Saw an interesting sight west of Weatherford, OK today. This ex portion of the Choctaw line is now run by? LOTS of bare tables just sitting there as in possibly stored. One area where I-40 crosses over the tracks had bare tables as far as the eye could see in both directions as it did last fall when we went through. Anybody know whose track this is now?
I'm not sure exactly where you are talking about since it has been some time since I have been in that area (lived in Clinton as a child for a while), but it is probably Farmrail's. Here's a link to a pdf file of the 2005 ODOT state map and if you zoom in you can see the the railroad lines and who owns them: http://www.okladot.state.ok.us/hqdiv/p-r-div/maps/2005state/pdfs/2005highwaymap.pdf
It's most definitely Farmrail- besides the part of the Choctaw Route from Erick east to Hydro, it also operates on the ex-Frisco between Enid and Frederick (as subsidiary Grainbelt) and the ex-Santa Fe Orient line from Westhom (near Thomas) south to Altus. All three lines meet at Clinton, which is FRMC's headquarters.
What kind of 'Tables' ? Roundhouse 'Turntables', Work tables, Dining tables, fruit packer's tables? ?????
"Bare tables" is what most folks call the empty well cars used for stacking two shipping containers. Boxcab E50
Actually a "bare table" according to the crews I have spoken to is any unloaded intermodal car. Whether they be spine, well, container-flat, trailer-flat, single, articulated, triple, quad or five or ten-pack does not matter. My guess is the term started long before any of us were born to refer to an unloaded flat car.
Interesting... I came through there on May 26 and noticed that. I didn't think anything of it since I'm not familiar with the area. I was on my way to Illinois from Phoenix AZ and had never been in that part of the country before. I did learn though that OK is alot like Illinois with all the farm land.
Farmrail/Grainbelt does a fair amount of business as a car storage facility for off lease and seasonal rolling stock. The line between Weatherford and Hydro, OK is washed out over the river and with no operational use is used for car storage.
George, Will you guys be at the OKC train show in Dec.? and an answer to your question. Farmrail News October 2009 Car storage has become a counter-recessionary balance to declining freight revenue for many short lines with surplus track capacity. Farmrail, which has been in that business for 25 years, is currently hosting a record inventory of out-of-service railcars awaiting an upturn in traffic, including 20 miles of mothballed container platforms.
