Since Terry Kirkland worked for the SSW in Commerce Texas and the Rock also served that area I would suspect this shot was in the area somwhere. That said, it sure looks like several scenes I have seen published of the Rock on the Choctaw Route. Possibly in the panhandle of Texas or western Oklahoma. Where did you find the shot? That website might give a glimmer of info.
I don't recognize it, from any other photos ever seen. Hmmm. I'd sure like to have that little orange speeder! Boxcab E50
If we don't know exactly where it is, can we at least try and figure out when it was. My thought is that this photo is from the mid 60s no later than 1967 when the mail contracts were lost on a national scale. What we have here is a photo of a Rock Island E8A trailing about six cars. It looks like at least half the cars are head end cars so I am assuming that this train is still carrying the mail. Terry would have been living in Grapevine, TEXAS during the mid'60s and attending college at TEXAS Wesleyan in Fort Worth. I am thinking this photo is from around that area or within an hours drive of it.
I don't believe the Twin Star Rocket carried that much head end equipment south of Dallas/Fort Worth so was probably somewhere north of there. Probably not a major junction like Waurika, Chickasha or El Reno. Looking at the shadows it may be where the train would be heading west making it more likely on the Chactaw.
Here is anther Terry Kirkland photo that looks like it may have been from the same location. I am basing this on the elevator in the background with what appears to be an antenna behind it. Anyone?
if only there was a shot which showed the elevators on the right edge of the 2nd picture... then you could rule out Saginaw
I would venture to say they were taken at the same location. The first was shot from the north side of the tracks and the second from the south side. The telegraph poles are almost the same. There seems to be an extra insulator at the very end on the top left arm of the pole closest to the camera in the first photo. Could be a bird landed between shots or a spec of dirt on the slide as there is no wire connected to it. The extra wire to the right of the locomotive in the first photo puzzles me. Maybe a scratch? Again this appears to be an east west track, probably the Choctaw.
After looking at a topo map of Saginaw the two trains could be northbounds at Saginaw. I have never been to that railfan Mecca, but I do note the water tower and the radio antennas. Both features show up in the topo map. And the water tower looks like many I have seen at military bases across the country. The Topozone Map I looked at showed an Army helicopter repair facility just east of the Saginaw junction.
I don't know. The shadows in the first photo don't seem to square with that. The old Rock line kind of heads in generally a northwest direction through Saginaw so the fronts of the locomotives could only be illuminated in late afternoon in the summer. Looks like high noon to me.
An idea- Anyone familiar enough with the potential location, to try using an aerial search? Such as Google Earth? Boxcab E50
I found the water tower east of the Saginaw junction on Google Earth. Still in those colors, it seems.
I traced the line from Fort Worth as far as Bowie on Google. The problem is, these photos are from long before the current photos posted on the Google site so many buildings are long gone and there are so many more new ones. I have been looking along the old line west of OK City but much of it has been ripped up. There is still some track around Clinton, OK but it is long gone before it hits the Texas boarder. UP still runs trains on the old Chactaw east of OK City all the way to Howe, OK.
Just got this from Steve Goen this morning. I will ask him about the possible date of the photograph. Note the Twin Star Rocket was discontinued on September 29, 1966. "The shot is at Saginaw. I'm 100% sure. The train is rounding the curve and about to cross the ATSF diamond. The FW&D is on the extreme right. The Saginaw tower would be behind the photographer. You are basically looking NW and this is the southbound TWIN STAR that arrived in Fort Worth in the morning. I can also tell by the consist (only three revenue cars) that this photo was probably taken after service south of Fort Worth (to Dallas and Houston) had been dropped."
In both photos it appears that the telegraph lines cross over the tracks from left side to the right. I say they are taken at the same location. If it is on the Choctaw it would probably be west of El Reno. XOKIE
