I am a fan of the Royal American Shows. They received a car called TULSA. It was built in 1948 as Lot # 6768, Plan # 7541 as an observation car. It was modified in 1960. I can only assume this is when the Observation end was enclosed. In 1972 it was sold to C. Arch Bay ( a real estate company ) Now I do not know when it was sold to the Royal American Shows or who sold it to them. 1978 was the last year Royal American Shows used this car. They sold it sometime after that. A thread on another forum states it was at the Kentwood Arms Hotel in Springfield, Missouri. Another thread said it was scrapped out in 2001. Can anyone offer any information to help fill these gaps or provide photos in the SLSF paint?
Thanks Mark. I'm actually trying to find pictures of this car in it's original paint. I've seen comments that says it was Blue and white, in the Pullman Green and the STSF red. Bob
My records on the Tulsa (1402) indicate that it was retired 10-1965. It was subsequently sold to Midwest Steel (6-1966) and presumably to Royal American Shows soon thereafter. I photographed the car at Little Rock in September 1968 in what looked like very fresh paint. At that time, one of the restroom windows still had a Frisco etched glass logo. The car was recently discussed both on the Pullman facebook page and the Passenger Car List at groups.io. It apparently still survives as a visitor center in Florida. During one of its Frisco rebuilds, one side of one vestibule was closed in, thus giving the car a different appearance depending on the side being viewed. Does anyone know where these two cars were last assigned in Frisco service? Did sister car 1401 survive or was it scrapped -- it was retired and sold at the same time as 1402. Bill Pollard
That Tulsa was one of the two streamlined observation cars built for the Meteor. The heavyweight car was built in the 1930s. It lost its name when the streamlined car was purchased. Paul
There is more information on 1401 here: http://www.frisco.org/shipit/index.php?threads/1401-full-lounge-nee-oklahoma-city.1430/ Apparently both cars were eventually sold to RAS. in Frisco service, my understanding is that these cars were spares during the 1950s and 1960s. For a year or so in the mid 1950s, they were even painted red and silver, though they finished their service in Pullman green. Paul
While TULSA became Royal American Shows # 64, it was retired from their service after the 1977 season. It was in Marathon, Florida in 1990 still in the Royal American Shows paint. I have no idea about it from 1990 to 2003. In 2003 it went to Pigeon Key, Florida where it was used as a gift shop. On a Facebook group, it was mentioned that it was just recently returned to Marathon, FL.
