Military bases along the Frisco

I was reading somewhere (I think it was in Larry Thomas's excellent two part article in the old PTJ) that the METEOR used to be one of the longest trains operating into St. Louis Union Station. I am assuming that a substantial portion of that traffic was military, and I am trying to determine, during the pre-war and World War II era, whether there were miliary bases other than Fort Sill, Fort Leonard Wood and Camp Crowder located along the St. Louis-Lawton main. Also, what military installations were located along the KC-Birmingham line that would have contributed passenger traffic. I know that for a time, the KC-FLORIDA SPECIAL carried a Pullman that was just for military traffic, but I'm sketchy on the details. Can anyone provide any additional information on either question?

Thanks!

Greg Stout

 

Richards Gebaur in Belton?

Not sure if this was KCS, SLSF, ir both.

 

Fort Smith, AR was near Camp Chaffee, later Fort Chaffee.I would imagine troop mains operated from the Frisco on to Missouri Pacific tracks.Many of the Army bases also housed POW camps.
The December 1944 public timetable shows Jacksonville military sleepers on Trains 105/106 (Kansas City- Florida Special). The St Louis to Oklahoma Meteor (trains 9/10 ran in two sections and had military sleepers between St Louis and Oklahoma City

 

The Highline did service Dick Giblets (Richards Gebaur AFB). in Belton MO. The base was mostly abandoned in the early 90's, though there is still some Marine Logistics, and a SeaBee units still stationed on the last few pieces of it. Much of the base's land was reverted to the City of Kansas City MO and is part of a project with KCS to be an Intermodeal port of entry. (the old runway now has a track down the middle of it with a container loading operation). The remains of the Highline from Grandview to around the area of the base are now an industrial spur to bring plastic pellet hoppers to one remaining business in Grandview.

According to the 1979 Kansas City Terminal Division Grandview Branch Industry Schematics (Rev 4) There was a passing siding just south of MO Hwy 150 and a single spur into the base that served a few buildings. It lists for spots: Explosive Spot, Fuel Unloading, Warehouse, and Cold Storage.

Beyond that I don't know much, since the base closed long before I moved to this area.

Patrick-
www.beltonrailroad.org
Belton, Grandview, & Kansas City
Route of the Frisco

 

There's a Naval base of some sort at Millington, TN near Memphis.

Tom

 

What about Ft. Leonard "Lost in the Woods" Wood, MO.? (Oops. Just saw you included that already. My bad!)

 

We called RG..."Dicky Goober". There's also McConnell AFB at Wichita and Vance AFB at Enid.

Buck

 

While on the topic of military bases along the Frisco, here's a question I've been pondering for a while: Was military equipment transported in the consists of regular general merchandise trains? Most of us have seen long trains of nothing but flatcars carrying tanks and other Army equipment, but I've never seen them mixed into a typical freight train.

Thanks,

Pat Moreland,
Union Mo.

 

I believe this did occur. I know I have seen military equipment in non-dedicated trains it in more modern times.

Paul

 

Camp (later Fort) Chaffee outside Fort Smith, Arkansas, is located on the old Arkansas Central (MoPac Paris Branch). It served as an important training base from WWII until sometime in the '60's when it became a National Guard facility. While the MoPac frequently, and the Frisco and KCS occasionally, would operate full troop trains to and from the base, the most common thing, at least during the '50's when I would see it, was for there to be anywhere from one to six extra Pullmans attached to 704/710. These would have then connected to 9/10 at Monett and would have been part of the car count at St. Louis. These were heavyweight Pullman pool cars but I saw them painted in the colors of a wide variety of railroads. The Meteor at this point would have been the streamlined version with the obs/diner/lounge on the rear. I have not seen consists of 9/10 for this period to know whether the extra military cars were handled mixed with the other Pullmans (the regular Fort Smith car was normally next ahead of the obs) or whether Monett made a cut and place the extras on the head end so that revenue passengers did not have to pass through them going to and from the diner. Tom, do you know? Anyway, while not on a regular schedule, I would say that on average extra cars were seen once a week, and almost daily during the Christmas season when troops were given leave (since the troops going home on leave had to buy their own tickets, there were also often extra coaches added during Christmas).

Gordon

Gordon

 

To my knowledge McConnell AFB in Wichita was probably only ever served by the Santa Fe as it was the closest railroad, actually the only one anywhere near it. The Frisco had a spur to the Beechcraft plant on East Central and that was the closest it came. The BN (ex-Santa Fe) still serves the Boeing complex that is attached to McConnell to transport the 737 (and other) fuselage portions to Renton, WA for final assembly.

 

The Navy facility at Millington TN is NAS Memphis; they had a trackage and their own unit at one time. The Frisco also served NAS Pensacola, FL; the John Wayne movie "Wings of Eagles" has a sequence where a Navy bi-plane buzzes (as I recall) a Frisco switcher on the trestle leading to the base.
Rick

 

Wings of Eagles clip on You Tube- John Wayne's character "Spig" Whead buzzes a Frisco switcher and box cars on the NAS Pensacola trestle in what is supposed to be a Curtis R-6

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIDwalAHZv0