FL9

In the waning days of the Rock Island’s operations in Oklahoma, one of the shortlines that came into existance was the North Central Oklahoma.  I moved to Enid in 1980 to work for Motorola, and late in December of 1981 two ALCO locomotives arrived in town to operate the ex-Rock Island branch from Enid to Ponca City starting January 1st.  On New Year’s Eve while others were celebrating, I went down to the beginning of the branch line to try to compose a time exposure of the RS-11 and RS-36.  It is not one of my better efforts, but now it is impossible to do over.  The exposure was long enough that you can see the streaks of stars in the sky.

Two years later in July of 1983 a North Central Oklahoma GP7 is trundling along westbound between Calumet and Geary, OK on the ex-Rock-Island Choctaw Route.  This line is operated today by the Austin, Todd & Ladd.

Before long the North Central Oklahoma would vanish as the Katy took over in the form of the Oklahoma-Kansas-Texas railroad.