Hi. I've been trying for a long time to find some info. I grew up in Ardmore, Ok in the 60's and early 70's. The train station there was shared by the ATSF Newton, Kansas-Houston mainline, and a Frisco branch that terminated there. The Santa Fe used the east side of the depot and the Frisco the west. The Frisco line is now long abandoned but I well remember short freights coming to town about once a week... I also took a few pics of them. But my question is this: on the Frisco's side of the depot, above the door, is the logo of the Rock Island cast in concrete. It's still there today. And when I was in junior high in about 1968, a friend said her grandfather was an engineer on the Rock Island out of Ardmore years earlier. I've been able to find nothing about a Rock Island line to Ardmore but it clearly existed and suspect it was taken over by the Frisco. I also have an Official Guide from 1953 that lists Frisco passenger service out of Ardmore using a gas-electric Doodlebug, so it would be before that. Does anyone know if the Frisco line was taken over from the Rock Island and when? Thanks
Does anybody have any information about the layout of the Francis, Oklahoma yard in period of 1945-1953? I am beginning a pike set in that era, and I want to model some of the Frisco from the area where I grew up. Although, I am setting my pike in the time before we moved to Oklahoma, since I like steam, and by the time that we moved to my home town, the only engines were diesels. My home town was on the Frisco main between Tulsa and the DFW area. Also, an uncle of mine was a conductor on the Frisco from Sherman to Francis. I would also appreciate any information about the Ada, Oklahoma area. Did Frisco serve the Ideal Cement plant in Ada? I suspect that they did, but I am not sure and all of my relatives who could tell me have, sadly, passed on.
