The website below claims that there are three electric cars - one from Sand Springs Railway and two from Tulsa Street Railway - stored at the former SSRy powerhouse at Adams & Main in Sand Springs. Supposedly these are owned by the local historical museum. Can anyone confirm, deny and/or offer more information on these cars?

Frank Hicks

http://ok.railfan.net/pages/okpts.html#S
F-Hicks@wiu.edu

Saw them a few years back and met their lead proponent, but it's been about 5 years+. Don't know if they were able to get critical mass. You could probably talk to the Sapulpa Trolley group to get contact info.

> The website below claims that there are
> three electric cars - one from Sand Springs
> Railway and two from Tulsa Street Railway -
> stored at the former SSRy powerhouse at
> Adams & Main in Sand Springs. Supposedly
> these are owned by the local historical
> museum. Can anyone confirm, deny and/or
> offer more information on these cars?

> Frank Hicks


tnold@northtexastransport.org

I do not know about the Tulsa cars, and most of these sound like 'chicken coop' bodies. The referenced former Sand Springs interurban from Arkansas sounds a lot like steel car 23 which was located off the highway north of Bentonville, Arkansas in the late 1980's and was threatened by highway relocation. Absolutely nothing but the body and one end had been torched away to allow lift trucks to drive in and out. Hopefully I am wrong here and they found a better candidate somewhere in the woods.

Also in the 1980's there was a single truck Birney body on the ground just north of the shop building, presumably from Sand Springs. I wonder what happened to that since I see no mention of same.

Bob Kutella


68trolley@comcast.net

> The website below claims that there are
> three electric cars - one from Sand Springs
> Railway and two from Tulsa Street Railway -
> stored at the former SSRy powerhouse at
> Adams & Main in Sand Springs. Supposedly
> these are owned by the local historical
> museum. Can anyone confirm, deny and/or
> offer more information on these cars?

> Frank Hicks
The cars behind the old power house in Sand Springs are only bodies that were used as a house around the Tulsa Airport that were recovered in an airport expansion program. Each has a side cut out so they could be joined together. They were the cars the SSRY obtained from Union Railroad at Coffeyville in the late 40's and used till operations ended on January 5, 1955. They are only shells. The other body I am not familiar with. As of last week they were still behind the power house building which is owned by the Sand Spring Historical Trust. There was interest at one time in in trying to put the trolley back in, but do to cost, interest was lost, so everything sets. The State Historical Society obtain another body from them and is making it into a reading area for children that will be housed in the new Historical Museum being built at the capital complex in Oklahoma City. They contacted our museum for carpenters that could be used in the work. The only SS car around I am aware of is #68 at IRM, however, I was told that there was one in Minnesota, but have not seen any information on it. The #68 car was the Owl car and not like the others. It was the type of car that the Union cars replaced. I'm a native of Sand Springs and rode the trolley to Tulsa several times. It was a good system. Also, my first job out of high school was working at the power plant in Sand Springs. Drake Rice, Secretary, Oklahoma Railway Museum, www.oklahomarailwaymuseum.org OKC.

drakerice@ompa.com

> The only SS car around I am aware
> of is #68 at IRM,

For more info on the history of the Sand Springs 68, photos, and drawings, see a very good article in the Sept 2001 issue of Model Railroader magazine. (By the way the 68 was built as car 918 of the Cincinnati, Lawrenceburg and Aurora Electric Street Railroad COmpany. Needless to say that would not fit on the letterboard; and they still had a challenge just to letter in "C.L.& A.E.St.RR.Co.")

Bob Kutella


68trolley@comcast.net