St. Louis, San Francisco and New Orleans Railroad

The St. Louis, San Francisco and New Orleans Railroad (“New Orleans”) ran from Hope, Arkansas to a point near Ardmore, Oklahoma, and encompassed about 219 miles of track including a branch line. It existed from 1895 (under a different name) to 1907, when its assets were taken over by the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (“Frisco”).

The New Orleans was incorporated August 31, 1895, under Arkansas law with the name then being the Arkansas and Choctaw Railway.^[1] Its initial line was Ashdown to Arkinda, Arkansas, about 24 miles.^[2] It was controlled by the Central Coal & Coke Co. of Kansas City, Missouri until June 11, 1901.^[2] At that time, the owners decided to extend the line from Ashdown to Stamps, Arkansas, and from Arkinda to Wichita Falls, Texas; so, control of the line passed to the Choctaw Construction Co. which was in charge of the new construction.^[2] However, on June 21, 1902, all shareholders of Choctaw Construction agreed to sell to the Frisco, and the line then came under the control of a Frisco financial syndicate.^[2] Construction plans changed, with the intent to run the line from Hope, Arkansas to Ardmore, Oklahoma.^[2] The longer-range vision was for the line to act as a link in the Frisco organization to facilitate shipments out of Colorado, southern and western Oklahoma, and northern Texas, going all the way to New Orleans.^[3] Hence Frisco had a desire to ultimately extend the route west to Wichita Falls or at least Lawton, Oklahoma, and east to a connection with a main new trunk line running south down the west bank of the Mississippi from Memphis.^[3]

On October 2, 1902 the company’s name was changed by charter amendment to the St. Louis, San Francisco, and New Orleans Railroad Co.^[1] And, while building its mainline in the 1902-1903 timeframe, the New Orleans also added a 9.2 mile spur from Kiersey Junction, near Kiersey, Oklahoma just west of Durant, running south to Texas Junction, a point on a separate Frisco line heading from Madill south into Denison, Texas.^[1][4] As it turned out, the railway never expanded further, all construction being completed by 1903.^[1] In 1904, operation was discontinued on trackage which started from a point called Frisco Junction, being a junction with the Rock Island rail line east of Ardmore, and continuing into Ardmore paralleling the Rock Island tracks.^[1][4]

The line’s property was taken over directly by the Frisco on April 30, 1907.^[1][2] At that time, the New Orleans had a standard, single track mainline running from Hope westerly through Idabel, Valliant, Fort Towson, Hugo, Durant, and Madill to Frisco Junction, about 210 miles, with a branch from Kiersey Junction to Texas Junction, about 9 miles, for a total of 219 miles of track.^[4][1][2]

In subsequent history, 12.4 miles of the Ardmore to Frisco Junction trackage was taken up in 1917; the Kiersey Junction to Texas Junction tracks were removed in 1934; an additional 1.1 miles in Ardmore were abandoned in 1940 by then-owner AT&SF; and, 16.6 miles from Madill to Meade were abandoned in 1942.^[1] The rest of the line, from Hope to Lakeside, Oklahoma and then via trackage rights to a connection with the BNSF at Madill, is now operated by the Kiamichi Railroad.^[5][6][7]