With the end of steamlocomotives on the Frisco inFebruary, 1952, came the in-evitable demise of the giantsthat fueled them - the goliathconcrete coaling stations thatdotted the system at over twenty-five locations. In the fall of1953, the Frisco initiated aprogram of demolition of thesesymbols of a by-gone era withthe demolition of the 300 tonstation at Lindenwood Yard atSt. Louis. MO.

According to the Sep-tember 1953 All Aboardcompany newspaper, the St.Louis goliath proved to be adie-hard giant to bring down.Following the removal its up-per superstructure, a total ofthirty-six sticks of dynamitecould only tip the structuredown on one end. Three at-tempts were made to pull thetipple over, but the cable snappedeach time. Finally, a hugecrane that was borrowed fromthe Terminal Railroad Asso-ciation held the structure up-right so steel reinforcement rodscould be cut thus allowing thegiant to slowly tumble over.

Following the demise ofthe Lindenwood goliath, oneby one the remaining giants ofthe steam era met their fate,as witnessed by the followingrare newspaper photos ofLebanon, Springfield, andThayer, MO., and Pensacola,FL.

A remnant of the steam era,the Lindenwood coal stationis shown with upper super-structure removed, awaitingthe blast. Frisco photo

Dust and chunks of cementflew after the initial blast,but the tipple merely tipped.Steel reinforcing cables onthe rear supports held thestructure from falling overand breaking under its ownweight. Frisco photo

After theflrst dynamite blastfailed, a Terminal Railroadcrane held the structure upwhile the reinforcement rodswere cut. Frisco photo

Finally defeated, the tipplelay on its side after beingpushed over by the crane.Workmen finished thedemolition job with moredynamite and a heavy ironball. Frisco photo

Photos from The Pensacola News, Thursday, February 11, 1954

This rare 'Hand-Colored Post Card Published by Fred Harvey" showing the'Frisco Passenger Station. Afton, Okla. ,"was mailed on a Frisco train (R.P.O.,in October, 1922.

electric and the original sani-tary facilities for men wereoutside while female travelerswere accorded the convenienceof an indoor rest room. As wasthe custom in many early rail-road depots, the Afton stationincluded a "Negro WaitingRoom.."

Two interesting con-struction notes about the de-pot, neither of which accord-ing to our records have anyspecific explanations, were 1)A 12' x 14' "Battery Room"located adjacent to the ticketoffice and 2) A constructionnotation that says the interiorceilings were "steel."

The depot also includeda newsstand, probably oper-ated by the Fred Harvey orga-nization, that no doubt soldpostcards like the one shown

Approximately twenty-threemiles southwest of Seneca and348 miles from St. Louis wasAfton, Station G348 on theCherokee Sub-Division,Southwestern Division.

Although probably notthe first depot in Afton, thestation that served the travel-ing needs of the community forover fifty years was built in1912. The 124'6" x 30' 4" brickstructure was built on a con-crete foundation with 13" walls.The 1/3 pitch hip roof wascovered with tile shingles. Therewere two 16' x 636' brick plat-forms, separated by the pas-senger main track.

The interior ceilings were12'6" in the waiting rooms andoffices and 12'10" in the bag-gage and express end. Theinside walls were finished withplaster and the building fea-tured 7/8" x 3 1/4" maple floorsin all but the baggage and ex-press rooms which had con-crete floors. Lighting was

DOWN AT THE DEPOT

The Atlantic and PacificRailroad Co. was incorporatedJuly 27, 1866, by a special actof Congress, with authority tobuild a railroad from Spring-field, MO, to the Pacific Ocean.It was organized and originallycontrolled by John C. Fremont,of New York, and certain of hisassociates, but on June 11,1868, control passed to An-drew Pierce, Jr., and FrancisB. Hayes, of Boston, MA.,Clinton B. Fisk, of St. Louis,and their associates. In 1876the same interests organizedthe St. Louis and San Fran-cisco Railway Co., to take overa part of the property of thecompany at a foreclosure sale,and in that year the St. Louisand San Francisco Railway Co.commenced the acquisition ofthe company's outstandingcapital stock. On January 31,1880, control of the companywas vested jointly in the St.Louis and San Francisco Rail-way Co. and the Atchison,Topeka, and Santa Fe Rail-road Co., through an inden-ture known as the "tripartiteagreement." The property ofthe company, as finally ac-quired and constructed, con-sisted of three well defineddivisions of standard gauge,single track railroad.

Between 1871 and 1882,the Central Division of the At-lantic & Pacific was constructedbetween Seneca, MO andSapulpa, Indian Territory (OK),a distance of about 112 miles.

It should be noted thatAfton was listed as a stationon both the Southwestern Di-vision and the Northern Divi-sion - Afton Sub-Division, be-cause it was the junction ofthe two divisions. Because ofits strategic location, the Aftonstation was the site of a num-ber of additional facilities, in-cluding:

With the exception of the newsstand being absent, the Afton depot stillretained its original appearance when this photo was taken in 1959. Photofrom the collection of H.D Connor.

• 150 ton, 50', Strait built trackscales and scale house.• Two 50,000 gals water tankswith water treating plant, pumphouse, and water crane.• 250 ton mechanical coalingstation, with three bins.• Two elevated fuel oil tanks(20,000 and 200,000 gals) andfuel oil pumping station.• 75' Philadelphia T.T. Co. steelturntable.• Round house, machine shop,and boiler room.• Freight house.Sand house and bin.• Car material storeroom, carinspector's house, and Me-chanical Department office andstoreroom.•Eight stock pins that includedfour chutes, three alleys, a 24'quarantine pin, all of whichcould accommodate up tonineteen cars.

• Eight stock pins that includedfour chutes, three alleys, a 24'quarantine pin, all of whichcould accommodate up tonineteen cars.

The Afton station wasalso designated as both aregular and emergency icingstation, as noted:• Regular Station, "Only forNorthbound traffic fromSouthwestern to Northern Di-visions."• Emergency Station, "ExceptNorthbound traffic fromSouthwestern to Northern Di-visions."

This is an interestingnotation considering that theRegular Icing Station designa-tion denoted that the stationwas, "...equipped and locatedso as to insure proper icingservice of refrigerator cars..."while the Emergency IcingStation designation denotedthat the station was, "...notequipped or located to takecare of the regular icing of re-frigerator cars..."

According to our records,passenger service through Aftonended with the final run of theOklahoman. on May 13, 1967.

EDITOR'S NOTE: All photos of theAfton facilities were taken inSeptember, 1959, and are fromthe collection of Tom Norvell.

Turntable, Afton, OK.

Turntable, Afton, OK, withengine house in back-ground.

Freight House, Afton, OK.Water Crane, Afton, OK