My wife was in Dallas in Jan and bought a car. We live in NC. So next Sun. I fly to Dallas to pick it up and bring it home. Since I have a sister in Amarillo and one in OKC. I'll be stopping to visit for a couple of days in each city(in laws in McKinney). I'm just wondering if anyone has any shops in those places or close by to visit. Once I leave OKC, I'll be coming East across I 40 so any along that route I may be tempted to stop at also, you know for a road break. I did a search and found a club that has a layout in OKC at Crossroads mall, is it good to check out? I also found the "Whistle Stop" in OKC.
Thanks for any commentary and shops.
east of Nashville, I40 roughly follows the route of the old tenessee central, a fascinating regional line that went bankrupt in the 1960s. I believe there is a tenessee central museum somewhere along this route that may be worth a stop.
Before leaving the Dallas,TX area visit
Discount Model Trains
4641 Ratliff Ln
Addison, TX 75001
If you are interested in 1:1 scale locomotives and rolling stock, which includes the 4018 Big Boy locomotive
visit
Museum of American Railroad (http://www.museumoftheamericanrailroad.org)
6465 Page St
Frisco, TX 75035
Make a stop in El Reno Okla. Go to the old Rock Island station. They have some thing of interest to any rail fan. They also have a street car ride down main street. It is a restored street car with a car motor in it. Now than if you can just forget about the car motor and just enjoy the ride on the hard wooden seats of yesterday. it has been years since I was at Whistle stop. It was and I am sure that it still is a nice shop. If you go there from down town, take 77 hyway. It will take you by the old Santa Fe yards. They have 50 to 100 stored locomotive, many still in Santa Fe paint. What ever you do have a safe trip.
A liittle out of your way but worth it is the Arkansas Railroad Museum in Pine Bluff.
http://arkansasrailroadmuseum.org
Great info guys. Keep them coming so I can get my route home nailed down. I do have to be back by April 3-4 so I can shower and get ready for the Charlotte Auto Fair but I still have plenty of time to take the "scenic" route home ;)
Don't neglect the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives portion of your road trip :D
I'm an amateur Foodie. I'll be enjoying B-B-Q Texas style (I've bee in NC 10 years and still can't take the B-B-Q sauce here), give me Tx or KC anytime, Dyers in Amarillo is good but not as good as the parent restaurant in Pampa was.. And Mexican, unfortunately I will not be in SA this trip, but I have a couple of spots in the panhandle of Tx I always hit. I also do a place in Silverton called "Something Different by Kay" my aunt owns it. And I'm hoping "Café Banoff" is open while I'm in Waynoka OK this time (homestyle German). A high school friend also does a Mexican food truck in NW Ok. "My Cousins Place" is a spot(sports bar) that my sister and I usually make in OKC.
If I manage to eat everywhere I would like to, I'll be eating 5-6 meals a day.Between Food , Train shops and Family, I should have fun. Then within a week after I get back, I'll be leaving for Auto Fair and that's always fun.
Quote from: Deland on March 14, 2016, 09:46:20 PM
I've bee in NC 10 years and still can't take the B-B-Q sauce here
I hear what yer sayin. I bet you can't find a decent pizza there either, or in South Carolina for that matter. :D
Deland - I've been in NC for 21 years this coming June, and I hear ya' on the BBQ sauce. I never could get into the heavy vinegar style NC sauce.
I generally hit a local 'mom & pop' place (and pray every time they don't decide to retire), or a 'Dickey's BBQ Pit', 'Texas Roadhouse', 'Red, White, and Blue' or 'Danny's BBQ' chain place when I need a Southwest style BBQ fix.
Len
Deland, you sound like a real Okie.
Deland, since you are going to die young after eating all that stuff, you need to plan who is going to get your model railroad stuff. :o :D
Len, I've done a place here Called "Mac's Speed Shop" and though it's a chain and therefore a bit generic(3-4 stores) it's better than the local everyone raves about. BTW if you're near GSO there's a trainshow at the local club sat.
Ram, Born in Amarillo Tx and spent my childhood/school years between there, Canadian Tx and Waynoka OK. Those are like within 240 miles of one another and both sides of my family are centered in those three places.
Trainman, I eat healthy 6 days a week and both maternal Great grandmothers lived to 100. My paternal grandparents lived to mid 90's. I think I'm just going to hope I don't care when the time comes.
Deland - Thanks for the heads up on the train show. I wish I'd known earlier, as I'm already committed to something else. I could have taken the morning Piedmont to Greensboro and the Carolinian home again. Oh, well. Maybe next time.
The Ma & Pa place here has a sign in front that just says "BBQ" They do Texas & New Mexico style BBQ, with beans in a sauce that would eat holes in an aluminum pot.
Len
Deland I always liked that drive on 60 in Texas PH. I just wish I would have been down there when steam was still active. The only 2-10-4s I got to see were dead in roundhouses.
Ram, I missed the steam era by accident of birthdate. They were all gone by the time I was aware and I come from a Santa Fe family so I was aware at an early age. I did manage to ride a passenger train a few times when the locals still carried a Passenger car, the old Pullmans(I think) with the velour seats and a conductor that watched out for his buddy's grandson. My mother's cousin was a mechanic on cars for a long time and I've actually (shhh) gotten to ride an engine and a caboose in the yards at Amarillo a few times. My maternal Grandfather was a switchman and was killed switching in the late 30' early 40's when he had his legs amputated by a car running over him. My mother was only 12 so I never had a chance to meet him but my grandmother remarried(unheard of for a widow with 3 kids in those days) another trainman who worked Santa Fe all his life. I also had an uncle who only ever had two jobs, the Santa Fe, summers during high school and the Army after graduation, four years later, back to Santa Fe. Several of my great uncles and cousins were also SF lifers. 3 of the 28 guys in my HS grad class were also SF lifers. A couple are retired and one will late this year, he's a Brakeman/conductor and doubts there will be any in the next few years. Trains are so automated these days that he says he's usually just along to be sure the engineer doesn't go to sleep and because he likes to ride trains.