macjet
Member
Attached is a picture of myself, my sister, and two cousins on 4354, the Frank J. McGarr, under the US-183 overpass in Clinton, OK, in June of 1980.
My great uncle (deceased) was a District Sales Manager for the Rock Island out of Ft. Worth, TX. After the Rock was ruled unrecoverable from bankruptcy (from District Judge Frank J. McGarr ironically) he stayed on with the trusteeship shutting down offices in Ft. Worth and El Reno, OK. During his tenure in El Reno he was assigned the responsibility of recovering third party and Rock Island rolling stock from Erick, OK and points east and returning them to El Reno for auction and disposition.
I don't know where this train originated but we caught up to it in Clinton and were able to ride with him on the last Rock Island train that ever rolled into El Reno from the west. Being all of 4 and 1/2 years old I don't remember a lot but I do still remember that day and am fortunate enough to have a few photos and a few images still rolling around in my head.
I recently won a P2K Rock Island GP38-2 number 4310 (my second of this number) on ebay and it is slated to be converted into the 4354. For sentimental reasons of course.
Edit: I'm the one in the lower left hand corner looking at the cab controls instead of the camera. The are about six more pictures of this day floating around somewhere. My parents had undertaken the task of organizing some 40 years worth of pictures about this time last year. It just so happens that on the night that they started this task my grandmother fell while walking and broke her neck. She's OK and as good as ever but somewhere between the ambulance, the Medivac helicopter, and two different hospitals, all the pictures were scooped up together and put back into storage. It will probably be some time before they are seen again.
My great uncle (deceased) was a District Sales Manager for the Rock Island out of Ft. Worth, TX. After the Rock was ruled unrecoverable from bankruptcy (from District Judge Frank J. McGarr ironically) he stayed on with the trusteeship shutting down offices in Ft. Worth and El Reno, OK. During his tenure in El Reno he was assigned the responsibility of recovering third party and Rock Island rolling stock from Erick, OK and points east and returning them to El Reno for auction and disposition.
I don't know where this train originated but we caught up to it in Clinton and were able to ride with him on the last Rock Island train that ever rolled into El Reno from the west. Being all of 4 and 1/2 years old I don't remember a lot but I do still remember that day and am fortunate enough to have a few photos and a few images still rolling around in my head.
I recently won a P2K Rock Island GP38-2 number 4310 (my second of this number) on ebay and it is slated to be converted into the 4354. For sentimental reasons of course.
Edit: I'm the one in the lower left hand corner looking at the cab controls instead of the camera. The are about six more pictures of this day floating around somewhere. My parents had undertaken the task of organizing some 40 years worth of pictures about this time last year. It just so happens that on the night that they started this task my grandmother fell while walking and broke her neck. She's OK and as good as ever but somewhere between the ambulance, the Medivac helicopter, and two different hospitals, all the pictures were scooped up together and put back into storage. It will probably be some time before they are seen again.
Last edited by a moderator:
