Gene Autrey was the telegraph operator in this depot during the 1920’s. One day Will Rogers saw him playing the guitar and singing and he invited him to be on his radio show…..and the rest is history. Fun stuff !
This depot played a part of my railroad career back in the day as the track to the left of the depot was used primarily to store 50 ton coal hoppers pulled from the 381 mine which was named for the Cherokee Sub mile post location where the wye left the main for the mine. We generally left Tulsa with empties for the mine and picked up more that had been shoved onto the mine lead by other trains. We then shoved the empties onto the mine spot track and pulled the loads taking them to Chelsea and shoving them onto the track mentioned earlier. The tracks to the right of the main also were used for storage of coal hoppers as is evidenced by the two 100 ton cars seen in the photo. I do not remember if these 100 ton hoppers were used at the 381 mine or not, but I suspect that they were.
Gene Autrey was the telegraph operator in this depot during the 1920’s. One day Will Rogers saw him playing the guitar and singing and he invited him to be on his radio show…..and the rest is history. Fun stuff !
This depot played a part of my railroad career back in the day as the track to the left of the depot was used primarily to store 50 ton coal hoppers pulled from the 381 mine which was named for the Cherokee Sub mile post location where the wye left the main for the mine. We generally left Tulsa with empties for the mine and picked up more that had been shoved onto the mine lead by other trains. We then shoved the empties onto the mine spot track and pulled the loads taking them to Chelsea and shoving them onto the track mentioned earlier. The tracks to the right of the main also were used for storage of coal hoppers as is evidenced by the two 100 ton cars seen in the photo. I do not remember if these 100 ton hoppers were used at the 381 mine or not, but I suspect that they were.
Terry