BNSF
Sand Springs
South Kansas & Oklahoma Tulsa-Sapulpa
Union Union Pacific Sand Springs
South Kansas & Oklahoma Tulsa-Sapulpa
Union Union Pacific Cherokee Yard begins about a 1/4 mile south of the Arkansas River and lies west of I-244. The yard is basically between 17th street and 41st street. The hump (not really; more on that later) is on the south end.
Arrival tracks are along the east side closest to the expressway (RD8 - RD11), the yard bowl tracks are in the middle (40 of 'em), and the departure tracks are on the west side of the bowl (RD1 - RD7).
The engine service area is located on Union Ave. just south of the 23rd street overpass on the west side of the yard. Unfortunately for photography, there is a "carport" over the 3 service tracks. And the special agents aren't too keen on us being back there, anyway. Some of them don't mind if we just drive back there, but they prefer we don't get out of the car; just do a "drive-by shooting", then leave.
The Railfan Parking Lot (a large gravel area about 1/4 mile long) is on the east side of the yard just south of 17th street. Most of the activity is on this end of the yard. Stay between the poles and the frontage road, and you'll keep the Special Agents' blood pressure down. On the other end of the yard you can park near 33rd West Avenue or in the parking lot just north of there at the Crystal City shopping area.
The hump is downhill from 41st to the crest near 33rd Street or so. The hump power therefore operates in dynamic brake. Normal power is either an SD38/GP38 set, an SD40/TEBC6 set, or an SD38P/TEBC6 set. The TEBC6 is a slug made from an SD9; it has a cab and a fuel tank that carries fuel for the mother unit. The SD38P’s are rebuilt de-turbocharged SD35’s.
Trimmer jobs that assemble outbound trains usually use single or paired MP15's - all 5 (BN 1000-1004, former Frisco units) of them that the BNSF owns are here. Occasionally, one of the SD/slug sets works on this end. And lately they've been throwing in a GP38 when one of the MP15's is down.
The Cherokee sub runs east out of Tulsa to Afton, OK, and basically parallels Oklahoma 66 (the old US 66) through Claremore and Chelsea and points east. The tracks are right alongside the highway from the Verdigris River Bridge to Chelsea. The Cherokee and Avard subs handle transcontinental traffic California - Memphis/Birmingham) and are probably the busiest. Cherokee sub is CTC, but there's usually a fair amount of radio traffic to let you know what's going on.
The Avard Sub goes west to Enid and Avard where it connects with the former Santa Fe Chicago to LA mainline. The Avard sub is not signalled, so all trains receive a track warrant as they depart Cherokee yard.
The Creek Sub goes south to Sapulpa (about 15 miles) and on to the Ft. Worth area and has about 3-4 trains each way a day.
The Sooner Sub departs from the Creek sub at Sapulpa and goes to Oklahoma City. It sees maybe 2 trains each way a day. Track control is via Track Warrant Control, usually issued to westbounds at Cherokee Yard.
Total train count through Tulsa on BNSF is about 3 dozen a day.
Just north of Crystal City on Southwest Blvd be sure to check out Ollie's Restaurant. You can't miss it; he has a grade crossing signal and a baggage cart outside of the restaurant. He's done the whole inside in model trains and assorted other railroadiana, including three tracks suspended from the ceiling. And the food's not bad, either. Sit close to the door on the street side, and you'll be able to monitor activity on the BNSF just across the street.
This is a segment of the former Santa Fe line to Kansas City that used to host The Tulsan and The Oil Flyer at 80 mph. You're lucky to find track capable of half that speed these days, usually closer to 1/4 that speed. The SK&O's yard is in Owasso between 76th Street North and 86th Street north. Go north out of Tulsa on Hwy 169, then exit at 76th Street North and turn left. The operations are once a day weekdays north of Owasso to Bartlesville and points north. There may be a couple of engines at the yard, but on weekends access isn't available; they close and lock a gate. On an intermittent basis (but becoming more frequent lately), SK&O serves the Port of Catoosa. The port line departs the "main" to the east about a 1/2 mile south of the yard. Following it out to the port isn't too hard on SH 266/46th Street North (a.k.a the Port Road.)
Power is anything from ex-Katy and ex-Santa Fe GP7's to ex-KCS/Conrail/Ohio Central/Rio Grande/Union Pacific GP30's and GP35's. And there doesn't seem to be the same paint scheme applied to any two locomotives, so it's a colorful little operation. See this SK&O roster for details.
UP runs a local 6 days a week between Muskogee (southeast of Tulsa about 45 miles on the Muskogee Turnpike) and Tulsa. Power is usually a mix 3 GP38's/B23-7's/B30-7's. They have 2 yards in town - the former Katy yard near 51st Street South and Mingo, and the former MP yard near 31st street between the Sinclair refinery and the west side of the Arkansas river. Unless the train is there, there is usually nothing there, so it may not be worth your trip.
They usually arrive at TYO (Tulsa Yard Office, or the former Katy yard) around 8 a.m., then run down the middle of the Broken Arrow Expressway (US 64/SH 51) into downtown Tulsa. As BNSF's traffic will allow, they enter the mainline downtown at Urban (near Greenwood & 1st Street), then proceed to Cherokee Yard with interchange for BNSF and Sand Springs and TSU. Until Cherokee Yard can accept them, they usually park somewhere east of Lewis Avenue so as to stay off street crossings, which leaves the majority of their train still hanging out in the median on the B.A. Traffic on the Cherokee sub in the morning is usually fairly busy, so it's not uncommon for UP to be stuck in the penalty box for several hours, possibly until after noon.
Depending on track availability in CY, the UP may leave their interchange for the BNSF on a track east of Urban which a trimmer job will pick up later on. They'll interchange with the Sand Springs, then get back on their own track just north of 17th street to go over to the old MP (originally Midland Valley) yard.
The major industry they serve is about 12 miles south - the Kimberly Clark plant south of Jenks. They also serve the Sinclair refinery and a Pepsi plant on the south side of I-44.
Interchange to the TSU is via a track along the south side of the Sinclair refinery along 36th Street (reached from Southwest Blvd by 35th St). (More on that under the TSU.
Frequency seems to depend on the crew, but they're supposed to use 160.470 while on their own track. They've been known to use 160.410 and/or 160.680. They'll be on 161.100 while on BNSF.
This is a former interurban line linking south Tulsa with Sapulpa , about 12 miles away. They run 5 days a week and are usually at the Tulsa end of the line around mid-afternoon.
Power is usually 107, an ex-BN SW7. Their line roughly follows Southwest Boulevard from 31st to 41st, and Hwy 66 - New Sapulpa Road southwest out of Tulsa. They serve an industrial area south of 61st Street and the Ball Foster glass plant in Sapulpa that usually has engine 104 (SW9) devoted to plant switching.
At the north end of the line they cross Southwest Boulevard in a switchback arrangement on the former MV team track to interchange with UP. They interchange in Sapulpa with the BNSF along side Ball Foster on the Creek Sub.
This is another former interurban that connects downtown Tulsa with Sand Springs, about 8 miles west on US 64. West 3rd Street out of downtown Tulsa and Charles Page Boulevard follow the tracks pretty well, especially west of 33rd West Avenue or so.
If you follow Charles Page, pass the K-Mart and Keystone Chevrolet and follow the street thru a jog to the left and back to the right onto Adams Rd. About 4 blocks or so later the Sand Springs shops will be on the right. I don't get over there very often, but I think they're fairly friendly.
The Sand Springs' main business is inbound loads of scrap metal for Sheffield Steel located on the north side of the Arkansas River along Hwy 97 on the west side of Sand Springs.
They get interchange from BNSF and UP at Tulsa; the interchange is located west of the BNSF main between 1st Street and around 10th, but cars are usually shoved into the interchange tracks. This area is under I-244, and not one of the safer places to be. They usually make it to the east end of the line around noon or 1. Power for the Sand Springs are 3 SW900's in yellow with green trim. They usually use a pair to come over to Tulsa.
Sheffield has a couple of switchers in there. If you attempt to photograph, you might want to call ahead; their security folks are rather protective.
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