Dick Hovey of Fayetteville, Ar discovered this example of the 20000 - 20424 series type XL boxcar while out riding the new trail extension on the South side of Fayetteville, on the property of Ozark steel. Thanks to Dick and Steve Marquess for sharing. Photos from Dick Hovey. In 1969 and 1970, the Frisco leased 425 equipped forty foot boxcars from Chicago Freight Car. Like the previous Kellogg cars, these were also equipped with DF-2 loaders and belt rails except they had nine foot Youngstown corrugated doors. These cars were mostly assigned to specific shippers, for example; US Gypsum in Southard, OK and Scott Paper Co. in Mobile, AL. Note the black background coonskin and serif reporting marks and number, with the white - only "Ship it on the Frisco" slogan. Thanks to Nick Molo for the detail info.
Wow, this is awesome. Looks like the boxcar is sitting on timbers so the underframe is not rusting away in the soil. Couplers are still there, ladders are bent up a bit but that's easy enough to fix. Paint looks pretty fair for being decades old, logos are still well defined. Hopefully the other side is free of major damage. Looks like a great candidate for restoration to me. I bet freight car trucks could be found. Fayetteville is not too far from Tulsa. I think Im going to make a call to Ozark Steel and see if they are willing to part with this diamond in the rough.
A call to Ozark Steel this morning put me in contact with the owner, he was not interested in selling the car because they use it for storage. I will be calling back every few months and hopefully catch him in the mood to part with it sometime. Does anybody know of any other Frisco freight cars in private ownership ?
Keith, that may be a pretty good idea. I did not want to push him too hard today, I think I will go down there in a few weeks and ask him if I can take some pics. That way I can inspect it closely to make sure there are no major flaws or issues with the car. If the car looks sound and restorable I can get more serious with trying to talk him out of it. I would love to cosmetically restore it and display it coupled with caboose 1232, and then find a tank car to put with it. Fun stuff for sure !
