I'm trying to figure out if the rail line that was for many years MKT running northeast from Oklahoma City, through Witcher (ghost town) and points northeast was constructed by MKT or another corporation, and when. Any takers?

Built by others as in a predecessor company, or a contractor for MKT?

Hi there! I'm an amateur train nerd and I did a little research for you. The line you reference was built by the Missouri, Kansas, & Oklahoma Railroad between Oklahoma City and Coffeyville, KS (by way of Arcadia, Cushing, and Bartlesville), and was constructed from 1902-1904; it was sold to the Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railroad upon completion in 1904. The line was severed in 1973 when flooding damaged the approaches to the Cimmaron River bridge just north of Cushing, and the Katy decided not to repair the damage due to lack of traffic. It appears the line was formally abandoned and scrapped in 1977. In OKC, a few miles of rail are all that remain of this line; this stub of track is still used by the Oklahoma Railroad Museum. To the immediate northeast, Lake Arcadia - created in 1984 - now occupies part of the former right of way.

Sources:
http://www.abandonedrails.com/Oklahoma_City_to_Bartlesville
https://bridgehunter.com/ok/payne/mkt-cimarron-river/
https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=OS002
https://youtu.be/yPMGlzV0yZk

If you're interested in Oklahoma railroad stuff, both past and present, the Sooner State Rails facebook page is a great resource too: https://www.facebook.com/groups/Soonerstaterails/

Hey, thanks! Excellent resources! Though it always was known as a Katy line to us, I figured that since the railroad as a whole was largely comprised of acquired lines it had to have been built by another entity.

This particular line clipped the very SE corner of our original 89er homestead (East of Wilshire and I-35) and my great grandfather told stories of the locomotives scaring the teams of horses. Also, during the last days I remember sitting on the roof of my house looking across the valley of the Deep Fork of the Canadian watching the last trains. They wobbled back and forth like crazy and the engines hunted back and forth between the rails. There must have been 150 empty cars in tow!

I believe the MK&O was a subsidiary of the MKT, but I'm not 100% on that; it appears to only have existed from 1901-1904 which leads me to believe it was created solely to oversee the construction of the OKC - Coffeyville line. I can't find much in the way of proof of that, however.

And that's super interesting! That mirrors what I saw in that YouTube video depicting the final MKT train to pass through Hominy; those cars were bobbing and weaving pretty good.

It's not in Oklahoma, but that just reminded me of one amazingly bad railroad in Ohio - the Napoleon, Defiance, & Western Railroad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0EgQBOiB24

Parts of the right of way can still be seen on the very soutwest corner of lake Arcadia, on the south side of Memorial. It picks up again at Hwy 66 and Post Rd and can be followed through Arcadia, east of Hiwassee and then again along the south side of 66 to the west side of Luther where it curved to the northeast and crossed under the old route 66 alignment. That crossing can still be seen on the north side of the current hwy 66 alignment west of Luther Rd.

Great name for a railroad! I hadn't seen that clip but had seen this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pfp7dabTX3I

Thing sounds like it's in utter agony.

The last Katy trains I saw stumbling by were pulled by eclectic combos of F-7's and 9's.

How about the MAW



https://youtu.be/YYHUTbyPUS0

https://youtu.be/fzF0XZ6K6CE

Two memories of the Katy. Can remember the Kathy covered wagons, F units on the old Rock Isand after MKT took over after it went into receivership. They made quite a show up going west up ‘Choctaw hill’.
And when I hired our on the ATSF, working at the Nowers yard between 23rd and 36th, there was at least one prior right swithcman that came over to the Santa Fe when it acquired the rights on the old Katy line thru Midwest city and on to Shawnee.

When one of our company's shops was located at the west end of the old Rock Island yard out in El Reno, back in the late 80's very early 90's, we used to see old KATY and MoPac Geeps working the yard around the time the UP took it over. Also got to see vintage UP GE U-30's doing switching activities.

Two memories of the Katy. Can remember the Kathy covered wagons, F units on the old Rock Isand after MKT took over after it went into receivership. They made quite a show up going west up ‘Choctaw hill’.
And when I hired our on the ATSF, working at the Nowers yard between 23rd and 36th, there was at least one prior right swithcman that came over to the Santa Fe when it acquired the rights on the old Katy line thru Midwest city and on to Shawnee.

Ooh, tell us more more of this "Choctaw Hill!"