john
07-18-2004, 10:29 PM
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