Frisco Folks: There are preliminary plans being put together to hold a Frisco get together at the Beaumont Hotel in Beaumont Kansas. The hotel is directly across the street from the Historic Beaumont Frisco water tower. The hotel has been completely remodeled and very nice. We have been in contact with the owners and they are quite excited to hear of the news. The hotel has 4 suites and 7 guest rooms. The owners state the suites can sleep up to 6 adults. The hotel and restaurant are quite famous in the flying community. There is an airstrip for small planes nearby. If you would like more info on the hotel go to there website www.hotelbeaumontks.com. The plans for this event are very preliminary but do include plans for a slide/video session and possibly a small swap session/modeling contest. We are looking for ideas and folks to give clinics. We are also hoping to get a Frisco motor car and handcar to the event to give short rides on the remaining trackage in Beaumont. I can't say for sure if this will be a 1-2 or 3 day get together. The hotel will allows us full run of the hotel except for the restaurant area when it is closed. They have also promised to give us better rates on the rooms if we are able to rent out the entire hotel. We are presently looking at the months of September and October, right now October 20th is looking good. If you are interested in coming or helping or have any ideas for this event please email me direct or post here. My email address is rwintle@terraworld.net I first heard of the idea of doing this nearly 20 years ago from a gentleman in Wichita. Tony Lalumia had a great idea then and I feel it is a great idea now. The spark was re-kindled this weekend as a group of us from Southeast Kansas stopped at the hotel to eat breakfast before going to a model railroad meet in Wichita. So lets hear from you guys and lets make this happen. Bob Wintle Parsons, Ks.
I would love to come, and the date tentatively looks all right. Thank you for organizing such a meet. Ken McElreath
Bob, I will echo Ken's sentiments. What a potential opportunity to meet a lot of good folk with whom I've had long running correspondence. Oct. 20th looks good for me, too. The month of September's not so good due to work, but I will pencil in the October date. Thanks for your efforts!
Bob, Couldn't believe this post; I'm in Leon, Ks just about 12 mi west of Beaumont on hwy 400. Did the folks at the Hotel mention that the city of Beaumont has a festival around that time?; it's the Water Tower Days or something like that. If it's in the right timeframe there would be activities for folks to enjoy at the same time. I'm hoping to have a live steamers club called The Walnut Valley & Flint Hills Live Steamers off the ground by then and was also hoping to integrate a club meet with the festival. Part of the clubs activity will be to seek a right-of-way from landowners from Leon to Beaumont on the old Frisco right-of way and eventually build a Grand Scale track to run from Leon to Beaumont and promote rides during the Beaumont Water Tower days and the Leon Harvest Home Festival. And of course we would model the train off Frisco Steamers and freights. Anyhow, I'm interested and will try to send you an e-mail. You can e-mail me to jboman333@yahoo.com I use a spam filter so be sure to put RR in the subject line of the e-mail so I catch it.
I would be up for such an event...this is great news! I grew up on the Kansas Division at Wichita (9th & Rutan on the corner) The tracks ran right in front of the house. Any help that I can be, please don't hesitate to ask. I live in Manhattan now, but am an avid Nguage and Virtual Frisco modeler( Microsoft Train simulator). frankoburns@yahoo.com My modelers forum: http://mophouse-mltdownload.com One of my Moderators has also modeled the Kansas Division from Neodesha to Ellsworth for the simulator..quite impressive!
I would be that moderator, and I would like to include that Beaumont and the Beaumont sub has been modeled fairly accurately in the simulator. Being from Andover/Wichita, I would also be more then happy to help. Bob, I have already sent an email to you, but other people in the area can contact me about getting together, through frisco.org. Im good for the history of the line as well as other Frisco related information. Codeman
I apologize if this detours the thread a little, but I tried to register at themophouse.com forum mentioned in this thread and it won't allow me to, without assistance. I'm very interested in the FRISCO Microsoft Train Simulator downloads. I have Train Simulator and the St. Louis & North Arkansas RR add on by Andre Ming (vscalecreations). More FRISCO would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Craig
Craig, send a message to frankoburns. I will also mention something to him. Downloads are also available at www.friscorr.com, but you have sign up and be approved, but it usually doesnt take long. Larry Friddle also has the FriscoFS under his wing. Cody
I just thought I would give an update of sorts on this event. Those of us who are trying to get this event in are not having much luck with the managers of the hotel. I am still waiting after several weeks to even hear back from the fellow. I am wondering if emails to them showing our genuine interest would do any good. I very much hope to be able to get this together this year but at this point in time my optimisim is taking a big hit. The link to the hotel is on the original post so please go visit their site and send them an email. Thanks. Bob Wintle Parsons, Ks.
Folks: It is with great disappointment that I report that we have decided to pull the plug on plans to hold this event in Beaumont. Those of us who were trying to plan the event have just not had any real cooperation from the managment of the Hotel. This just never really got past the intial talking stages and several promises from Hotel management just never materialized. I would like to thank all who showed interest. I would especially like to thank those that offered help in accomplishing this. Maybe in a year or so we can try again, or just maybe try to have a get together at another location. I am sure we could do something in Cherryvale in a year or so. If there is any interest in this I will keep the group informed. I am sorry to get everyones hopes up but unfortuneatly this time things have just not worked out. I have given up on the idea of Beaumont but should anyone else like to try, I wish you the best of luck. Bob Wintle Parsons, Ks.
