West Okie Railroad Videos
Running Around a Massive HO Scale Layout! | Deshler Free-Mo 2025 Engineers View
updated
It wasn't the most productive day we've ever had, but we came away with exactly what we were looking for!
This also marks the first time I've done on-camera things on this channel. I plan to include more shots of me talking in the future, as a supplement to the narration that I usually do. Like the new style or hate it? Let me know in the comments!
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Filmed January 1st-2nd, 2021
A few echoes of the line's heritage exist, but they are fading away slowly after 40 years. The bridge over May Avenue still shows the faded lettering of the railroad that built it.
Filmed 10-22-2019.
Not much to say for this one. BNSF's Southern Transcon is one of the biggest arteries in the US rail network. At least two to three trains come every hour, 24/7.
It's a lot of easy fun to railfan, but if I'm going to be totally honest, it's not that fascinating of a subject for video. I like getting oddities, things that people might not have seen before. Lightly used lines where you have to put in some work to get your catches. There'll be more of that eventually, but if you just enjoy watching a bunch of trains zoom by on the main line, then this one's for you.
Happy New Year!
Filmed 5-27-2019
Oh, and there was an earthworm grain shuttle in there too because it wouldn't be BNSF without one of those :)
Sorry for the low-effort content these days. I promise I've got a few bigger projects on the backburner that I hope to make some progress on this winter. Just gotta get though finals before I can really work on them.
Filmed March 3rd, 2016 at Brooks Street, Norman, OK.
This little railroad operates on a 40-mile route from El Reno to Watonga, entirely on remnants of the Rock Island system. It exists to serve the grain company, so nearly all of the traffic on the line is grain. It only runs on an as-needed basis, so it can be tough for a railfan looking to catch a glimpse of them in action.
I happened across this train while in the area for non-railfanning related reasons, but I had my camera in the car and had to stop and get a shot of this southbound train of grain loads. The wind was whipping, but the shots were salvageable! It's been on my list of railroads to catch for a long time. Soon I'd like to do a full video on them and showcase their operations.
Power:
ATLT 5088 - GP38-2 (ex-Southern)
ATLT 3001 - GP40 (ex-MKT)
ATLT 8102 - GP10 (ex-IC)
ATLT 2165 - GP7u (ex-ATSF)
ATLT 1948 - GP9 (ex-NP)
ATLT 4502 - GP40 (ex-Seaboard)
This is over half of the locomotives on the railroad's roster!
Filmed 11/24/2020 north of Geary, OK
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Train 1: Heartland Flyer 821 makes its daily station stop to pick up passengers bound for Ft. Worth. My camera died just before the train fully passed me as it departed.
Train 2: Running close behind Amtrak, this looks like a rerouted train from the BNSF transcon based on the number of piggyback loads. The usual intermodals on this line run with more JB Hunt containers than this one, so I can’t say for sure on the train symbol.
Train 3: Tagging along just ten minutes behind Train 2, this manifest will likely be running on approaches for most of his journey south.
Train 4: With three southbounds through, a northbound train of mixed traffic finally gets the go-ahead. I think this guy was held in Noble for the first three, but that's just a guess on my part.
I've got more videos coming in the near future, so stay tuned for those! You can also find some more goodies that don't make it to Youtube on our Facebook page – http://bit.ly/westokiefb
Filmed 3/20/2019
3/1/2020
Train 1: Northbound grain empties, likely bound for Nebraska but there's really not much way to tell. C44-9CW #5477 leads, note the air conditioner on the conductor's side taken from a Santa Fe unit.
Train 2: Frac sand empties returning to the mines, likely somewhere in Wisconsin. Another C44-9CW on point, #4864. Quite a few locomotives on this train, with an SD70MAC still in Executive paint from its BN days in slot 3 to add some color.
Train 3: A 1-unit wonder takes a string of jumbo covered hoppers north just as the sun slips below the horizon. Another Dash 9 #5053 heads this one up.
Train 4: A late edition of the Z-ALTWSP09 rolls through at the twilight's last gleaming. Dash 9 #4958 on point.
This coronavirus pandemic has given me a lot of time to work on projects. I don't think it'll be too long before another full video drops on this channel. Stay tuned!
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Still, it's not the worst either. Enough interesting things happened in this video that I figured it deserved to be narrated even though I'm not happy with a lot of the shots I got.
DSLR's a lot harder to use than camcorders, man.
Photos used in video:
TPW 901 by Matt Petersen- http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4690447
ATSF 2962 by Jim Matuska - http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=4690447
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Filmed February 14th, 2018
There's also a little bit of Union Pacific action thrown in at the end since we wound up in Enid toward the end of the day. All in all, it was a great trip! I can't wait to come back and see more.
Filmed March 16th, 2017
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With the exception of the last train, but there weren't any BNSF units on that one.
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Filmed July 20th, 2018.
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A couple of trains around Enid before Farmrail lured us out of town with their jointed rail and geeps. Chasing trains is a lot easier when they aren't moving fast.
This was my first trip to Enid, but it certainly isn't the last. I've been out this way several times since, and there's plenty more content to come. Why not hit that subscribe button so you can see it for yourself?
Oh, and there have been several short uploads over on our Facebook page since the last video popped up here. Click this link to check them out! - http://bit.ly/worvfb
Filmed January 17th, 2017
Beware the goose.
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Of course, buying a new camera means getting used to it. I've used camcorders all my life, so making the jump to DSLR brings with it a bit of a learning curve. This was my first outing with the new piece, and the results are... less than perfect. I had big issues with audio for most of the day, and I learned quickly that autofocus is not your friend. I was just going to post this to the Facebook page, but I figure it's decent enough to put up here too.
Overall, I'm happy with the new cam. The image quality is noticeably sharper, 60fps is silky smooth, and there are a lot of upgrades out there for it.
These trains were filmed using two cameras. My friend Jason usually does still images, but he set up for video alongside me for this outing.
Filmed with two Nikon D3300's on April 20th, 2019.
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Filmed May 19th, 2018
I used this short video to play around with color enhancements in my editing software. The original shots were dark and murky because of the clouds, so I don't figure they'll get used for much on the bigger productions I usually do. I didn't have much to add with narration this time around, so here's a simple video of three trains. Hope you enjoy!
Two chases of the same train from two different years. Union Pacific trains LVO54/55 are the shuttle trains that bring carloads into and out of Oklahoma City. A lot of industries on the line get their cars from this train, which runs daily over former Rock Island rails through the heart of Oklahoma.
We found an SLWC train one evening and chased it back to Oklahoma City. This was the first time I'd ever filmed this railroad, and I can't wait to do it again!
Filmed May 20th, 2016.
PS: Sorry about the wind noise!
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Mountain Sun by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
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These first two days of filming out on the OKT weren't the best, but that all changed on our last go at it. March 17th would turn out to be one of the most memorable railfanning experiences I've ever had, and it'll be coming to you in the next three parts of this video series!
That's right. March 17th was good enough that it took three parts to fit it all in. Hope you all enjoy it!
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In mid-March of 2016, we spent a few days out railfanning on the historic ex-Rock Island OKT Line, which is now owned by Union Pacific. In this first part, we will follow a northbound train of grain empties from El Reno to Kingfisher, OK.
There are going to be five parts to this video series, one released every day for a week. All totaled, there is over an hour of video coming out this week.
I hope you guys enjoy it!
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Back To The Wood by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
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Too bad I've only made it there once, and even then on an occasion not meant for railfanning. But even with those limitations, I managed one train out of the deal. A nice mixed grain train with a fakebonnet in slot 2 came through on its way west on the Avard Subdivision.
There is a very big project in the works, to be released in the near future. If you want to get more information about it, you can find that on our facebook page! - http://bit.ly/worvfb
Thank you for watching, and we'll see you next time!
-West Okie Railroad Videos
EDIT: I found evidence of where BNSF 250 is now. In the video linked below, you can see at the 1:45 mark that this locomotive is sitting at NRE, likely to never be seen out on the road as itself ever again.
youtube.com/watch?v=BnNPAKUaUVg
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Oh, and there's a couple of train chases to go with it! Hope you all enjoy this video, and I hope to see you back for the next one!
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Music- "Swamp Shuffle" by Silent Partner
I'm planning to have uploads a little more frequently in the form of things like this. Small little catches that don't require a ton of editing and production time that'll give you guys something to chew on in between the big videos.
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Both trains from another spot in Norman by Chess Eric!
youtube.com/watch?v=mGMVSnCcd70
youtube.com/watch?v=ihOExSL4A6E
Thanks for watching, and I'll see you next time!
For the last several videos, I've been working to include map graphics to try and give a sense of location in these videos. I'm not entirely sure how effective this has been, so I want to ask you viewers. Do the map graphics I include here really help that much? Hit up the comments below and let me know!
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Music: "Daisy Dukes" by Silent Partner (Creative Commons)
"Frisco and BN Power at North Yard" by Randy Williamson: http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=2870669
It seems like the longer the video is, exponentially more work goes into making it. These 20+ minute videos are definitely tough to make.
Music – Swamp Dog Blues by JVStratocasters: youtu.be/mdx42zDniTo
Featuring a clip from Ace Railroad Productions: youtu.be/N2xYJczN710
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This video continues where this one left off: youtube.com/watch?v=88S5uB9neko
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The catch that officially got me back into railfanning!
A quick video of a quick catch, today we look at an altogether too-rare event for Oklahoma railfans. Norfolk Southern's 8099 made a rare appearance in Oklahoma in mid-January, and we happened across it by luck of the draw! Enjoy a look at this beautiful locomotive as it ventures far from its home rails.
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In this video, we take a look at a railroad crossing on the outskirts of Norman, Oklahoma. Kick back for a few minutes and enjoy the sights and sounds of four freight trains on a windy afternoon on the
last day of February.
EDIT: I lied to you. I had a brainfart while making this video, and I forgot that Norman also hosts a quad-gate crossing at Rock Creek road on the north side of Norman. I think that one has been there since the Santa Fe days. Whoops!
(Sorry about the wind noise!)
In this quick video, we return to The Alley for two-train meet on a hot summer afternoon. Good old-fashioned BNSF action on the Red Rock sub!
If you like this video, please be sure to leave a rating, a comment, and if you think you'll enjoy more videos like this, why not drop a subscription?
If you're a returning subscriber from my early days, you may remember me talking about a location in Oklahoma City that I referred to as "The Alley". This video serves as a sort of guide to the Alley itself, showcasing the location and history of the downtown district in between video from a fantastic day of railfanning.
Got comments? Questions? Leave them below! I'd love to hear from you!
And with this, the channel is officially back in action! I figured it would be good to start out with something fresh, and this day's filming seemed fit for the first real release. In this video, we see five trains pass by Brandt Park in Norman, Oklahoma on a gorgeous Friday afternoon in January. I hope you enjoy it, and there will be plenty more where this came from!
As this is the first video I've produced in years, it is bound to be flawed. I do think my narration needs practice, and the intro needs to be worked on more, but it seems presentable as a first go. What do you think? If you have any thoughts, please leave them below!


