The Webbers Falls Railroad (W.F.R.R.) was a

shortline railway :''Short Line is also one of the four railroads in the American version of the popular board game Monopoly, named after the Shore Fast Line, an interurban streetcar line.'' A shortline railroad is a small or mid-sized railroad company that oper ...

operating between the towns of Webbers Falls and Warner in the

State of Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. Its predecessor began operations in 1911, and its line was dismantled by 1918.

History

The creator of the line was incorporated in Oklahoma on December 9, 1909 as the Webbers Falls, Shawnee and Western Railroad. It constructed trackage between Webbers Falls and Warner during 1911, with the first train out of Webbers Falls being inaugurated amid great fanfare on October 1 of that year. The railroad promised four passenger trains daily, with two in each direction, as well as ample freight service. The line connected with the

Midland Valley Railroad The Midland Valley Railroad (MV) was a railroad company incorporated on June 4, 1903 for the purpose of building a line from Hope, Arkansas, through Muskogee and Tulsa, Oklahoma to Wichita, Kansas. It was backed by C. Jared Ingersoll, a Philadelph ...

at Warner, giving Webbers Falls a connection to the outside world other than its traditional link, the

Arkansas River The Arkansas River is a major tributary of the Mississippi River. It generally flows to the east and southeast as it traverses the U.S. states of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. The river's source basin lies in the western United Stat ...

. Aspirations included extending the line to

Shawnee, Oklahoma Shawnee ( sac, Shânîheki) is a city in Pottawatomie County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 29,857 in 2010, a 4.9 percent increase from the figure of 28,692 in 2000. The city is part of the Oklahoma City-Shawnee Combined Statistical ...

, almost a hundred miles further west from Warner, at the very least. But the railroad quickly ran into financial difficulty, allegedly because the Midland Valley did not extend the concessions that the minor road needed to operate. The line ceased operations in 1914. During this downtime, a justice of the peace at Webbers Falls bought an old railroad

handcar A handcar (also known as a pump trolley, pump car, rail push trolley, push-trolley, jigger, Kalamazoo, velocipede, or draisine) is a railroad car powered by its passengers, or by people pushing the car from behind. It is mostly used as a railway ...

, equipped it with a gasoline engine, and started running on the line without permission; but, operational problems with the trackage, encounters with another “pirate” user on the same line, and eventually a lawsuit from the railroad owners, caused that activity to cease. Early 1915 saw successful negotiations for sale of the road. The Webbers Falls Railroad Company was incorporated in Oklahoma on June 8, 1916 to actually take title to the property. A snapshot of the W.F.R.R. in August 1916 showed an 11.6-mile standard gauge operation with its headquarters in Webbers Falls. The line was operating two coal-burning locomotives for freight, and two motor

railcar A railcar (not to be confused with a railway car) is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach (carriage, car), with a dri ...

s for passengers. The W.F.R.R. still had an eye for expansion, and actually received Congressional consent on October 5, 1917 to construct a bridge over the Arkansas River, which would have allowed the line to extend east from Webbers Falls to

Gore, Oklahoma Gore is a town in western Sequoyah County, Oklahoma, United States. It is part of the Fort Smith, Arkansas-Oklahoma Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 977 at the 2010 census, an increase of 15 percent over the figure of 850 recorde ...

on the other side of that waterway. However, the line was never extended, and by 1918 was instead sold to well-known railroad scrapper Herman Sonken who tore up the rails, dismantled the engines and buildings, and eventually had bullets made out of the steel to help the

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

effort in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webbers Falls Railroad Oklahoma railroads Defunct Oklahoma railroads