ATSF Waynoka, OK Depot

Waynoka, OK

	Two jewels of Santa Fe architecture, the depot and Harvey House at Waynoka, OK were built in 1910. The style and arrangement of the two buildings were similar to the depot and Harvey House built two years earlier at Canadian, TX, about 100 miles to the west. The Waynoka depot followed a brick "county seat" plan that included a single-arch open waiting room on the passenger end of the structure. This plan was also used for the depots at Stafford and Kingman, KS, and Norman, OK. At some point, the open waiting room was filled in, and the freight room was extended about 20 feet, bringing it almost to the edge of the Harvey House roof. The Harvey House, which unlike larger Harvey restaurant/hotels didn't have a name, could seat 56 in the dining room and 37 in the lunch room. Waynoka enjoyed a moment of fame in 1929, when Trancontinental Air Transport (a TWA predecessor) began a an air-rail service that promised coast-to-coast travel in under 48 hours. Intended as an interim solution until overnight flights were possible, the service called for passengers to travel overnight on the Pennsylvania Railroad from New York to Columbus, OH, board a Ford Tri-Motor for a daytime flight to Waynoka, have dinner in the Harvey House, board a train for an overnight trip to Clovis, NM, have breakfast at the Gran Quivera Harvey House, then board another plane for the final leg to Los Angeles. The service lasted less than two years before planes took over the entire route. Fred Harvey service lasted at Waynoka until 1937. The railroad continued to use the Harvey House as a crew "reading room" into the 1990's. At some point the depot and Harvey House were given an ill-conceived coat of cream-colored paint over the bricks with red trim on the woodwork, as shown in the top photo. The depot was retired in 1986 and converted into a museum. The Waynoka Historical Society now owns and manages both structures. These September 2002 photos by Shane Murphy show the depot and Harvey House following the removal of the paint.