Tecumseh Oklahoma Train Depot
February 19, 2021
It Was Just A Walk In The Park
It was a warm mid-winters day the sun just a few degrees to the West of center in the deep blue sky. A few fluffy white clouds were sightseeing as they drifted by. The wind for the most part was calm but there was the occasional gust that scattered the fallen leaves making me glad I was wearing a long sleeved shirt. On this warm day the squirrels were busy topping off the last of their winters cache of grub, while the crows standing guard gave calls of warning as I passed through. It was just a walk in the park.
Walking to the back of the park I notice how all things were on the move, traveling from place to place in the confines of their world. Reaching the edges of the park I could see the outline of the abandoned right-a-way and knew I was going in the right direction. Then as I stepped onto the right-a-way strange things began to occur.
No I didn’t cross through a foggy mist nor did the warm sunny day change in anyway like you might read in a story book or see on T.V. but what I did see was the mowed grass of the right-a-way change to a road bed of gravel. Standing there I was in shock and I can’t explain it, but I felt a chill deep in my bones. I quickly turned to run back into the park my heart beating so fast I thought it might explode. I stopped in my tracks.
The ball fields and the playground equipment were no longer there. The tennis court and the rocket mainstays of the park ever since I was a kid was not there. What I did see standing on the elevated right-a-way now gravel laid with ties and rails was an open field. And in the near distance I could see some of the downtown area and the top part of the old Opera House.
Still shivering and very scared by what just happened, I was startled by the sound of a train whistle and beneath my feet I could feel the vibrations of the train as it traveled down the railroad track. Once again I looked back the way I had come and nothing had return back to my normal. The only thing I could do now was follow the tracks. To what I did not know.
Up ahead I could see Old Beck white smoke puffing from her stack as the engineer released steam from the boiler and she rolled to a stop beside Tecumseh’s Depot. Earlier today I had set out to see the remains of this old depot just a broken up foundation so I had been told. Now I stood in front of a long narrow wooden building.
Asher Oklahoma Train Depot
The train station had a waiting room and platform on the south end of the building where several passengers were standing after disembarking from the train. At the same time a few travelers began boarding the train for their trip back home to the end of the line in Asher. The north end was a warehouse for freight and goods and about that time I heard someone yelling. “Hey you let’s get to work this freight won’t unload itself.”
Looking in the direction of the voice, I seen this man standing on the ramp between the warehouse and the boxcar with a dolly full of freight. Standing the dolly up in the doorway of the warehouse he looked me straight in the eye and said you must be the new guy? Come on lets get to work we got to keep Old Beck on time. The Asher Station Master will be plenty mad if she’s not there by four o’clock.
With the last of the freight out of the boxcar and stored in the warehouse and the travelers settled in the passenger car, the engineer began stoking the boiler and adding coal. As the pressure rose he released the brake and Old Beck started chugging down the tracks giving out three toots of her whistle before going out of sight. It was really something to see and it almost made me forget my situation.
With Beck out of sight I heard the Station Master holler at me again, “Hey you! Come over here the Newspaper wants to take a picture of us”. Shrugging my shoulders I thought this could prove interesting. I wondered if I would even show up in the picture. I certainly was glad it wasn’t a digital picture. Several of us and a couple of youngsters gathered beside a hand car in front of the depot while the photographer lined up his shot.
Okay he said lets make this count. On the count of three, 1, 2, 3, CHEESE! I heard a loud pop, then I seen a flash of light so bright I closed my eyes for just a moment and when I opened them I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
Once again I was standing on the right-a-way, but instead of gravel and rails it was now just winter grass. Turning to the depot I found all that was left of the building was the cement foundation with grass climbing through the broken cracks slowly breaking the stone and growing over Tecumseh’s past.
The foundation is the only thing left of the
Tecumseh Depot.
Hurrying away from the old foundation I just wanted to go home. I let out a sigh of relief when I seen the playground and my pickup truck in the parking lot. Crossing the creek bridge I hurried down the walking path straight to my truck. Fumbling with my keys I finally got the door open. My heart was going ninety to nothing and I was shaking all over. I dropped into the seat and leaned back. Closing my eyes I needed to calm down before I could drive home.
Sometime later I don’t know for how long, I awoke from an exhausting sleep, filled with all kinds of weird dreams about moving freight and hearing train whistles. I also couldn’t figure out how my overalls, shirt and hat got so dirty I must of fallen and maybe hit my head. I was feeling pretty addled when I started the truck and headed home.
Now good friends thanks for sticking with me this far. I know my story sounds far fetched and I have been accused of telling a tall tale or two, but as they say seeing is believing. If you would please just take a moment and look at the picture I found of the Tecumseh Depot. Take a good look at those gentlemen standing beside the rail cart. Now take a close look at the feller in the black hat and overalls next to the guy in the Derby hat. Good friends you have to admit. That feller sure does look a whole lot like me.
Historical Notes:
Tecumseh was founded the day after the land run of 1891. Named as the seat for county B (later Pottawatomie), Tecumseh was slowly over shadowed by its larger neighbor to the north. In 1895 the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf railroad brought a line into Shawnee. Not to be bypassed, Tecumseh added a spur line 5 miles south in 1896 to help maintain their position in the county. The engine “Lillian Russell” ran daily between the 2 cities. In 1904 the line was purchased by the Rock Island RR and extended another 20 miles to Asher serving the whole county. While Shawnee lost its bid to be the state capital, it won the county seat in 1930. Along with that, the depression and later the war spelled the end for this railroad line in 1942.
"Old Beck" and crew: FH Grimes (shops night foreman), "Gus" Shock (engineer), Robert Archer (fireman), George Pretty (Supt. at Shawnee shops), JA Gordon (machinist), S Myton (conductor on Asher line), L Sterret (switchman)
Rock Island Train Depot, Asher OK - 1902. The station was located at the west end of Main ST, west of what is now US 177. The Stationmaster, Bill Bailey, is pictured. On October 12, 1900, the Choctaw, Oklahoma and Gulf (CO&G)* bought the Shawnee to Tecumseh Railway branch from the Tecumseh Railway Co. and promptly extended the branch to Asher. For the next 40 years, Asher would serve as the termination point for the branch and its engine, "Old Beck."
The CO&G was later taken over by Rock Island.
