Frisco through Claremore, Okla.

[KCTRWY]

I had breakfast the other morning at a place in Claremore 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. Does anyone have a sense of the pre-merger Frisco volume through town? I'm sure that Z trains and unit coal have increased the total traffic today. Was Claremore a hot spot before 1980 too?

Thanks,
Jim Senese
Claremore

[tferk]

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

[KCTRWY]

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

[Steve40cal]

There are some good movies on Youtube of Frisco and Mop trains running through Claremore in the early '70s. Just type in Frisco Claremore Oklahoma in the search box and they should come up. Steve BNSF