Truman Hefner

Home Track

Truman Hefner, with an unidentified young passenger, on his birthday, 24 October 2015. Photo by Brandi Hatch.

Mr. Hefner's Backyard Railroad

by John J. Corbin

November 4, 1982

Truman Hefner's model railroad is bigger than a toy and smaller than the real thing. His passengers rank somewhere in between.

"We have a lot of adult kids," says Hefner, 56, a Western Electric engineering supervisor.

Serious railroad enthusiasts, neighbors and Cub Scouts are among the riders in Hefner's yard at 4406 NW 59. Ads by ZINC

A 6 1/2-foot-long, 500-pound locomotive pulls four passenger cars, each weighing 150 pounds. Running on four golf cart batteries, the locomotive hums along at 5 miles an hour but is capable of doing 15.

"It runs faster than I'd want to ride on it," says Hefner.

With 11 passengers, the train makes its way along 800 feet of miniature track circling the yard. On either side are wooden tressles his 19-year-old son Jimmy, a Putnam City High graduate, helped build two years ago.

The tracks are mounted on gravel and come to an end at a tunnel red brick walls topped with dirt leading into a below-ground storage shed beside the house.

"What the kids would like to do is extend the tunnel all the way around the house." Hefner, however, uses the tunnel only to store the train.

For Hefner, model railroading is a $4,000 hobby that grew out of a birthday gift a toy handcar he gave one of his four daughters seven years ago.

Aluminum castings, wheel frames and couplers went into making the locomotive, and a friend put in the electric circuitry for the engine.

Hefner's model is of a GPT Diesel locomotive he photographed at the Rock Island Railroad yard in El Reno. The miniature cars are made of 16-gauge steel. He plans to add a insulated refrigerator car to store cold drinks.

Hefner belongs the Locomotive Operators of Central Oklahoma or LOCO, comprised of local model train enthusiasts. He and his wife, Vera, take the train to club contests.

Gallery

Truman Heffer's 4-unit lash-up at the Comanche & Indian Gap Railroad. Photo by C. Randall Wilson.
Truman at Maricopa Live Steamers.

The Chief

Danny Click posted on Facebook, 16 July 2017:

"The Chief" has a new home at the C&IG RR! These are the late Truman Hefner's famous Santa Fe ABBA MDM F units and The Passenger Car Company passenger cars. They were regulars at the C&IG meets for a number of years and they are some of the finest in the land.

Billy Click at the throttle of No 38 at the Comanche & Indian Gap Railroad, July 2017. Photo by Danny Click.
Cody Click commanding "The Chief" No 38, formerly owned by Truman Hefner, at the Comanche & Indian Gap Railroad, July 2017. Photo by Billy Click.