the dispatcher - oklahoma railway museum

the DispatcherCentral Oklahoma Chapter

of the National Railway Historical SocietyOklahoma Railway Museum Ltd,

NARCOA Affi liate Member

Volume 45, Issue 5May 2010

Continued on page 5

Union Pacifi c Railroadand Operation Lifesaver

present awards

John Ansell receives Operation Lifesaver Presenter of the Year award from Larry Dodd, BNSF Railroad

John Ansell Operation Lifesaver efforts recognized as UP’s Director of Corporate Relations & Media, Southern Region Raquel Espinoza-Willams pres-ents award on behalf of the Union Pacifi c Railroad.

Photographs and story by Gary Githens Photographs and story by Gary Githens

Fifteen feet of Historic trolley guiderail saved from Walker St. bridge

Demolition of Walker Ave. bridge continued as ORM members salvage a section of trolley guiderail with assistance from Allen Contracting and Sherwood Construction companies.

On March 13th ORM members Terry Birchett, Jim Murray, Charles Price and Stan Hall met at the Walker Avenue bridge for a “salvage” operation. The effort was to save a historic section of the trol-ley cable guideway that has been under the bridge for about 80 years.

This was made possible through the assistance of Dean Shirf with the Retro Metro Oklahoma City Group and Paul Ryckbost, the City of Oklahoma City Planning Department. More about the Retro Metro Oklahoma City Group in future issues.

A big thanks to Korey Klover with Allen Contracting for providing an equipment lift for our use and Craig Watters with Sherwood Construction for making ac-cess available to us.

Continued on page 4

the DispatcherOklahoma Railway

Museum, Ltd.

Board of DirectorsStan Hall, President

Larry Dodd, Vice President

and Program Chair

Drake Rice, Secretary

Charles Price, Treasurer

John Ansell, NRHS Director

Bob Cossairt, Director of

Buildings & Static Displays

Bob Hussey, Director of

Track Maintenance

Jim Murray, Director of

Mechanical Operations

Harry Currie, Director at Large

Greg Hall, Director of

Museum Activities

Kenneth Kozak, Director of

Museum Displays

Ed Birch Jr., Train Show Chair

Gary Moore, Membership

Chair

Gary Githens, Dispatcher

Editor

Surf the Web...The ORM Website address

oklahomarailwaymuseum.org

Articles and/or photos are due by the 15th of each month. Email to “Editor” at: [email protected]

ORM telephone number: 405/424–8222

ORM FAX number405/424-0504

Special events at the ORM are to increase attendance for train ticket and store sales. These are major sources of fi -nancial support for us.

We also want these events to be benefi cial for our guests. Please make an effort to show up on special event days to show support.

Editor

Showing Up

The weather has fi nally turned into Spring. We have been working on projects both inside and out. The Blue car work is progressing and it will be a big improvement to have it re-paired and painted. We are currently doing some repairs to the Diner. Anyone that wants to help on this, see Jim Murray.

Outside the grass is growing faster than Jim Pasby can keep up with. If you have some time please give him some help. In the last week or so we have been cleaning up the North

property. There is a lot of work to be done there to be able to use the meeting room and house until we can go forward on our long term plans. For those of you who are interested, I would like to get your thoughts as to the best use of the buildings as they are now. Please email or write me with your ideas.

Stan Hall

June 19th Railroad motor car (speeder) exhibit

Jim Stroud “crazy jims cowboy cookin” will be out with his John Deere engine powered double 5 gallon ice cream maker machine this summer. Date will be announced soon.

The trains have started running for the eighth year on the fi rst Saturday in April. It’s hard to believe the time has passed so fast, and so much has been accomplished. ORM is truly making its mark on the preservation com-munity around the country as others look at what has been accomplished so quickly. The common response heard when asked, is ORM has a long range plan that continues to be updated. Planning is a key to success in any organization and ORM is a real example of that.With that said, the trains running and a lot of work that needs to be done and now with the rains, the grass will be growing. The museum has been gaining some new volunteers to help in the many areas of service that need to be addressed. It’s good to see new volunteers helping and working on the many different projects and helping make a difference at ORM.

President Hall now reports the house on the property ORM purchased to the north is now vacant and plans will be considered on to how best to use the facilities in the coming months. The museum will need to use them for museum business to maintain the tax exempt status of the property. Currently the plan for the property has been movement of the museum offi ce into the house and may-be the library and other historic record storage. But this will need to be reviewed more in depth and then a long range plan will need to be developed to cover the future use of the property and tying it into the existing property.

In the shop, work continues on the CNW 7721 chair car on repair to the sides. On the other track OKRX 113 is receiving some attention on the HVAC system. Out in the yard, Bob Cossiart is beginning to think about the res-toration project on the Rock Island Caboose and I’m sure he can use a lot of help. Greg and Stan are still working on the Santa Fe Caboose while the museum has applied for an NRHS Grant to help with the painting of a Box Car back to the original Santa Fe, Route of the Scouts paint. Anne Murray helped put the application together.

Many people do not realize that the museum is a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society (NRHS). We are known as the Central Oklahoma Chapter and John Ansell is our representative who attends many of the meeting throughout the year on behalf of the museum and chapter. It would be good if our membership count could be increased. Of the 175 museum members, only 31 are NRHS members . If we could increase to 50, it would make our chapter better recognized. Someone has said why? First they are the National voice for our work. Sec-

ond, they have been working hard to streamline the overall efforts, which have not been easy, but they are beginning to work and make obtaining information and participating in events a lot easier and third they do sponsor some very nice op-portunities to enjoy special steam and diesel passenger trains. The contacts are worth the price of the member-ship. If you’re not a member, contact John Ansell and he is always willing to help.

thee DDisppattchherMuseum Update by Drake Rice

ORM members Jim Murray and Guy Lynn donated a con-siderable amount of time over the course of many weeks to raise additional funds for the ORM.

The New Braunfels Historical Railroad & Modelers So-ciety purchased a passenger car from the Guthrie Arts Council. Considerable maintenance was required prior to the car being acceptable for moving.

Items of work for preparation of car movement: boarded up 27 windows and/or doors greased wheel bearings installed new air hoses installed 7 new brake shoes adjusted brakes repaired leaking break adjuster applied AEI identifi cation tags switching out break valves

Their efforts required several trips to Guthrie with air compressor in tow.

A special thanks to Guy and Jim for their tremendous ef-

forts on behalf of the Oklahoma Railway Museum.

ORM members go be-yond the normal call of

“volunteering”

Photograph taken by Tony Wessel of the car at Flynn yard waiting for movement to New Braunfels

the Dispatcher

Allyn Mills, Exectutive Director Oklahoma Operation Lifesaver; John Ansell, Eddie Kroupter; Raquel Espinoza-Willams and Larry Dodd

Union Pacifi c Railroadand Operation Lifesaver

present awards

Eddie Kroupter from Tulsa receives Operation Life-saver Volunteer of the Year award from Larry Dodd, BNSF Railroad

Eddie Kroupter’s Operation Lifesaver efforts rec-ognized as UP’s Director of Corporate Relations & Media, Southern Region Raquel Espinoza-Willams presents award on behalf of the Union Pacifi c Rail-road.

John Ansell’s awards presented by Op-eration Lifesave and the Union Pacifi c Railroad

Oklahoma Operation Lifesaver (OKOL) is a nonprofi t, public safety edu-cation program committed to preventing and reducing collisions, death, and injuries at highway-rail grade crossings and on railroad rights-of-way. Many members of the ORM are volunteer program presenters.

Visit the OKOL website at: www.okoperationlifesaver.org

Continued from page 1

the Dispatcher

Fifteen feet of trolley guiderail from Walker Ave.

Korey Klover, Allen Contracting project manager whose cooperation made the efforts possible.

Terry Birchett loosens 80 year old bolts with the as-sistance of ORM president Stan Hall.

Terry Birchett and Stan Hall “up in the air with safety harness’. In this photo Terry is cutting the guideway.

ORM Director of Mechanial Operations Jim Murray has about any tool that may be needed in his truck. Notice the generator for power tools.

[left] temporary support at one end of sec-tion to be removed.

The operation began with sawing through the guideway at two loca-tions.

With some effort Terry was able to break each nut on several anchor bolts holding the guide rail loose.

A temporary support was placed un-der one end of the guide rail. Anchor

bolt nuts were removed in a stratigic sequence allowing the center of the guide way section to be supported by a ladder placed in the bucket.

After center support of the guideway was accomplished, the end support was removed and the guideway low-ered.

Continued from page 1

the Dispatcher

Period light fi xtures recently installed in Oakwood Depot. Fixtures donated by Bob Hussey and in-stalled by Mike Harker.

Maintenance of wood equipment is on-going with res-toration of historic equipment and facility maintenance. Above photograph shows the ORM carpentry shop. The carpentry shop is located in the “refrigerator” car.

Flatcar damage as mentioned in last months “The tale of two fl atcars” article. Brake shaft and handle has to be replaced, step straightened and coupler repaired.

Museum “goings on”

Harry Currie doing restoration work on the birthday ca-boose.

Drake Rice con-structing forms for a concrete equip-ment pad.

Some of the projects by ORM carpenters: Miniature golf course for DOWT Steps to display equipment Replace car siding and trim Car window sills Depot and yard offi ce repairs and upgrades Repairs to Carlson house, barn & club room

We still need tool donations. These can be new or used if in good condition.

Cash donations can be made to the ORM. When cash donations usage can be specifi ed.

Photographs and story by Gary Githens

Line 4

Line 3

Line 2

Line 1

the Dispatcher

Order Form – Engraved Platform BricksCost is $50.00 per brick.

Up to a maximum of 4 lines with 16 letters and spaces per line

Purchaser’s Name ________________________________ Phone No. (______) ________________

Engraved Platform BricksMore than one platform

brick can be donated to the Museum and you can make copies of the attached form. Mail completed forms with checks or money orders to: Jim Murray, ORM, 3400 NE Grand Boulevard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73111. If you have any questions, you can e–mail Murray at:

[email protected].

The Oklahoma Railway

Museum, Ltd. (ORM) has

items available for both chil-

dren and adults at the Depot

Store. These include baseball

caps, polo shirts, t–shirts, lapel

pins, and coasters. Funds

raised by donations for these

items support the Museum

projects.

The Depot Store, located

inside the Oakwood Depot on

the Museum grounds, is open

during regular Museum hours – 9 am to 4 pm on the fi rst and third Saturday opera-tion days of each month April

through October. The store is

also open for special events.

Crosstie Donations

Friends and families of

ORM continue to make dona-

tions for crossties, equipment

and facilities on the Museum

property and on the leased

track.

If you want to make a do-

nation to purchase a crosstie,

a donation of $42.50 will help

purchase a new crosstie. You

can donate a crosstie in recog-

nition or in memory of someone.

All donations should be made

out to the Oklahoma Railway

Museum Ltd.

Please note on the check

what the donation is for, mail to:

ORM Ltd., 3400 NE Grand Bou-

levard, Oklahoma City, 73111

Become an ORM Member

ORM Depot Store

2010 MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION: $30.00 per year – Individual Membership in the Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd. (spouse included)

$25.00 per year – Individual Senior (age 65 and up) (spouse included) and Individual Student (full–time student) Membership in ORM $36.00 per year – To add Railway Historical Society (NRHS) Membership (add $5.00 for spouse) (Student Memberships: $16 per year) SEND NRHS DUES TO ORM ADDRESS BELOW, NOT DIRECTLY TO NRHS $500.00 - Lifetime Membership

Send your application and dues to: Oklahoma Railway Museum , Ltd. 3400 NE Grand Boulevard Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73111

Name _____________________________________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________

City ____________________________________________________________________________________

Phone ________________________ Fax ______________________ Cell Phone_____________________

E–Mail __________________________________________________________________________________

More trolley history comes to ORM

In next issue of the Dispatcher

Restoring #2 The Fun and Games Associated with Restoring a Classic

TIMETABLE Any changes to the following information or articles for “the Dispatcher,” should be directed to the Editor, Gary Githens,(e–mail: [email protected]). For information on upcoming programs, contact Jim Pasby, email: [email protected]).

Oklahoma Railway Museum (ORM) – Open Thursday, Friday and Saturdays from 9:00 A:M: until 5:00 P:M. except on major holidays ORM Train Rides - First and third Saturdays April through October at 10:00 A.M, 11:00 A.M. Noon, 1:30 P.M. and 2:30 P.M. ORM Board Meetings – Last Thursday each month at ORM, Oklahoma City – 7 pm.

Oklahoma “N” Rail – For information, call Rick Inselman, 405/412–1552.

Oklahoma Passenger Rail Association – – Rail Consumer Advocate Organization. Meets bimonthly. For information, write or call Roger Carter, 1120 South 21st Street, Chickasha, Oklahoma 73018, 405/224–7423

Passenger Rail Oklahoma – A grassroots advocacy organization. Meets every Saturday and Sunday morning an hour prior to the arrival of the Heartland Flyer in Norman. The depot opens at 7:50 am. Contact Evan Stair at [email protected], www.passengerrailok.org, 405/366–8957, or 517 Claremont, Norman, OK 73069–5020. Depot volunteer opportunities are available.

Oklahoma S.W. Division NMRA – 2nd Saturday each month, 1 pm, Goldman Room, Kirkpatrick Center, Jim Heidon, President

Yukon’s Best Railroad Museum – Thursday/Saturday/Sunday and by appointment. Located 1 block north of Main and UP tracks in Yukon. Call John Knuppel, 405/354–5079, for times and information.

OUT OF TOWNRailroad Museum of Oklahoma – Tuesday thru Friday afternoons 1 pm to 4 pm, Saturdays 10 am to 1 pm, Sunday 2 pm to 5 pm, or by appointment, HO, N and Lionel layouts, Meets 3rd Tuesday at 7 pm at Old Santa Fe Freight Depot, 702 North Washington, Enid

Waynoka Station/Waynoka Historical Society – 202 South Cleveland, Waynoka Call Sandie Olson, 580/824–1886.

Curtis Hill Rendezvous - May 14-15-16, 2010 a Major Oklahoma rail fan event. Contact Duane Koss at [email protected] or your Dispatcher edior at [email protected] Website: curtishill.com

NONPROFIT ORG.U.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 1323

Oklahoma City, OK

the Dispatcher

Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd.3400 NE Grand BoulevardOklahoma City, OK 73111

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Coming This Summer

Railroad Motorcar Exhibit

Home made Ice cream by Crazy Jim’s

Cowboy Cookin

the dispatcher - oklahoma railway museum

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