Abandoned Railroad, ONMP, the Ringling Road

[Centaurmanexe]

To bad you can't turn it into a tourist expanse or a rail-trail with the line being used for trolly and hobby builds....sad to see it like that.

[railheadok]

@Centaurmanexe ....There was a gentleman that tried to get funds to use the full original line as a trolly/tourist line before all the rails were removed but back in those there wasn't much interest in that sort of stuff and gas was much cheaper.

[DRGW168]

Wow thats amazing. How long is the remaining trackage? And I love the wooden trestle. Thanks for sharing

[railheadok]

Thanks for your comment. There are only about 3 miles of the original ONMP trackage left. BNSF still uses 2 miles of it to serve the Michelin Plant, the remaining 1 mile is the abandoned portion in the video. Wish it still ran to Ringling. I have lots of memories and photos of when it did.

[JeffHardyeXtreme15]

i just lived in ringling oklahoma for six months. there's so much neat stuff to find around that area

[SaclunchGsus]

I just want to say thanks for sharing. I feel very sad when I watch this for some reason but it is very good work.

[railheadok]

Thanks for your comment. Our world is changing so fast now days and I feel the younger generation is missing out on a great way of life that was experienced during the "golden" days of the railroads.

[MissouriEarthMovers]

Great footage love old abandoned stuff.

[arlingtontrains7]

this video was awsome:d.. i like the history and that the tracks are still there....:).. i wish the land owners kept the track going threw their properts.. the way i see it dont mess with history.. unless it needs mainteniince work... and id love it if they wer to keep useing the tracks too

[bacintime]

Very interesting....thanks for posting this...I used to live in Wilson, went to school there in the early/mid sixties. I had family living in Ringling and Healdton. This brings back a lot of memories. Very interesting footage.

[HattieLovesCattie]

John Ringling died with $311 to his name.His parents were German immigrants.

[HattieLovesCattie]

Go to Google and find out about the family,the parents were from Germany.

[AviationMetalSmith]

Wow! I didn't know the RBBB Circus Train actually had "Home Rails".

[Trainfanz]

Bridge At 1:04 Looks like Toby's Tightrope!

[vettebecker]

Even though they have age on them. suprisingly in good shape.

[johnboyd7]

aww poor tracks

wish they wer still used..

[Railrodder]

Very interesting! Surprised the rails are still there! You can almost sense the history..like being there. When viewing under the bridge, I was visioning a train roaring overhead! We have lots of abandonned lines in our area(Kingston Ontario) to explore! Please feel free to check out my channel!

[railheadok]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed the video. I'll check out your channel.

[SayYesToReason]

I love doing this, and have found a number of amazing lines all over OK. It's a great hobby!

[theup3985]

Great stuff! I love how you captured the aura of history. There is another abandoned ROW in Holdenville. But that was the Rock Island. So this couldn't be the same line. Although I bet it met up or crossed this line somewhere?

[railheadok]

Thanks for your nice comment. The original intentions of John Ringling was to run the line from Ardmore to Lawton and beyond, but it never got passed Ringling.

[lightrailbo]

Love it. I hunt down old ROW's here in Oklahoma also. Nothing better to me than to grab my RR atlas & go on a road trip in search of these. I'm still finding them today.

[railheadok]

Google Earth comes in handy also for following the old abandoned lines from high above.

[whatihave2do]

I have a thing for trains and a bigger thing for abandoned train stuff. I have a few videos I made and uploaded here. I will have more once the weather improves and before things leaf out and the bugs get bad. Great video. I need a new camcorder as mine is too fussy on connecting to the computer so I end up using my digital camera.

[railheadok]

I like checking out the old abandoned lines also. It's interesting to think about the towns, etc. they once served and in lots of cases the towns were built because of the RR. That's what happened with the towns along this line. Thanks for your comment, I'll check out your videos.

[nyshooter94]

I wiah i coulde find things like that around where i live. Im sure thers lots some where but i cant find it. great video to.

[SomeNameUnknown]

Hi, I got your email message and I am in the process of going to that site to see the pictures. This is very interesting.  Thank you.

[railheadok]

I think the system didn't want me posting my URL for my webshots album with photos of this line. If anyone would like to see the photos of the ONMP Line (before & after abandonment) please let me know through YouTube messaging.

[railheadok]

Yep, that was the problem! It won't post URL's or email addresses.

[SomeNameUnknown]

At webshots you had an interesting picture of ants crossing a creek by using the railroad track. I wonder how those ants figured that out and got together to work like that. Excellent pics!

[railheadok]

Wasn't that crazy! They were crossing where the balast and crossties had fallen into the creek and the rails are stretched out in mid air. I guess the ants figured that if the trains weren't using the rails anymore then they would. Amazing creatures. And we humans think we are smart!

[Deputydog1956]

yep, send them to me, I would love to see them !

[railheadok]

Hi, I tried to send the link to you through YouTube messaging but it said you have a friend lock turned on and it wouldn't deliver the message and the system will not let me post the link here.

[railheadok]

I finally figured out that I could display the link to my photos on my YouTube Channel Page ( or home page ) so just click on "Railheadok" and it will take you there. You should then see the link.

[SomeNameUnknown]

Awesome video! At 5:05 it shows the date of 1896 as the date the rail was rolled! The oldest I have ever found is 1897 in Ohio that is still in use on a 26 mile branch line. The line is barely clinging to life. Do you have any more info on this line that you filmed?

[moz2011]

I live in Beaufort South Carolina and they just stopped running the trains through. When the last train came through it was three cars long, 2 box cars and a beautifully painted orange caboose. It's sad to no longer here it go by.

[railheadok]

Sorry to hear that. It's always sad to me when they stop running trains and abandon the lines.

[railheadok]

That would be great. Back in the late 70's before the rest of the line was totally abandoned there was some talk of making the whole 30 miles of the line a hiking trail but the idea never got off the ground and the right-of-way was turned over to the adjacent land owners.

[bkbry3227]

im from ringling and i think the line should be cleared up and used as a hiking trail

[Cockroach2008]

I guess they did not alter the direction of the 4 bolts at the fishe plates.  All the bolt heads are inside the and the nuts are all outside.

[CPRGEXROSR]

Excellent video. Thank you very much for posting!

[railheadok]

Thanks for watching and glad you enjoyed it.

[irishany]

if todays trains crossed the bridges, they would tumble

[railheadok]

Yes, the old bridges would have to be repaired. A lot of the original crossties and timbers have washed away.

[raymondleeleggs]

Bu the rails are still probably very strudy,unlike today's pre-fab track sections.

[cbalducc]

In the printed introduction, "incorporated" is misspelled as "incorportated". God bless.

[railheadok]

Sorry, the typo got passed me on that one.

[whatihave2do]

I would love to find something like this where I live.

[railheadok]

It makes a cool hiking trail also except that it's about to get grown up with brush. I wish someting could be done to save it.

[NixonNow72]

That was really well done. I like the fact that we got to see the line in its condition today and without narration from the camera man; reading the text instead made the entire piece visual and very interesting. Thanks for sharing...

[railheadok]

Thanks for you kind words and glad you enjoyed the video.