Thank you for approving me to the group. I grew up in Memphis, TN and was most fortunate to have many neighbors who worked for the Frisco. They all had company pride and were most kind to a teen aged kid who took an interest in their RR and various job crafts. The highlight was a cab ride on the "Kansas City - Florida Special" from Amory, Miss to Memphis Central Station, in August 1964, with a senior engineer on this run, and neighbor, Mr. Elijah Ellis. Other engineers I knew were: James Campbell, and Mr. DuShell, (never knew his first name, but he worked "the Broadway Job" and carried me along a few times.) Switchmen: Pete Lowrey, Homer Bryant. They all were terrific gentlemen and were most kind to me. Phil Gosney
Phil - Welcome to frisco.org. Good group, nice people, and a neat railroad. About 50 years ago (wow!), I was a sales rep for my company, selling detergent, industrial and food chemicals, working out of our home office in St Louis. Memphis was in the southeast corner of my sales territory, and was my second biggest customer center, after St Louis, so I got to your home town frequently. I always enjoyed Memphis - very nice folks, several good restaurants, good customers, not a bad drive to get there and back, with a few customers on the way (US 61 mostly then, I-55 under construction) and ...... I had frequent opportunities to watch the Frisco! I even made a sales call on Tennessee Yard! Again, welcome. Ken
Thank you, Ken. Good town and busy RR town. Lucky I knew some fine folks who were Frisco employees and invited me down to Central Station or Yale Yard to see the operations back in the middle to late 1960s. I still recall them, to this day.
When did Tennessee Yard open? Maybe it was Yale Yard I went to as a salesman, 1970-1971, I don't recall where it was. They were using a few of the chemicals we sold, but were buying them from distributors. We visited Tennessee Yard as part of a Frisco meeting (FMIG) there, 1980 I think. Got to watch the hump operation from the tower. Cool! Long time ago! Ken
Welcome Phil. Fun group here. Only time I have ever been to Memphis was the same trip as Ken in 1980.
Welcome to the group, Phil. Would love to hear any reminiscences of your KC-Florida Special cab ride as you deem appropriate. Best Regards,
