From the Tulsa (OK) World: JENKS — A piece of railroad history is about to become history. The Jenks Depot building at 110 West A St. will be demolished and two Frisco chair cars will be removed by Ark Wrecking Co. for $6,000 in a proposal approved by the City Council. Councilors considered them no longer useful and too expensive to renovate. City Manager Mike Tinker said the cost to renovate the building wasn't feasible. A viability study put the cost at more than $120,000. The building is small and can't accommodate large groups, Tinker said. "We'd still have a building with no community use," he added. Plans to make it a train museum have faded away as well, he said. Ark Wrecking has been doing site work nearby for Jenks Public Schools. The company demolished the old Bistro Restaurant building across the street from the depot for a new school parking lot. Tinker said the city's couldn't find a home for the rail cars, not even through eBay. The cars are not secure; anybody could climb inside them, he said. With students parking nearby, the cars would be an "attractive nuisance," he said. The cars once had broken windows, but they were replaced with paintings of passengers by Delores Creekmore for the Jenks Centennial in 2005. Creekmore, who also painted the depot, said it was once a two-story building. The station master and his family lived on the upper floor. "I would kind of hate to see it go, but I don't want it to fall into disrepair either," she said. Mayor Vic Vreeland said he knew the depot as the Pioneer Building. It was used by the Pioneer Club and later by the Jenks Senior Center. The senior group moved to City Hall when it was built in the late 1980s and donated the depot to the city. The depot was originally on the other side of the tracks near an old feed store, Vreeland said. The Oklahoma Aquarium used it for offices while the aquarium was being built. Vreeland said most residents probably aren't aware of the building or that it used to be a railroad depot. "I don't know how historic it is. It's just part of the old depot. It's not the original site," he said. "The problem is the old building is not used for anything, and it's never going to be used for anything." Ark Wrecking offered to demolish it for $6,000, he said. "I said: 'Good Lord. Sign before they change their minds.' " Read more from this Tulsa World article at http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?subjectid=11&articleid=20100802_81_A5_Thisol844065 If the depot is where I think it is, it may be of Midland Valley vintage. Too bad it couldn't be saved- it would be one more MV depot still standing. Tulsa-Sapulpa Union still operates this segment of the former MV (leased from Union Pacific). And, if I ain't mistaken, Frisco 4500 (a Northern-class) is at the refinery in storage, after having been cosmetically restored. Hmmmmmm..............
Frisco Chair Cars Hello, These Frisco Chair Cars at Jenks, OK., are now gone, they has been demolished, along with the Depot. Brian Waller
Drat. Why didn't anyone think before acting? I can't belive "Good Lord, make them sign before they change their minds". No one has respect? Those chaircars would make a pair of nice meeting halls, plugged into the station as a general lobby/banquet area. A 18yr old came up with that in 5 minutes. And they had how loong and did what with it?
I was hoping they could be saved, too - but reports of their condition indicated they were in really...REALLY bad shape. The town they were located in apparently ran out of patience and the only way those cars were going to be saved was if someone took them away immediately. Even though serious efforts were underway at the last hour, and it looked like they were going to be saved, they got chopped. The town just wasn't going to wait anymore. -Mike
