(rshsdepot) Elk City, OK

["James Dent" <james.dent_@_itochu.com>]

-From the Daily Oklahoman

Model train donation puts Elk City history on track
2001-05-07
By Ron Jackson
Staff Writer


ELK CITY -- Dr. Dennis Friesen still catches a ride on the old Rock Island
Railroad each day from Adams to Liberal, Kan., just as he did as a child,
but now he travels via his heart and imagination.
Friesen recently completed a 1950s- era model train replica of Elk City's
downtown district and donated it for permanent display inside the old depot
at the town's Route 66 Museum complex. The display took three years to
finish.

He considers the train set his gift to Elk City as it turns 100 this year.

"I leave this for people to enjoy," said Friesen, an Elk City family
practitioner for the past 24 years. "Maybe I'll leave this as my legacy."

The HO scale model set takes visitors through Elk City's bustling downtown.
Model cars can be seen along Historic Route 66 as it stretches past notable
landmarks like the Casa Grand Hotel, the Golden Boot Cafe and the Western
Lumber Co.

Most of the buildings and structures in the downtown scene are no more than
3 or 4 inches tall, each painted or crafted to resemble actual buildings.
Friesen scoured newspapers and interviewed community elders to make his
project as authentic as possible.

Two trains -- the Rock Island and the former Missouri-Kansas-Texas
Railroad -- anchor the scene.

"This is important to me because I love the history of the railroad,"
Friesen, 53, said. "The railroad is the reason why Elk City exists, and I
want people to know what the railroad has really meant to Elk City."

The train set is also a reflection of what the railroad has meant to
Friesen.

Friesen grew up in the Panhandle, the son of a postman. His father, Harold
Friesen, each day walked to the Adams railroad depot with a two- wheel
pushcart to pick up that day's mailbag.

Dennis Friesen said he remembered watching in awe as the big railroad
engines, cars and cabooses daily pulled into the station.

He recalled that on Saturdays his family routinely caught a train to Liberal
to spend the night with his uncle, Menno Friesen. A movie usually served as
the evening's main entertainment, but not for young Dennis.

"Generally, after 30 minutes or so, my uncle and I would sneak away from the
picture show," Friesen said. "He'd say, 'Wanna go to the depot?' And we'd
go. Both of us would just sit there and watch all the people and the trains
come and go. That's where my love and fascination of trains first began."

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