Just recieved latest issue of Classic Trains. There in the color spread is a photo of #310 at Augusta....oh...wait did I not just see a very similar picture in Greg's Frisco in Color Vol 2? Sure enough....page 16. Same train...same location...same day...different view. The real connection is that I recall that same train..later in the early evening, entering Joplin crossing 15th and Pennsylvania by my grandfather's house! It was my 9th birthday! And here we are...all back together .... after 56 years! Wow. Buck aka Rancho Bob
I was amazed when I saw that picture. Same train, same '57 DeSoto (some would say the real star). Apparently the photographer took six steps to his left and shot the second photo (or else six steps to the right). When I was working on the book, I did not have a choice of photos. Sometimes I do because typically when there are sequential images like these, they all stay together and there is an option of which exposure to use. Not so this time. Anyway, it was great to see it, as #303 is not a train often seen, especially in color. Also, we don't know who actually took the picture. In the book, I credited it to the Bill Heiss Collection. The CT photo has no photo credit. Also, the caption is not quite correct in stating that only the Frisco had a direct St. Louis-Wichita route. The Missouri Pacific also ran St. Louis-Wichita via Pleasant Hill, and until 1956 operated a passenger service known as the Sunflower. GS
Yeah, I'd like to correct my other error in that I know better ...it is #303. Be sure and drop McGonigal a note on that, Greg. And , true...one has a hard time choosing between the train and the DeSoto.
