Here is another mystery Frisco caboose in Mount Vernon, MO. It is on the main drag through town near the original depot site. It is painted very much like the one I posted yesterday, that is in Rogersville, MO. But the one in Rogersville was in better shape. Also they both share the same number SLSF 200. If any one knows her number let me know.
Hey this is a real 200/1200 series Frisco caboose. The main identifying features are the cupola window located near the corners and the GSI trucks. I have heard stories about how nice these cars road and how difficult it was to get them back once in pool service. Not sure of the actual car number but I was in this car a few years ago and I think I have photographs or a video. The caboose number may be on the inside if I can find it in my archives. Stay tuned. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
I have been on a quest to figure out the number of this caboose. Some things that will help to identify this caboose are the following. 1) All 4 of the marker lamp lantern shields are still mounted on the body, most of the 1200s had these removed through the years. 2) This caboose is very straight with hardly any damage to the body sides. 3) This caboose has the small battery and tool boxes mounted on both sides, some of the 1200s had one large box only on one side. The caboose is numbered as SLSF 200, but she is not the caboose SLSF 200/1200. Caboose SLSF 1200 was retired with no lantern shields, and it had the windows plated. Through the process of elimination and by looking at photos, I have eliminated 50 car numbers for this caboose. Cabooses SLSF 1205 and SLSF 1223 are two cabooses that made it to the Mandarin orange and white era with the lantern shields intact, and they are straight. But SLSF 1205 has a patch panel welded on the side, and the Mt Vernon caboose does not have a patch panel. So SLSF 1205 can be eliminated. Caboose SLSF 1223 is a very viable possibility for the real number of this caboose, but there are still a few numbers that I do not have any pictures of to reference. The numbers I have not ruled out are cabooses SLSF 1202, 1207, 1210, 1211, 1212, 1213, 1218, 1221, 1223, 1225, 1227, 1229, 1235, 1238, 1252, 1253, 1254, 1260, 1262, 1264, 1265, 1267, 1269, 1271, 1272 and 1273. If you have any later pictures of these numbers, please post them so we can eliminate a few of them and solve this mystery. Thank you. Paul
Paul, I am crunching the numbers on this one, might take a day or two. The Mt. Vernon, MO caboose was retired and donated in the Ashland Red scheme. So you can rule out cabooses SLSF 1207, 1210, 1212, 1218, 1229, 1252, 1253, 1260, 1271, 1272 and 1273 as they were painted Mandarin orange and white prior to the merger. Personally I think it is the caboose SLSF 1202, but need to verify some things first. Roger
Roger, that is awesome. I had a feeling you would chime in on this one. I cannot wait to see what you come up with. I found two more pictures last night on the Facebook BN page. A photograph of caboose SLSF 1227 / BN 11555 without marker lamp lantern shields, so that eliminates 1227. Also, there is an interesting late picture of SLSF 1254 in Ship It on the Frisco paint with lantern shields. I have never seen a picture of caboose SLSF 1202, and I am excited that you may be on to something. With your information, we are down to 14 possible numbers - SLSF 1202, 1211, 1213, 1221, 1223, 1225, 1235, 1238, 1254, 1262, 1264, 1265, 1267 and 1269. This is fun!
You can remove cabooses SLSF 1227, SLSF 1235, SLSF 1238 and SLSF 1262. They have the marker light brackets removed. Cabooses SLSF 1201, SLSF 1214 and SLSF 1249 had the ladders removed. Another feature that not all have, a little vent below the C in "Ship It on the Frisco". If you enlarge the attached photograph you can see the little vent. Please see the following photograph link. http://frisco.org/mainline/?s=1203 The Mount Vernon, MO caboose does not have this vent on either side. I do have a slide of the caboose SLSF 1202/BN 11532 post merger. I have already sent it to Charlie for the Frisco Archive, so I do not know what plans he has with it. I will try to look at the battery boxes tomorrow. Roger
Paul, you can eliminate 2 more, Cabooses SLSF 1211 and SLSF 1269 both have the vent. The ones that meet the bracket, small battery box and no vent criteria are SLSF 1202 (1982), SLSF 1213 (1959), SLSF 1221 (1971), SLSF 1223 (1979) and SLSF 1254 (1978). I can find no photographs of cabooses SLSF 1225, SLSF 1264, SLSF 1265 or SLSF 1267. So that leaves 5 possible and 4 maybe's. I am real doubtful about the caboose SLSF 1223 because one of its trucks is under the caboose SLSF 1261 in Grafton, ND. It could be both were in the shop and the trucks were switched by accident. Or one of SLSF 1261's trucks went bad and they grabbed one off the retired track to make the SLSF 1261 last a bit longer. The truck is stenciled "SLSF 1223" though. I have never seen that before, I have seen lots "BN 115XX" stenciled on trucks, but not SLSF. The reason I think it is the caboose SLSF 1202 is about 10 years ago I stopped in and talked to a lady there about the real number of the caboose. She showed me a photograph of it in the park before it was moved to its current location. Unfortunately in the picture the number was painted out but the rest of the lettering was intact. It was painted in the later Ashland Red or "fire engine" red paint scheme. She also told me it was one of the first ones built, but they were all built in 1957 so I do not know how close "1st one" would be. That is about all I can add. I have reached the end of what I have. Have to be a little more patient on this one. Roger
Very interesting Roger. Cannot wait to see a picture of caboose SLSF 1202, and hopefully pictures of some of the unknowns will show up somewhere. One observation I made that casts doubt on SLSF 1223 and SLSF 1254 is the fact that in both pictures they still have the hangers welded on the corners that hold the marker lanterns in place. They are late pictures not long before retirement. The Mt. Vernon caboose has the hangers removed. It is odd that the Mt. Vernon caboose had the hangers removed but not the shields. I would think that post donation nobody would go to the trouble of cutting the welds on those small brackets and grinding the car body smooth. I wonder if those hangers are missing on the picture of caboose SLSF 1202? If they are gone it will be further evidence in caboose SLSF 1202's favor. As far as trucks stenciled SLSF, I have seen one other, it is SLSF 1249 stenciled as SLSF 249. It is pretty neat.
One more thing about the Mt. Vernon, MO caboose. The trustee owner plates that are mounted in the upper left of the car are broken and have chunks of them missing. If the picture of caboose SLSF 1202 shows her with no lantern hangers, and broken trustee plates, it would be very strong evidence. That Mt. Vernon, MO caboose is a gem. It is the best example of a surviving 1200-1274 because it is so straight, so complete, and has very little rust coming through.
Normally, there would be SLSF XXXX stenciled in the interior above the door where the caboose number would take the place of the Xs. Has anyone looked in through a door to the other end above the door? For example please see the following post. http://www.frisco.org/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=11139&d=1276052039
Paul, I still have your email address. I sent you a copy of the caboose SLSF 1202 photographs in 1982. These scans are so big I can only send them one at a time. You tell me how well everything matches up. Keith, The interior has been completely repainted along with the underframe. Looks like they sandblasted it, if they just painted over it I might be able to see the raised numbers if I look down the side. Whoever painted it did a really good job. Roger
I was hoping to be of some help with the quest for number identification. I took these when the Mt. Vernon, MO caboose was still in the park but unfortunately, it had been repainted leaving only the logo and "Ship IT On The Frisco" makings visible. Jeff
Roger I am certain you were right, she is caboose SLSF 1202. Everything matches up with these two pictures you sent, and with the pictures Jeff posted! Great stuff. Lantern hangers removed, lantern shields in place, and look in the upper left at the owner trustee plate how it is broken exactly the same on all pictures. Look at the steps on the right of the body how they have a slight imperfection on the right side about 6 inches up from the bottom. Look at the left truck bolster plate with a small ripple on the right side. Mystery solve. Thanks so much for your help guys! This is so cool.
I have to agree with Paul, 100% caboose SLSF 1202. Two more points, in the 1982 photograph notice in the lower right hand corner of the black box were someone spray painted out some of the old cleaned, oiled, tested and services (COTS) information. They did not quite keep it in the white border, you can see this overspray, especially in the bottom part, in Jeff's photographs. Also every letter and number in the black box in both photographs match perfectly. Well done, a lot of people have tried to figure this one out! Roger
I see that now Roger, and the more I look the more little details show up, like the coonskin logo has some black overspray on the white border in the upper section just left of center. Some fun facts, caboose SLSF 1202 at Mt. Vernon, MO has the distinction of being the earliest in the 200/1200 series that survives today. I think correct me if I am wrong, that caboose SLSF 1202 is the only Frisco caboose that was delivered in Pullman green paint for use on business trains. I am so happy we figured out her number!
Heads up everyone. The Mt. Vernon, MO Chamber of Commerce got my contact info from Ash Grove, MO and they asked me if I wanted to buy caboose SLSF 1202 from them. I went and looked at caboose SLSF 1202 and told them I already had some Frisco cabooses and did not want to start another project. I told them I would try to help find a new owner. They did not price the caboose but asked for offers. I politely offered them 6k for SLSF 1202 just to make sure it does not get torched and told them to wait a while and hope for a bigger offer. If anyone is interested contact Pam Dudley at the Mt. Vernon Chamber.
Paul, That is neat trivia and would make an interesting variation on a layout. Was anyone able to validate this?
