Trackplans
Well, things have
changed a bit over the past two years. I
now have a little bigger space.
As this space doubles
as my office space (I work for home, I have done so for the past five years) my
layout will need to be an around the wall design. This shows the “Train Space” I will have.
I tried several ways
of getting the Sulphur plan as outlined previously (see the original post below)
in with the best being.
But while I would like
to pay homage to my parents home town this just did not give me operational
functionality I wanted. So I changed direction.
Since I will not be able to run the big equipment I want to and I have discovered
that I like switching and operations, I decided to create a freelance short
line and here is the plan I have finally decided upon.
Track power will be
DCC using CVP’s EasyDCC system and JMRI for car
forwarding.
The current plans for operation
is a sequence type of session with two trains being
run per session.
1.
“The Transfer” is a run
from Storage Yard to Sugarwood Yard and back to Storage Yard. As suggested by the name Storage Yard is a
cabinet where I store my Locomotives and Rolling Stock not on the layout. Locomotive and cars from the Storage Yard
will be placed on the Staging track. The
train then runs to Sugarwood Yard where inbound cars will be dropped off and
outbound cars are picked up. Once the moves at Sugarwood Yard are completed the
train heads back to the Staging track where locomotive and cars are placed in
the Storage Yard.
2.
“The Local” will then
switch the industries on the layout. A
locomotive is kept at Sugarwood Yard for the local and can be changed out occasionally
via the Transfer.
I have created a blog where I hope to post progress and
projects going forward. Look for this to
start in June 2020.
Last update: May 2020
ORIGINAL POST below.
This is the space I had.
What I would really like to do is a " What If " railroad. A
short line that while the rails were there they have long since been abandoned.
My parents are from Sulphur, Oklahoma and still live there. While I only
spent my last 3 years of High School there I do
consider Sulphur home. My dad has talked about trains coming in to town
when he was a kid but were gone before he was out of his teens.
Here is what I know:
Here is what I have been able to surmise:
Current Day:
BNSF's (pre-merger AT&SF)north/south line connecting
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma and Fort Worth, Texas (part of the Red Rock
Subdivision) is still here today and has 2 Amtrak trains (The Heartland
Flyer) a day, one south in the morning and the other north in the evening.
The Frisco's north/south line connecting Tulsa, Oklahoma and McKinney, Texas
and on to Dallas, Texas is there as well though it is now a BNSF line.
Today there is no rail service in Sulphur and few living
in town that even remember there ever was. Close scrutiny of Google Earth
has shows the remains of the wye at Davis and Scullin
and I believe I can pick out the routes of both branches. While there is
the Chickasaw National Recreational Area and Platt National Park and Arbuckle
Lake this is mostly camping. The Artesian Hotel has been rebuilt and is drawing some
attention and a Super 8 Motel is on the west side of town. There are a
few industries, Ker Pumps being one of the largest.
Currently I am trying to locate copies of Sanborn Fire Insurance maps for
Sulphur. Specifically the 1911 and 1928 maps.
A 1936 map of Murray county shows the two branch lines.
My World:
The track through Scullin belongs to UP, this will provide two
interchange railroads.
A short line operation now exist where the branches have been tied together and
a two or three track yard exist northeast of town.
The AT&SF track to the station and the station have been cleared and the
High School exist where it does today.
The Feed-Mill has managed to grow some and still exist in the location it once
stood.
Nigh's Cabinet Shop will be moved to the business
park and exaggerated to need a boxcar or two a week and lumber as well.
Ker Pumps, which exist today on the southeast corner of the business park, but
has only truck facilities will be modified to have rail facilities as well.
Swarts Bakery has grown out of its tiny store front on the east side of town to
be a bigger facility in the business park.
OG&E Power Plant is still there but with the plant being a natural gas
power plant only occasional replacement parts will need rail service.
Operations:
The day crew's day
starts at 6:00am, with a interchange run to Davis.
In Davis the day crew drops off cars for BNSF and then takes any cars for
Sulphur back to the Sulphuryard. If they have
any time the day crew will begin sorting the
interchange cars from BNSF along with UP brought over the day before.
The day crew will complete what they can before having to be at Sulphur station
at 9:00am to pick up the passenger coach then move it to Davis. The day
crew must have the passenger coach in Davis before the Southbound Heartland
Flyer passes through Davis at 10:00am. The day crew will wait for the
Heartland Flyer because they will drop off a passenger coach as well as pickup
the coach from Sulphur. After the Heartland Flyer leaves Davis, the evening
crew will collect the coach for Sulphur and return to the Sulphur station.
Once the passenger coach has been dropped off at Sulphur day crew
proceeds back to the Sulphur yard.
Arriving back at Sulphur yard the day crew completes the sorting then delivered
and deliver cars to the local industries. (Ker Pumps, the Feed-Mill, Nigh's Cabinets, Swarts Bakery and OG&E)
When the deliveries have been completed the day crew will then make a trip to
Scullin taking any cars that need to interchange with the UP and bring any cars
the UP has for Sulphur. The day crew will drop the cars in the yard and
tie up the power at the Sulphur yard office. The day crew should finish
by 4:00pm.
There is only the evening passenger run to Davis and back, this is performed by
the evening crew.
The evening crew comes on about 6:00pm, they pickup the power from Sulphur yard
and head to the Sulphur station at 6:30pm to pick up the passenger coach
then move it to Davis to meet the Northbound Heartland Flyer is due about
7:30pm. As in the morning Heartland Flyer will drop off a passenger coach
as well as pickup the coach from Sulphur. After the Heartland Flyer
leaves Davis, the evening crew will collect the coach for Sulphur and return to
the Sulphur station. Once the passenger coach has been dropped off at
Sulphur day crew proceeds back to the Sulphur yard.
With the evening passenger run completed the evening crew will tie up the
power at the Sulphur yard office and the evening crew's job should well
completed by 9:00pm.
Updates to follow.
Last update: March 2018