FL9

Due to a few rain-induced slow orders and the meet at Paoli, we arrived in Ardmore a little over 20 minutes late.  As we sat on the passenger main in front of the depot for our large group to disembark, I shot this photo from the vestibule of a northbound BNSF train heading through town on the freight main.

With the thought of getting a picture of Amtrak 821 leaving town, a large number of us climbed the steps to the bare foundation of the long gone AT&SF freight house on the south side of Main Street.  Just before 821 whistled off, here is a picture of BNSF engineer Keel Middleton about to join us.

Cab Car #90229 is faithfully bringing up the rear as the going-away view was captured by the crowd.

After the group had photographed the depot we loaded up on the three busses that had driven down from Oklahoma City to meet us.  I guided Bus Two out to the Hardy Murphy Colliseum where AT&SF 2-6-2 #1108 has been on display for as long as I can remember.  I did not photograph the engine today as I was busy answering questions about its history concerning the September 1915 tank car explosion and the 1108’s pulling a hospital train from Gainesville to treat the survivors.  Our next stop was at the Ringling Road station built in 1915, the same year as the explosion.  In this photo the Ardmore High School I graduated from in 1973 (now abandoned) is on the left, and the depot is across the street on the right.

The track ran on the right (north) side of the depot on through town towards Ringling, OK and was relocated to its present location on the south side of town in the 1930’s.  When everyone was done, we loaded back up on the bus and headed towards the depot museum at Davis, north of the Arbuckles.