Train may link downtown/Bricktown to Zoo/Remington Park

[Pete]

This is a great idea!




Train may be tie that binds tourist areas

By Steve Lackmeyer and Bryan Dean
The Oklahoman



A train whistle might be just what is needed to combine the draw of Oklahoma City’s two most popular tourist destinations.

The Oklahoma City Zoo, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Omniplex, Remington Park and other attractions at Interstate 44 and Martin Luther King Avenue boast of being the city’s original entertainment district - an area named the “Adventure District” a few years ago.

The area draws 2.5 million visitors a year - a number that Adventure District association coordinator Summer Johnson thinks will grow with the recent opening of a casino at Remington Park.

A few miles southwest of the Adventure District is the much newer, but more well-known Bricktown, which draws about 10 million visitors a year.

Efforts by the Oklahoma Centennial Commission to establish an excursion train between the two destinations has leaders of both districts dreaming up a partnership that could make the city a powerful draw for tourists and conventions.

“It connects the dots with all the attractions,” said Frank Sims, director of the Bricktown Association. “For people attending conventions downtown, it will give them an opportunity to connect to the Western Heritage Museum, Omniplex and zoo ... which I think is huge.”

Sims said he is also excited about the potential of giving guests at downtown hotels easy access to Oklahoma City’s only casino at Remington Park.

“I think there are some real opportunities here,” Sims said.

Johnson agrees.

She said her association helped sponsor summer-time Oklahoma Spirit trolley service between Bricktown and the Adventure District in 2004 and previous years. She said the association was happy with the ridership, but the service was stopped in 2005 because of budget cuts at MetroTransit.

The association also stocks Adventure District brochures at most of the downtown tourist attractions.

“We feel that Bricktown is such a wonderful tourism neighbor to have,” Johnson said. “And to have a train between the top two tourist destinations would be such a unique attraction.”

Ward 7 Councilwoman Willa Johnson, who represents northeast Oklahoma City, thinks a train link could improve struggling neighborhoods between the two districts.

“We’ve got a lot of work to do between the Bricktown area and that area behind the zoo,” Johnson said. “There is some cleanup stuff that needs to happen over there.”

If the train service is to work long-term, Johnson said, some of the area will need to be cleaned up. But she thinks the effort will be worthwhile.

“Whenever there is a thoroughfare of any kind, it opens the door for economic development,” Johnson said. “It happens along arterial streets. It happens along rivers. Hopefully, it will happen along that trail.”

[Luke]

This is a great idea. It's only the beginning, too. If it's successful look out for more rail.

[BDP]

Brilliant!

[soonerguru]

Seems like a good idea. What we really need to be talking about is transportation rail, not tourist rail. Does that make me sound like Scrooge?

[brianinok]

This is a great first step, and I am very excited about it. Does anyone know what the scenery is like between Bricktown and the Adventure District? I hope it is not a slum.

[HOT ROD]

I agree.

This is an excellent first step for OKC. Capitalize on tourist rail. If successful, expand and develop rapid transit network!

I do strongly believe this will be successful, especially if they remember to add in retail and tourist amenities at the stops! There is no thing we tourists hate more than a venue without "shopping options!!"

I'm sure Karried can "second" that!

[Patrick]

Tourism train on track

By Steve Lackmeyer and Bryan Dean
Staff Writers

An excursion train could link Oklahoma City's top tourist destinations by 2007 through an ongoing project between the Oklahoma Centennial Commission and the Oklahoma Railway Museum.

Train may be tie that binds tourist areas

The planned route would run about six miles between the Oklahoma City Firefighters Museum at NE 50 and Grand Boulevard and the Rock Island Freight Depot in Bricktown, which is being renovated into a police substation.

Visitors could then travel by train between the Adventure District, which attracts 2.5 million people a year, and Bricktown, which draws about 10 million people a year.

"It's one of our dreams," Centennial Commission director Blake Wade said Friday. "It's a Centennial project that we're excited about, and we see it being a part of our future."

Wade said he thinks the project is "truly feasible," thanks to work already done by the Oklahoma Railway Museum and 120-member volunteer association.

The museum, at NE 34 and Grand Boulevard, already runs an excursion train on two miles of the track between NE 10 and NE 36, west of Interstate 35. The joint-project with the Centennial Commission calls for rebuilding a train crossing at NE 36 and rehabilitating track through the Lincoln Park Golf Course.

Work on the museum started in 2000, and summertime excursion rides began about three years ago, museum president Harry Currie said.

Recent assistance from the Centennial Commission includes ground improvements at the museum's depot at NE 34 and Grand Boulevard, and acquisition of a 70-passenger car.

"The Centennial Commission has been a real blessing," Currie said. "Without them, we wouldn't be close to getting this done."

Currie said some major hurdles have already been overcome. The Corporation Commission recently approved a crossing to be built at NE 36. The Central Oklahoma Transportation and Parking Authority has given the museum permission to use the tracks the agency owns between NE 50 and Bricktown.

Other hurdles remain.

Currie said fund raising is ongoing to build the NE 36 crossing. They also are awaiting permission from the Union Pacific Railroad to travel along about 600 yards of track that lead into Bricktown.

The volunteers must also replace ties on tracks that run through the golf course.

"But that's not anything we haven't already done," Currie said.

Currie estimates a round-trip will take about an hour. The museum has the capability of including two 70-passenger cars and a dining car on the route. Currie said the service will likely be limited at first to weekends during the summer and special events, but added frequency could increase if supported by demand and funding.

The train association dates back to the early 1970s, and its collection includes a caboose donated by late Mayor George Shirk.

Oklahoma Spirit rubber-tire trolleys could be used to take visitors from the Firefighters Museum to other nearby Adventure District attractions, Currie said.

Currie also said the service could be expanded to other destinations -- including State Fair Park.

"Our track really hooks up with the rest of the world," Currie said. "From these tracks we could go to California."

Ward 7 Councilwoman Willa Johnson, who represents Bricktown and the Adventure District, said she thinks the train could be a boost to northeast Oklahoma City. She likened the project to efforts to establish boat service along the Oklahoma River between Bricktown and the Interstate 40/Meridian Avenue hotel corridor. "I think it's doable, and we should get it done," Johnson said. "The whole goal is to be a city that is connected. ... We want visitors and residents to have a way to get to and from events and activities."

[Patrick]

Who knows...if this is realyl successful, this may be the start of rail transit in OKC. You have to start somewhere. This could always be expanded in other directions. The next link could be between the fairgrounds Bricktown. Then maybe to the airport. Then to the burbs.

[jbrown84]

Fantastic idea. Lincoln Park is really nice so it will be cool for it to go through there.

[windowphobe]

The line that heads east from north of Bricktown (and under the old Walnut Avenue bridge) goes into a complex group of switches on the far side of I-235. Taking the northernmost route, you'll go northeastward along the south side of Washington Park, and reach 10th street where it crosses MLK. Beyond MLK, it's not a bad little area: you go through the western edge of Carverdale and east of Creston Hills before you reach 23rd. Grand picks up again just south of 28th, and the track crosses Grand near the Railway Museum at 34th.

(I'm assuming that existing track will be used for this venture, since the rights-of-way have already long since been paid for.)

[jbrown84]

From the articles it sounds like it will be on the existing track.

[metro]

This is a great first step, and I am very excited about it. Does anyone know what the scenery is like between Bricktown and the Adventure District? I hope it is not a slum.

Indeed this is an excellent first step for something that is long overdue, not just rail, but connecting our tourist districts. This would be a huge first step for better mass transportation in OKC and the only way to get the general population concerned enough to go deeper with the idea. As far as the area, parts are okay and parts are a little slummy, just like the article stated " the area will need to be cleaned up".