Howdy from Texas

I found this site quite by accident as I was surfing Google for some information on a specific Frisco Steam Engine #1524. I do HO modeling and in Microsoft Train simulator a few years back, Train Artisans were in the process of making a Train Sim version of Frisco engine number 1524 in conjunction with the Frisco Retired member association.
I'm still looking but maybe someone in one of the forums will have some data on it. I am Jesse R. Callahan, born in Savannah, Ga in January 1923. My family moved to Tulsa, OK when I was three months old. My maternal grand mother opened a boarding house and most of her boarders were railroad men from Frisco and Santa Fe. My boyhood was filled with stories about railroading. My father's younger brother was a railroad engineer on the Central of Georgia, another fallen flag. My uncle Gilbert was unfortunately killed in a train derailment in 1929 when I was six years old. He was on a night passenger run between Savannah and Atlanta during a very heavy rain storm. At mile marker #104, a fifteen acre fish pond dam broke and in the darkness of night and the heavy rain, uncle Gilbert could not see that the track had been washed out. The train derailed, Gilbert was thrown from the cab and the engine rolled over on him crushing him to death. All of the consist left the track and most of the cars were standing on end like bowling pins. There were injuries but no fatalities. I had hopes of growing up and becoming a railroad man but fate intervened and WWII came along and I became a pilot rather than an engineer or fireman or brakeman.

 

Welcome to the Society! This is a great bunch of Frisco Folks, with one goal - to keep the Frisco alive and well in history, and in model form. I am looking forward to many, many of your Frisco stories.
All the best,
Dan

 

Thanks Tom and Dan. for the welcome. Yep, there are still a few of us still around from WWII. I was 18 when I went in and was already a civilian pilot so I naturally chose a flying career. I was only 5 ft 2 in and was too short to be commissioned as the Army Regs specified a minimum of 5 ft 4 in. I was made a flying Sergeant and that suited me just fine..as long as I was flying, the rank didn't matter. I retired from USAF in '63 and after a 4 year stint working in Europe for ITT, I went to work for NASA as an independent contractor in the Manned Space Flight Section. Retired from NASA in '86 after the Challenger disaster and moved back home to Lake Sam Rayburn in Texas.

Jesse

 

Hi, Jesse,
My Pop was also in the Army Air Corp. during WW2. While he was 6ft., being a civilian pilot, he was a natural. He didn't care for the fact that he never went overseas, because he wound up in the top 5% of his class, and was automatically made an instructor!
Take care, and THANK YOU for your service.
Dan