Hey guys, Thanks for checking! A couple of things; Currently the McCelland Kerr waterway is closed to barge traffic due to high water flow rates down the system. There was an interview with the Tulsa Port Director this morning on the news. The POC is not on an actual river so there is no flow in the Port itself. There is high water backing into the port from the river system it ties into. The big flow rates start at Muskogee downstream and on further south. They are estimating the port could be shutdown from shipping from 3 weeks to a month. The port will not flood as it has the capacity to bsorb the high water. Barges, there were 2 barges that broke loose at Muskogee and went “rouge” as I call it. They passed under the US-64 bridge at Muskogee and headed towards the gulf.... in the way was Lock & Dam 16 at Webber’s Falls Ok. Look up I-40 and Arkansas River, then go up river about 7 miles or so to the Locks. Anyway, the rogue barges decided to overnight at Spaniard Creek about 7 miles or so above the lock. During the night, they lost the barges who happened to be grounded peacefully at Spaniard Creek. They were found the next morning. In the attempt to round up the barges, they spooked and stampeded down river.... alas, they could not stop their headlong rush towards the gulf and freedom. If you go to YouTube and search for Oklahoma Barges, you will see Bonnie and Clyde go down in a blaze of spray and fertilizer! Today we are getting more rain, some parts of Tulsa were getting up to 3” per hour. Rush hour was a nightmare, there was flooding everywhere and some water rescues. We have seen our share of strange weather lately..... We are resilient to say the least. Tulsa is cleaning up and taking care of business! On another note, I want to mention something that’s been on my mind all day. 75 years ago, a very brave group of men did something I don’t think we will ever see repeated again. I thank you sirs! The term Greatest Generation was well earned and applies still! Bless you all! All the best my friends! Dale
Glad to hear from you Dale since Tulsa is trying to compete with the Okiefinokie swamp lol. Best wishes
Weather is just nuts. The desert has blooms not seen in many years, the great Salt Lake is very, and no end in sight. Those barges getting away and loose, is like a train that was tied down and then get turns into a runaway, crazy stuff. Did they hit the Damn dam?
Yes Tom they did. The little town of Webber’s Falls below the lock was evacuated because it was feared they could actually make it through the lock and dam. It was a good thing because the town flooded anyway. It was reported that the river flow down that way was around 600,000 cubic feet per second. Tulsa was getting around 300,000 out of Keystone dam just west of Tulsa. There are some videos of the barges actually hitting the dam on YouTube. I was down there working on Tuesday at Webber’s Falls, that little town is pretty much ruined. Very little of it stayed out of the water. Everything was a brown muddy mess. In contrast to the town of Gore that sit opposite on the other side of the river. It was high enough to have very little flooding. About 13 years ago, the I-40 bridge that crosses the Arkansas just south of Webber’s Falls was hit by a barge tow that got out of the lane. It was knocked down and people lost life. I think about that every time I drive across it. The DOT worked night and day keeping the detours open and got the spans back up in record time. I had some friends come out of retirement to work on that project. Very fine folks. Sad history down there.
Yesterday I went by the elevator at Author City Texas on my way to Texarkana. I saw about 6 box cars lined up there on the loading track. Is there a shortage of hoppers and box cars being used again? Inquiring minds want to know......
Hi Dale, Likely bagged seed, or those big square bulk containers of seed, or may be storing the boxcars there.
I ordered a Digitrax AR1 because the old reverser was not working with the new system we have installed. I put it in tonight and ran my port locos over it. Success! We now have the wye back in operation. We had run a Operations Session last Sunday and to get things to work I had to disable the old controller and park some MOW equipment on one leg of the wye. We have the new system up and running completely now. All left to install is a programming track to work with JMRI. Change over complete and I will box up the old system and decide what I want to do with it. I have a friend who gifted me with the DCS 100 unit, 2 Duplex Radio throttles, 1 UP5 and 1 or the receivers for the Duplex throttles. Along with the cables to hook it all up. A very decent guy who is generous to boot! I’m honored to know him!
Never ceases to amaze me how generous people are in this hobby. Both with time and talent, but also donating to the layout or to a group. I know I benefit from this daily and I'm grateful.
Yes indeed Michael. I plan to offer some of my old system out to some folks I know to get them started in DCC. I own 3 complete sets of the Dynamis System. It was cheaper to buy a complete system than buy just a throttle in some cases. I may keep one and build a small Inglenook puzzle to take to train shows. Let kids run it.
There is, or was, a feed mill of sorts, I never saw it being served by the railroad (Big Nasty or even the Kiamichi) during my time living in Hugo and Paris, and I'm surprised the tracks are in place. All the business for this particular line out of Hugo is at Paris, and the Kiamichi is now the only RR serving shippers there (down from a total of 5 in its heyday).
Speaking of flooding, June will go down as a month to remember. UP's main tracks north of Muskogee were under quite a few feet of water, as was the branch to Tulsa at Wybark. The Port of Muskogee RR is still out of service as their line in the port is being repaired. All of Webbers Falls, a large chunk of Ft. Gibson, and low-lying areas in Muskogee were inundated with flood water. The Grand, Arkansas and Verdigris meet just northeast of Muskogee, and all that water had to go somewhere. I saw those runaway barges hit the lock & dam at Webbers Falls on local TV- both were loaded with phosphate, and I guarantee you that aquatic plants will be overflowing this year. My home was not affected, but I spent a lot of spare time at our local Masonic temple helping the Order of the Eastern Star chapter distribute clothes to flood victims. Today UP is back rolling thru town, BNSF is busy with its ex-Frisco remnant in town, but still no port traffic. It could be a while before the Corps of Engineers deems it safe for barge traffic (and any damage the runaway barges did to the dam has been repaired, as well as the barges being salvaged).
I was down at the Port today and was told it may be the end of August before to flow on the Arkansas is low enough to allow barge traffic. Then they also have to deal with clearing the channel of shoals and debris. It could be a long summer with little traffic. I have definitely noticed a down-turn in rail traffic going into the port lately. There also seems to be quite a few rail cars sitting around as well. I well imagine quite a few folks are being hurt by these current events.
Well, I have started on 555, The Triple Nickel, SW 1200 Switcher for the Port. I’ve gotten the shell to the point I can add the liquid masking and start paint work. With luck, I will have this guy back on the track before Christmas. We have pressed a GTMX lease unit into service to work along side 001 during the repaint.
Hi Tom & Vince, The shell is from a Rapido SW 1200 I bought just for this purpose. Unfortunately the red is too bright but the burgindy should cover to fine. I took the number off the cab sides with 91% alcohol with a bit of scrubbing. I’ll get as much of the CP off as I can before starting on the paint. This was a bugger to get apart. But luckily the lights are all easy to remove. Most were built into the frame. I don’t have much to do to that part. I have a Layout Design and Operations meet coming in March and I want to have this guy running along with 001 for the meet. Should be no problem. Tom, You asked about the layout and things going on down at the port. I have been pretty busy IRL and have not had much MRR time at home. We found a new home for the club and will be taking possession of the space this week. I have been pretty busy getting the lease taken care of as well as all the things that go with it. We will have our first business meeting there this weekend. Then start planning a new modular layout for the club. I have been watching the Port and this summer with all the flooding and then having to drop the water levels of the system to get the barges out of the dam at Webber’s Falls has certainly taken a toll on traffic at the port. I hope it picks up once harvest gets underway this fall. Rail activity out there has been fairly quiet. BNSF still does regular turns out there but we have not seen a lot of SKOL activity. Here’s hoping it will change soon! You guys take care, Dale
Dale, I'm glad to hear that you found a new home for the train club. You mentioned a modular layout is that because of ease of building and if you guys want to make changes it's not hard to modify? Joe
