Dedicated to intercity passenger rail expansion between Fort Worth and Kansas City through Oklahoma City and Wichita. We need a connected America!


Heartland Flyer to Ft Worth

Monday, December 12, 2016 4:25 PM

Written by Gary Lanman

On Friday, December 9, 2016, my wife, Pam, and friends Joann and Lonnie took the Heartland Flyer to Ft Worth, Texas to get our train riding on and to visit Cowtown.  We had to get up really early because it is over 60 miles to the station in Oklahoma City.  They got to our house early, so we made it to the station early.  They are woking on the station, but they still have parking at the station for $10 per day.

We were hoping to play cards on the return trip since it would be dark, but alas there were no tables on the train. The cafe car attendant was funny as usual so we had a good time.  When we got to Pauls Valley, there were 77 little school kids that got on the train for a trip to Ardmore for a Christmas party.  They were having the time of their lives and will remember this trip for a long time.  They were to take the bus back to Pauls Valley.

We arrived in Ft Worth on time about 12:30 pm and went to the station to buy a bus ticket to the Cowtown.  The cost was $1.75 per person for a all day pass for seniors.  The Ft Worth station serves the Trinity Rail, Amtrak, city busses and taxi services.  We caught the bus #1 to Cowtown which runs every 15 minutes during the day.

Our first task at Cowtown was to find lunch.  On a reccomendation, we went to Los Vaquares with was about 2.5 blocks north of Cowtown.  It was very nice with good food and a friendly environment.  They were playing Christmas carols.  It was nice just to be able to eat and talk.

Back at Cowtown, we stopped at the Bill Pickett statue as he was a black cowboy that worked at the 101 Ranch and is buried there.  One of the cowboys said that Bill use to do his rodeo stunts on that very spot.  We walked around waiting for the 4 O’Clock herding of the Longhorn Cattle.  They also do one at 11 in the morning.  The longhorns seem very gentle.

There is a Subway restaurant in the station so we got food and drink to take on the train back to OKC.  I am happy to report that the repairs to the train track helped as we hit 79mph serveral times in Texas before we got to the Red River.  When we got close to Norman, the train had to stop due to a grass fire near the tracks, but we still got to OKC on time at 9:30 pm.

A good day was had by all.