Howard Branch Abandonment - Tulsa Terminal

Discussion in 'Tulsa Terminal' started by mark, Oct 20, 2009.

  1. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    I had posted a 1955 map of the Tulsa area that depicted the Howard Branch,
     
  2. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    Karl, what is the title of the map thread?

    Joe
     
  3. Karl

    Karl 2008 Engineer of the Year Frisco.org Supporter

    The title of the original post is Frisco Lines in Tulsa, 1955.

    See Forums=>Historical=>Divisions=>Six Major Terminals=>Tulsa Terminals
     
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  4. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    Karl, great I found it, Thank You very much for posting the map location!

    Joe
     
  5. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    Yesterday I went to the Howard Branch and took these photos. As I was getting ready to post this message I realized how long ago this was started. It's about the time I joined this website and must of missed this thread.
    WP_20151026_001.jpg

    The first photo shows the North West leg of Wye looking South as it goes between a tree line. The mainline is in foreground going East and West.

    WP_20151026_003.jpg


    The second photos is from Pine looking South as the track goes up a slight incline. On the East side of the track is residential housing and on the West side is Elba Terrace Mobile Home Park, where I lived for seven years, 1976 to 1983.

    (Edit) Added information on second photo.

    I'm having trouble uploading files so will continue on my next post. It's me not the website!
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2016
  6. sapulpadanny

    sapulpadanny Member

    Terry, the two switchmen you are referring to were Al Canada and hold on to your hat, Herman Bienfang. Al was the one threw the fusee. I was the third man on that job. The old boy
    in the car stopped at the traffic light at 11th St. until he saw the fire racing toward him. Then he ran the stop light. i had walked to the store to get us some pop, and the old boy had just filled
    his car up. It was an old car with the gas tank fill behind the tag. By the time I got back to the x-ing Al & Herman were laughing their butts off. I could still see the flames. Oh those were
    the good ole days!
     
  7. sapulpadanny

    sapulpadanny Member

    Terry, I'm trying to find a hole lot of photos i took back in the 70's. Photos of alot of old heads. If I find them I'll drop you a line. I lost alot of them in a house fire. Also had a pix of my
    Grandpa Flowers and his crew at Bristow with their steam engine. Also had a lot of Grandma's FRISCO rider passes.
     
  8. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Danny, I am glad to get the rest of the story. I am surprised that either Al or Herman threw the fusee as both were level headed most of the time. It goes to show the level of Al's frustration due to the driver's actions. It really was dangerous to flag crossings from the ground position, especially Sheridan. I would like to see your pictures as the 70s was my decade with the Frisco.

    Terry
     
  9. tmfrisco

    tmfrisco Member Frisco.org Supporter

    Joe, Your picture of the north leg of the wye at Dawson reminds me of an incident one day when our switch job had completed our air test and was waiting for authority to enter the main and head to the yard. While sitting still, our cut went into emergency. When the switchman got to the rear, he found that someone had tried to steal the Fred on the rear end of the cut. I can only imagine their (it was two teen boys who had passed the engine a few minutes earlier) shock and surprise when the air hoses were separated and the resulting shock of the air being released in emergency. Actually, they could have been injured but must not have been as we neither saw nor heard of them afterward.

    The main line shot is just east of the location of the major wreck a few years ago when a large cut of loaded auto racks rolled east back from a train stopped at Trenton. The angle cocks had been closed on both cars at the cut allowing the rear portion of the train to roll east and hit a west bound train at Dawson. Fortunately for the crew on the train that was hit, they were still east of the approach signal at Dawson when the rolling cars ran through East Tulsa. This caused the signal to go from green to red at Dawson. The engineer placed his train into emergency, and he and the conductor bailed. Neither was injured, thank God. As far as I know the railroad has never been able to find and charge the jack ass(es) who made the cut. They had to know something about the air on the train or they would not have known to close both angle cocks.

    You asked a question about the brick plant in an earlier post, and I can only answer as to the time I switched it. We only spotted empty boxcars (mostly MP 50') for brick loading. If materials went into the plant, it would have been at an earlier date. Hope this helps you.

    Terry
     
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  10. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    Thank you Terry! This is what I've wondered about for a long time. Please follow the upcoming photos it may remind you of more information.

    Joe
     
  11. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    It's time to pick up where I left off with the next set of photos. The first and second photo were shown in a previous post.

    WP_20151026_002.jpg
    The third photo is from Pine street looking North. In the distance you can see a turnout that is the South leg of the Wye. On the West (left) is a fairly large group of trees and on the East is residential houses.

    WP_20151026_004.jpg
    The fourth photo is from King street looking North. On the West (left) is a large manufacturing company and the East is houses. Behind the manufacturing company is Elba Terrace Mobile Home Park. When I lived at Elba Terrace I remember a lot of noise coming from the manufacturing company, welding and heavy sledge hammers. Sometimes it was hard to sleep because of the noise.

    Edit: Added information to the fourth photo.

    WP_20151026_005.jpg
    The fifth photo is from King street looking South. On the East (left) is more housing and the West is several manufacturing companies.

    It's getting late so I will show the last tree photos in another post.

    Joe
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2016
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  12. Joe Lovett

    Joe Lovett Member

    Will pick up for the last set of photos starting with sixth photo.


    . WP_20151026_007.jpg
    In photo six we see the branch from 4th street looking South. The line is now a crude hiking trail with residential housing on both sides. To the North of 4th is more houses on both sides and the line is horribly overgrowth with weeds. It's just too depressing to photo.

    WP_20151026_008.jpg
    In the seventh photo from 15th street looking North is a commando shot of the brick company. The branch line is to the East (right) of brick company and more small companies to the East of that. On the South of 15th is AEP's storage yard which is the Southwestern end of the branch. I plan to go back and take some more photos at other street crossings and will post them at a later time.

    WP_20151026_009.jpg
    The eighth and last photo, at this time, is from 15th looking North which is the Eastern end of the branch with several large warehouses and other companies to the West (left) and apartments all along the East.

    I plan to visit the branch line again soon to take some more photos and edit some of my posts to include more information. Will let you know when it's complete.

    Edit: Additional information has been edited into the above posts. Mostly about Elba Terrace Mobile Home Park.

    Joe
     
    Last edited: Oct 10, 2016
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