The Webbers Falls Railroad (W.F.R.R.) was a
shortline railway operating between the towns of
Webbers Falls and
Warner in the
State of Oklahoma
Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked state in the South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northeast, Arkansas to the east, New Mexico to the west, and Colo ...
. Its predecessor began operations in 1911, and its line was dismantled by 1918.
History
The creator of the line was incorporated in Oklahoma on December 9, 1909 as the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad.
It constructed trackage between Webbers Falls and Warner during 1911,
[ with the first train out of Webbers Falls being inaugurated amid great fanfare on October 1 of that year.][ The line connected with the ]Midland Valley Railroad
The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was a railroad company incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelp ...
at Warner, giving Webbers Falls a connection to the outside world other than its traditional link, the Arkansas River
The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in Colorado, specifically ...
.[ Aspirations included extending the line to ]Shawnee, Oklahoma
Shawnee () is a city in and the county seat of Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 in 2010, a 4.9 percent increase from the figure of 28,692 in 2000. The city is part of the Oklah ...
, almost a hundred miles further west from Warner, at the very least.[
But the railroad quickly ran into financial difficulty, allegedly because the Midland Valley did not extend the concessions that the minor road needed to operate.][ The line ceased operations in 1914.]handcar
A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, gandy dancer cart, platelayers' cart, draisine, or railbike) is a railroad car powered by its passengers or by people pushing t ...
, equipped it with a gasoline engine, and started running on the line without permission; but, operational problems with the trackage, encounters with another “pirate” user on the same line, and eventually a lawsuit from the railroad owners, caused that activity to cease.[ The Webbers Falls Railroad Company was incorporated in Oklahoma on June 8, 1916 to actually take title to the property.][ A snapshot of the W.F.R.R. in August 1916 showed an 11.6-mile standard gauge operation with its headquarters in Webbers Falls.]railcar
A railcar (not to be confused with the generic term railroad car or railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coa ...
s for passengers.[
The W.F.R.R. still had an eye for expansion, and actually received Congressional consent on October 5, 1917 to construct a bridge over the Arkansas River, which would have allowed the line to extend east from Webbers Falls to Gore, Oklahoma on the other side of that waterway. However, the line was never extended, and by 1918 was instead sold to well-known railroad scrapper Herman Sonken who tore up the rails, dismantled the engines and buildings, and eventually had bullets made out of the steel to help the Allied effort in ]World War I
World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Webbers Falls Railroad
Oklahoma railroads
Defunct Oklahoma railroads