I had breakfast the other morning at a place in Claremore, OK close to the SLSF/MoP crossing. In the short time that it took me to finish I watched two BNSF and one UP train pass the restaurant. Once one of the other local railfans told me that the BNSF runs about 24-28 trains a day through Claremore. I'm sure that Z trains and unit coal have increased the total traffic today. Was Claremore a hot spot before 1980 too? Does anyone have a sense of the pre-merger Frisco volume through town? Thanks, Jim Senese Claremore
Not sure the statistics needed to warrant "hot spot" status, but in 1977 there were 7 scheduled thru freights each way through Claremore: Westbound 33 Texas Special Lindenwood-Irving BTX Birmingham-Tulsa Express QLA SCL/Richmond-Birmingham-Tulsa-Wynoka/ATSF 437 Lindenwood-Ft Worth 437A Lindenwood-Tulsa 137 Kansas City-Tulsa 139 Kansas City-Tulsa Eastbound 30 Oklahoma City-Lindenwood OBX Oklahoma-Birmingham Express (Tulsa-Birmingham) CTB California-Tulsa-Birmingham (off ATSF Wynoka) 32 Irving-Lindenwood 34 Ft Worth-Lindenwood 38 Tulsa-Kansas City 130 Tulsa-Kansas City Ted Ferkenhoff Flagstaff AZ
That qualifies in my book, Ted. Volume of scheduled traffic is actually greater than expected. Only wish that I lived here then to experience it in person. Thanks for the information. Jim
There are some good movies on YouTube of Frisco and Mop trains running through Claremore in the early 1970s. Just type in Frisco Claremore Oklahoma in the search box and they should come up. Steve BNSF
