Port Switching on the Oklahoma Seacoast

Caught you with the title didn’t I…….

As I was asked (vert nicely!) to create a page on Platform 1 MRC, I am going to attempt to entertain you all with the story of our HO Port of Catoosa Railroad layout. This first post will get you acquainted with our layout.

A bit of background; the real Tulsa Port of Catoosa is situated just northeast of Tulsa Oklahoma. It is our link to the world by water via the McClellan-Kerr Arkansas River Navigation System (MKARNS), the Arkansas River, Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. Catoosa is the furthest point on the MKARNS System. The port offers connections via road, rail and barge. We see commodities such as grain, steel, petroleum products, lumber to name some of what is handled on a daily basis. The port is open year round for operations.

The HO Port of Catoosa Railroad. The layout is currently in its second version, the first layout was laid out on a shelf in the garage and measured 18” wide and 17 feet long. It supported 3 industries for switching. It was started by myself and my son. We started construction in the spring of 2015 and began operating it with Bachmann Dynamis. We got it partially sceniced and did run a few ops sessions on it.

In early 2016, Mother Nature stepped in to bring about some changes to our plans regarding how we were going to try to expand the layout. Needless to say the layout went on hold for a bit. The layout sat idle for about a year while we dealt with putting things back together after the storm of March 30, 2016. At that point we made the decision we needed to move indoors with the layout as we had too many things to deal with in the garage environment. Once we got things back to more or lass normal, we were given a land grant and moved into the house proper. If you have read this far, thank you! My next post will talk about the design and construction of the HO Port of Catoosa Railroad in its present form.

Cheers Everyone!
Dale