a short period of time, the two unit Meteor diesel lash-up was split at Monet.

One unit went to Tulsa and Oklahoma City, and the other pulled the Fort Smith connection of the Meteor.

They did that for a while until the Oklahoma section got too heavy for one unit. There's a later Preston George photo in Collias' Frisco Power with the Meteor down in Oklahoma also with only one unit. The engine in that photo is one of the newer E8As.

It's a really neat picture and a "Pike-Size Passenger Train" of seven or eight cars.

TG

 

That's very interesting.

Splitting the head end power meant that they must have had to turn the locomotives at each end and in between?

 

BTW, there's also a photo of the Fort Smith section with a single Meteor engine with fluted sides heading the train and five or so cars. I believe the photograph is posted here on the chat board, but not sure. An interesting operation.

I never have figured out how they were turned at Monett.

Turntable?

Wye?

But if the Oklahoma section was bigger than seven or eight cars, it wouldn't work any more.

TG

Edit: See this thread: http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread...-passenger-trains&highlight=meteor+fort+smith

 

I guess they could be turned using the turntable.

I don't know if the wye existed when the turntable was in use.

 

There was a wye at the west end of Monett.

It had an east connection off the Ft. Smith line into Monett, and west connection off the Ft. Smith line on to the Cherokee Subdivision. I am certainly speculating, but I assume that this wye was in place during the time when Monett had the turntable.

It would have been easier to turn any passenger engine on this wye than going back through the yard to the turntable location which was south of the main and east of the depot.

Terry Jankowski

 

The wye sounds like it was the logical solution.

Tom G.