Here is what looks to be a Frisco photo (or a P-S photo) of the early batch of PS-1's that came new with no "Fast Freight" or "Ship it" logos. The SLSF diagram book shows this series to be SLSF 17000-17299, with 8ft 7-panel Superior doors, Ajax brake wheel, ASF A3 Ride Control trucks - standard Frisco set-up for the PS-1. Build date: 1948. The Superior door was a bit unique - they generally used the Youngstown door on the later series of PS-1's. Notice the smaller coonskin. The first 50, SLSF 17000-17049 had the Evans D-F system included. The rest did not. Later on, these cars were repainted and the "Ship it" was added and the bigger coonskin was used. I recall Rick did a very nice job modeling one of these cars with no logo a while back, and posted a neat pic of it. Where is that posted Rick? Ken ps: All the HO Kadee Frisco PS-1's have either the "Fast Freight" or "Ship it" logos on them. I don't believe any model car builder has done a Frisco PS-1 with no logo like these.
Ken: Has this car been submitted to Kadee to possibly have them do it themselves? I for one would rather pursure that approach first and have Mike pick another car. To me there are plenty of boxcars that are either available or have been. That's part of the reason that I suggested the flat car. Also, wasn't this car vry limited in tenure in this paint scheme? Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
Bob - Another good idea! Thanks. To my knowledge, this has not yet been suggested to Kadee. They might like it - they have done many a plain looking car and might like this one as Frisco has been a good seller for them, plus it still looks very good. They will need to resize the coonskin. I'm in contact with them on the 2-bay offset hopper idea. Somebody else here is talking with them about a double door 50ft PS-1. We should both mention this to them. I have no idea how long these cars lasted in the plain scheme, but it can't have been too long as there are few pics of them. I have a later pic (which I am not able to post), undated, of SLSF17267 proudly wearing the "Ship it" logo, still with the Superior doors. Ken
Howdy, Kadee is doing a run of PS1's right now. I saw Rick's model on the forum and it looks just like the photo posted earlier on this thread. I haven't heard anything from Red Caboose, but one possible stumbling block is that we want a car that is R-T-R and I don't think RC does them. Will wait to see, but it is still the number one priority on my list. Thanks again folks, mike
Mike: About all Red Caboose has done in recent years has been RTR, not kits. According to their website, they currently don't haved any flatcars in the works, but did do a Tenessee Central one for the Southeastern Region NMRA. I also noticed that they are currently having a moving sale which culminated last Saturday so they might be predisposed right now so try again. http://www.red-caboose.com/cgi-bin/...ession=49ee4e4a0c95434d&cart_id=10463744x3221 Bob Hoover FriscoFriend
I just found a very poor pic of PS-1 SLSF 17076 repainted but clearly with the "Fast Freight" slogan, and the large coonskin. Go figure! Does anyone know the dates when the "Fast Freight" and the "Ship it" logos were first used and over what periods? Ken
I think it would be neat if you had a FRISCO car that has not been previously modeled. If there is something out there that has never been produced in model form. This would make for a high demand of modelers wanting one and also add something to all rosters that was from our favorite prototype. In fact, if I may suggest it, how about that FRISCO work crane that is listed on one of the recent posts. I have seen the models that Tyco, Walthers and Athearn have put out and none of them are quite right. Since the FRISCO was a very unique railroad, something from its oddball roster would be dynomite! Besides that if this site becomes the go to resource for manufacturers, what harm would there be in getting them to produce something new? |-||-||-|
Will, I really like your enthusiasm. I am all in favor of something NEW but a whole new model would require the manufacturer to buy a tool to cast the model in and, while those are getting less expensive to produce, they are still an investment the mfr has to make before anything gets produced or sold. To catch a mfr's attention, the proposed model will need (1) detailed drawings/blueprints (that could be a challenge depending upon the car selected) and (2) a big market to sell to. The Frisco group, while dedicated, enthusiastic, etc, we are not a big market soooooooooo whatever we suggest should be something that other railroads had as well. Manufacturers like their products to have mass appeal so if they can make a car, caboose, etc for several railroads we stand a better chance of getting their attention. I like the idea of the yellow 40' flat. RC has the tools and the ability to do it right (with our help) AND their flat cars are affordable so they should sell well. I know I would take one of each number (usually six) but I would go farther and suggest 5 numbered and one unnumbered. Glad to hear Kadee is producing another Frisco PS1. The SLSF had a bunch of them. I made my two from Intermountain PS1s but the Kadees are the most accurate so I am looking forward to those. I am not sure when the "Ship IT" logo went on the 40' boxes but I am pretty sure that the first 2-3 orders were sans logo which puts you about 1949-1952 before they started showing up. Here is the url to my previous PS1 post http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?t=2161 Ship IT on the Frisco!!!!!!!! Rick
After looking thru Molo's excellent book, I noticed the orange 40-footer reserved for moving cereal. Any models of those presently out there? If not, it would be a unique model.
Thanks RIck! I agree, But, There are other FRISCO modelers out there that have not discovered "US" yet! I like the idea of the flats as well, I would also go with a 6 number set of steam era gondolas as I have not seen very many of these and some of them lasted well into the days of diesel and some are still in use today. I remember a cut of gons coming into Mt Claire yard in Baltimore headed for the shop at Curtis Bay yard to be refitted with rollerbearing trucks. Every one of them had the old type journals on them. Thought it was sad that every set of those old trucks were cut up and sold as scrap. I feel however there are not enough different paint schemes on the box cars available, but there are not enough, tanks, flats, gons, MOW equipment, etc... I would love to see something come out that has never been done that would be essential to any model railroad. Will|-||-||-|
After our discussions last week (look at the postings above), I ordered one of the YesterYear Models #Y.M41103Fs-04 USRA Drop Bottom Composite Gondolas in Frisco colors, road number SLSF 50276. The car arrived today. It is assembled from the basic Intermountain USRA drop bottom gondola kit, and is very well done. This is a nice car from a nice kit. The assembly is neatly assembled, and is decorated very well as SLSF 50276. Typical InterMountain - all very well done and assembled, except that, as is typical with IRC, the grab irons are too thick! The car does include the IRC kit wood interior gondola inserts, which are a nice touch. The car rides on Andrews trucks (correct), has what looks to be Kadee couplers, with IRC wheelsets. My only problems with this car, and they are minor: - This model is fairly expensive - The "B" end was all messed up as it came out of the box - the grabs, the coupler, and the retainer valve and air line, were all caddywompus. It looks to be easily repaired, however. (Caddywompus is a sophisticated engineering term, meaning much the same as SNAFU'ed). My basic question regarding this car remains: - Is SLSF 50276 a correct number for this car? My freight car diagrams do not include this car number, but my diagrams are not complete. - The car is nicely decorated in black with white lettering and numbers, which I believe to be the correct decor for this car, built 3/1925. - However, this car has a "Frisco" coonskin. Given its build date of 3/25, I'm wondering if it should be a "Frisco Lines" coonskin. Does anyubody know for sure? But, I like it. I may order another one or two. This sure beats building the IRC kit, and then trying to get those grabs in those little holes, followed by the decal job!! KJW
Ken, Another nice thing about the composite gons is that they are heavy enough to run empty with no problems. I have an old photo somewhere of these cars and it is numbered in the 52000 series. If anyone has an old ORER, they could verify by the dimensions of the car. One small problem I had with this kit is that I have to really line up my 39' rail load to fit inside the gon. I think the inside clearance is right at 39'. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Rick - Thanks for the update. For a short, empty gon, it is a surprisingly heavy car, isn't it? A little over four ounces on my mail scale. The thickness of the wood liner probably accounts for the inside dimensions being a bit tight for your loads. I was able to remove the messed up grabs and retainer line from the "B" end last night and should be able to re-attach them with no problem. I am missing one grab, however, but I'm sure my spare parts box has one to replace it. I'm also in the middle of building the same IRC car as a MoP kit - also black. There will probably be an extra grab or two available from it. I think I will likely order another car or two from YesterYear, and will mention this problem to them. For what they get for these cars, they ought to be perfect. Given its 1925 vintage, and that it is black, it just seems to me it should have a "Lines" coonskin. If so, easily fixed with an Oddballs or Pennington decal. I need to check the earlier postings from the group when the Proto 1000 Frisco USRA drop-bottom gon came out some time back. I recall we had a good discussion about these cars then. For the time being, I'm going to let it alone. The "decal shop" is backed up enough as it is! Ken
Re: Need ideas for a Frisco club car - Yellow Flat is on... Howdy, It looks like the Frisco yellow flat deal is on with Intermountain. Intermountain is manufacturing and distributing Red Caboose models. The car will be RTR, kadee couplers, metal wheels, and four road numbers. More details to follow. Best, mike
I don't think you would have a quorum for an N scale car. I doubt if you would have enough interest and agreement for a car type, an era and paint scheme in N scale. I don't know about other N scalers, but I "cherry pick." That is, I look for cars decorated for the Frisco and "re-detail" them if they're close without repainting. A few here and there have been pretty acurate as delivered, but I just usually go for the "look' rather than the actual "bolt-count." And, I'm really a passenger car fan, my freight trains are really only background or "stage props"... Tom
What is an appropriate range of dates for these flatcars in the yellow paint scheme as described? And were they typically used for one particular kind of service, or were they in general freight service?
