the DispatcherCentral Oklahoma Chapter

of the National Railway Historical SocietyOklahoma Railway Museum Ltd,

NARCOA Affiliate Member

by Larry Dodd

continued on page 5

Volume 47, Issue 6, June 2012

LAJ locomotive 2571 donatated by BNSF to ORM

photo Stan Hall

Inset photo of 2571 east of Crossroads Mall nearing Flynn yard taken on April 8 by Raymond Woods

locomotive 2571 donatated by BNSF

Stan Hall and I wrote to Joe Faust of BNSF Corpo-rate Relations and asked about it. BNSF later of-fered to donate an SD-40 to us that was in Houston.

We respectfully declined as it just would not work on our lighter rail and tight curves. The SD-40 is a six axle loco much too big for our physical plant.

The trail went stagnant for a while until Bob Hussey made a visit to southern California. He talked and met with a good friend of his Bob Brenza, an executive with BNSF, who said he would look into getting info on the loco.

When the 2571 was retired by the Los Angeles Junction Railway Company, photos surfaced of it setting in Ver-non CA. I am not sure who the photographer was, but Greg Hall found them and wondered out loud how we could acquire a CF7.

Page 2 the DispatcherOklahoma Railway

Museum, Ltd.

Board of DirectorsStan Hall, President

Larry Dodd, Vice President

and Program Chair

Drake Rice, Secretary

Charles Price, Treasurer

Bob Nantois, 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

Larry Loomis, Director of

Museum Displays

Ed Birch Jr., Train Show Chair

Gary Moore, Membership

Chair

Gary Githens, Dispatcher

Editor Stan Hall

IMPORTANT REQUEST TO VOLUNTEERS: It is extremely important you record you volunteer hours. Please log in and log out on the time sheets. Volunteer hours worked are a major factor in grant applica-tion evaluations.

June 9 - Member’s picnic and train rideSept 28, 29, 30 - Day Out with ThomasOct 5, 6, 7 - Day Out with ThomasOct 27 - Halloween TrainsDec 1 & 2 - Okla City Train ShowDec 15 - Christmas Trains

It has been a good month at the Museum. Riders are up over last year and Birthday Parties are the main reason. Chuck has hosted a full schedule of parties almost all year.

The Mechanical Department work continues on the Golden State Combine to get it air conditioned for larger parties. The Rock Island Caboose is slowly being rebuilt back to its original condition. Other work continues on the building and grounds. The mowing crew is losing the battle with grass and weeds. We just got our new riding

mower a couple of weeks ago and it has helped.

Bob Hussey and Crew have put in some ties and have leveled the track south of 16th street. We have lengthened the ride on Saturday now that the track is in good shape.

A couple of events are coming up soon so put them on your calendar: Softball Parking from May 31 to June 5; Members and families picnic and Ride on June 9; Retired Railroaders meeting with lunch and a train ride on June 16.

Come on out if you have time; we can find a job for you.

This summer the Dispatcher will have an article by Wil-lis Bottger, a founding member of the group which has became the Oklahoma Railway Museum.

Willis has saved many documents from the “old days” some of which will be included.

An additional bonus will be information provided by Eddie Birch, Sr. and Eddie Birch, Jr.

Coming this summerWillis Bottger tells the history of how the ORM came to be

10th Anniversary Curtis Hill Rendezvous

Approximately 17 people and 1 dog attended the event on May 19th.

Many of the group saw a passenger train with the BNSF business cars and 7 or 8 private rail cars going through Woodward about 9:15 on the 18th. On Saturday the 19th the group visited the Waynoka museum.

Page 3the DispatcherMuseum Update by Drake Rice

Please continue support of your Oklahoma Railway Museum by renewing you membership

Photograph of a CF7 locomotive on Stan Hall’s layout. Note the number is 2571 which is the number of our new locomo-tive donated by the BNSF. The locomotive is an out of the box Athearn model.

Photograph of 45 ton locomotive by Bachmann models with custom decals for OKRX 301.

Raymond Woods Raymond Woods

It has really been a busy spring at the museum. First, Passenger count is up almost double over last year. For the first two months, passenger count is at 1246, for the same period for last year 698. We hope this is a continuing trend. We are having visitors from all over the state, Arkansas and Texas which is great for tourism and the local economy.We have also received the former Santa Fe 2571 a CF7 donated by the BNSF. The UP delivered it to the ORM interchange on Tuesday evening. The engine reached the ORM Yard around 7:15pm Tuesday completing a long trip from Los Angeles. We appreciate the BNSF for the donation and the Stillwater Central and the UP for the delivery to mu-seum rail. Work continues in the ORM Shop on the RI Com-bine, with the addition of HVAC it can be used year round for larger birthday groups. The baggage end of the car has been refurbished to allow for tables and the number of people, including adults, that can be seated. The birthday caboose is nice but is limit-ed space; this will provide a larger venue for parties. Birthdays have been a big success at the museum and we appreciate the efforts of Chuck Shinn as he heads up the birthday party scheduling. Work continues in the shop on the Rock Island Ca-boose rebuild while work continues on the car mov-er. Outside the shop we have ORM 115 in for AC repairs. The shop crews stay busy under the guid-ance of Jim Murray and there always seems to be equipment needing attention.

Volunteers are also doing some painting of buildings on the grounds. It’s been around twelve years since some structures have been painted. It’s always nice to see the buildings in good repair and looking nice for our many visi-tors. But it doesn’t happen with magic, it requires people power to make it happen. So there is always room for addi-tional volunteers. The museum has replaced the mower that was sto-len in March, so the mowing needs to be caught up. This is another opportunity for volunteers to donate time since we have lot of areas to mow. The Museum Board is looking into security systems for the museum since we have had a couple of is-sues come up. Locks have been changed and more secure ones installed. It’s sad that it has come to this, but I guess it’s a sign of the times. Remember if you’re needing gifts for a young rail-roader in your family or yourself, you might want to check the ORM Museum Store. Mary Holderbaum keeps a good number of items available along with Thomas items, some that can’t be found in local stores. So keep that in mind as you’re considering gifts for a railroader. I look forward to seeing you at the museum.

Page 4 the Dispatcher

editors note: this is the first of 5 stories by Neil

by Gary Githensphotos Gary Githens

Special event for ORM family

Ms. Erin Elizabeth Elmore presented her Senior Recital on April 29th at the Eastern Avenue Church. Erin is the daughter of former ORM president Tom Elmore.

Erin played 13 classical songs during her recital. They included Sonata in C major, Longo 358; Little Girl Rocking Her Doll, OP. 31, No. 7; Liebestraum; Wedding Day at Troldhaugen, Op. 65, No. 6; One

Alone from the Operetta “The Desert Song. She was joined in a duet by her brother Glenn in two songs. Proud dad Tom joined her and sang “I know Why.” Following the recital a reception was held. Numerous awards and certificates earned by Erin for academics and softball were on display. A highlight of the rece-tion was the attendance of Rose State College softball coach Nickie Williams for Erin to sign a letter of intent to attend and play softball for the “Raiders.”

Congratulations to Erin and the Elmore family.

Rose State College softball coach Nickie Williams attended the receiption for Erin’s signing of a letter of intent to play softball for the “Raiders”

Erin Elmore is joined by her brother Glenn for a duet playing Malaguena from the Spanish Suite “Andalucia”

RIDING THE CABOOSE WITH DAD“Don’t worry some one’s“

by Neil Baucom

My father Roy F. Baucom told me this story about one of the times he went along with his father on a freight run.

My grandfather, Roy E. Baucom, was a conductor on the Rock Island Rail Road. He hired out around 1916. At the time of this story my dad was about 12 years old.

My dad was with granddad and a next-door neighbor, Roy Eichor, who was the rear brakeman. Grandpa told my dad he was to stay in the cupola when they went through a town or stopped in a yard

While they were stopped in Chickasha Oklahoma my dad saw a cut of car coming toward the ca-boose. He hollered at grandpa telling him what he was seeing. Grandpa hollered back, “Don’t worry son, some one’s riding them and will stop them be-fore they get this far.” Dad kept watching the cars and as they got much closer he again hollered to grandpa about them. Grandpa hollered back, “Son, I said don’t worry some one’s----”. Just at that mo-ment the cars, though by now moving slowly, firmly coupled into the rear of the caboose.

Roy Eichor was standing outside the door on the head end of the caboose. He was thrown back though the closed screen door. When he got up, he hollered out “Roy, I don’t think anyone was riding those cars.”

Proud father Tom Elmore sings accompanied by daughter Erin on the piano.

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Raymond Woods

Locomotive 2571continued from page 1

Some time later, Harry Baldicinni of BNSF at Fort Worth contacted me and asked for a letter of request for the locomotive donation. The letter was promptly dis-patched to Mr. Baldicinni (with copy to Joe Faust) and almost overnight the locomotive was headed towards ORM.

Meanwhile I have stayed in contact with Michael John-ston of the Locomotive Maintenance Terminal (LMT) with BNSF in Topeka. Michael does the write up on all inbound wrecked locomotives and he is very good at locating and tracking locomotives. He assured me the LAJ 2571 was still parked in Vernon.

It has been a real team effort from a number of peo-ple who have been persistent in their quest. LAJ 2571 should reach ORM rails this week. The horns are missing and there will need to be some service work done, but we hope to fire it up soon. We also will need to do some "touch up" paint and put this fine piece of Santa Fe power back into it's proper yel-low and blue war bonnet, with the "cigar band" on the nose.

Anne Murray and Jay Chil-ton in photograph at left. They are replacing the fabric on a passenger car diaphragm. The diaphragm is the me-chanical device which matches up with an ad-joining car diaphragm to close the opening the be-tween the cars.

Diaphragm repairs

On May 23rd the Oklahoma Railway Museum took deliv-ery of a CF7 locomotive. This locomotive was last owned by the Los Angeles Junction Railway, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway (BNSF) and was donated to the Oklahoma Railway Mu-seum by the BNSF. The locomotive was transferred from Los Angeles California to Barstow California and then to Oklahoma City by the BNSF and was interchanged with the Stillwater Central. The Stillwater Central moved the locomotive to the interchange with the Union Pacific who then delivered the CF7 to the Oklahoma Railway Museum interchange at Ekroat. The CF7 was not a pro-duction locomotive. In the 1970s, the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway needed additional locomotives, but found the cost of new locomotives to be prohibi-tive. The Santa Fe had a great many F7 locomotives that were quite old, but still serviceable. The problem

with the F7 was that it was a carbody type unit like the Museum’s Frisco F9 numbered 814. It is very difficult to switch cars using a carbody style locomotive since rear-ward visibility, even hanging out of the cab window, is very limited. The Santa Fe needed what is called a “road switcher”: a locomotive that was suitable for switching in the yard and in industry, but also capable of pulling a train on the main line. The Santa Fe determined that it was feasible to convert the F7s to road switchers and sent the first F7 to the Santa Fe shops at Cleburne Texas to be reworked. Throughout the following years many F7s were remodeled into “Converted F7s” and given the designation of CF7. The LAJ 2571 was one of those con-versions. It was rebuilt in May of 1973 from Santa Fe F7 202L. Today it joins the Oklahoma Railway Museum ros-ter of operating motive power as OKRX 2571.

OKRX CF7 2571 Arrives at the Oklahoma Railway Museumby Raymond Woods

OKRX 2571 moving on the Stillwater Cental on the way to the enterchange track with UP

the DispatcherPage 6

photographs by Raymond Woods

Locomotive 2571

Locomotive 2571 passes Owanda siding on the way to the ORM yard

Locomotive 2571 just south of 16th Street

Locomotive 2571 at Eakroat after being deliv-ered to ORM trackage by the Union Pacific

Thanks Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation for the donation of this locomo-tive. Special thanks to BNSF employees Mr. Joe Faust of BNSF Corporate Relations, Mr. Bob Brenza, Harry Baldi-cinni and Mr. Michael John-ston.

Additional thanks to the Still-water Central railroad and Union Pacific Railroad for delivering the locomotive the last few miles to ORM tracks and for their continued assis-tance and support of the mu-seum.

We will treasure the locomotive and it will be an educational tool and enjoyed by visitors to the mu-seum for years to come.

2012 ORM/NRHS MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION:

New Membership Renewal Membership (begin Jan 1st) Date __________________ $36.00 per year – Individual Membership in the Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd. (spouse included) Pro-rated dues $3.00 per month

$30.00 per year – Individual Senior (age 65 and up) (spouse included) and Individual Student (full–time student) Membership in ORM Pro-rated dues $2.50 per month $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 ________________________________________ State _______ Zip Code _______________________

Phone ________________________ Fax ______________________ Cell Phone_____________________

E–Mail __________________________________________________________________________________

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:

jtmurray@cox.net.

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 first and third Saturday opera-tion days of each month April through August. 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

Page 7

June 9 - Member’s picnic and train ride food provided by the museum

the DispatcherPage 8

Oklahoma Railway Museum, Ltd.3400 NE Grand BoulevardOklahoma City, OK 73111-4417

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

Locomotive 2571 donated

by BNSF arrives

June 9th members picnic

and train ride

TIMETABLE Any changes to the following information or articles for “the Dispatcher,” should be directed to the Editor, Gary Githens,(e–mail: ORMnews@cox.net).

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 August 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 sfrr@aol.com, 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.

Please continue support of your Oklahoma Railway Museum by renewing you membership