Diner-lounges Kansas City, Birmingham and Memphis were all painted with shadow lines red/silver scheme between 1950-55, for service on the Kansas City-Florida Special. By the time car Kansas City was photographed as work car 105941, it had true fluting -- not shadowline paint. When was the actual fluting applied, and did cars Birmingham and Memphis receive similar treatment? Thanks, Bill Pollard
I believe "Kansas City" was the only car actually decorated with shadow stripes as such. It was converted to diner-lounge (from 1508) in April 1936 and probably wore the Frisco green paint scheme. In April 1941 it was painted in the blue/gray Firefly-Meteor colors. In May 1947 it was painted back to green. It was painted in the shadow stripe scheme w/red trim (on the ends, roof and window area) and silver trucks in October 1950. The stainless fluting was added (still with red trim) April 1955. All these cars probably had black trucks after fluting was added (see "Frisco In Color" page 120). "Springfield" was converted (from 1510) in October 1937--Painted ALL red w/Scotchlite lettering in October 1952--Name was changed to "Memphis" 6-19-54--Fluting added April 1955. "Birmingham" was converted (from 1509) 4-36--Fluting w/red trim added 12-54. All these cars had small crew sleeping areas added about 1959. Photos of "Kansas City" in the shadow stripe scheme and "Springfield" in the all red scheme are in the little calendar issued by the Frisco Museum several years ago. Tom
Kansas City was rebuilt from 1508 Birmingham was rebuilt from 1509 Memphis formerly the Springfield was rebuilt from 1510 You are correct the dormitory compartment was added during the spring of 1959. I have heard from a couple of old Frisco heads that the fluting came from the E-7's.
Yeah--I always wondered about that E-7 fluting story?? Real or folklore?? There was surely a lot of cutting, splicing and fitting to do--There were narrower (than the E-7's) sheets used above the diner windows and wider ones below...I'm kinda skeptical. Does anybody know what size the stainless sheets actually were? Engines or cars? Tom
If diner lounge Springfield was renamed Memphis on 6-19-54, does that mean that sleeper-buffet Memphis was retired or renamed at or before that date? My 1954 Passenger Equipment Register still shows Pensacola and Memphis (sleeper buffet), but by 1956, only Pensacola remained, and the Springfield diner lounge was shown renamed as Memphis. Thanks again for the great, highly detailed, information. Bill
I think the "Memphis" and "Pensacola" (Buffet-Sleepers) were about ready to be taken out of service (and scrapped??) and the name(s) was (were) available. My '56 list shows them as extra and "In shops awaiting disposition." Also, I believe those registers were only published once a year. Tom
The reason for taking some of the lounge space and converting it into crew sleeping quarters was to allow the retirement of the coach-dormitory cars numbered 1092, 1093 and 1094 used on the Kansas City - Florida Special. These coaches were shorter than regular coaches. Ken McElreath
I was just browsing the passenger car photos in the Springfield-Greene County Library's Frisco website. I noticed in a series of car interior photos, that the diner-lounge "Birmingham" had, at one time at least, rear facing windows on the lounge end of the car. I always thought those cars (Kansas City, Birmingham, Memphis) had "blind" ends?? However a similar car (#1506) had end windows and one of the "Firefly" cars had "portholes" in the end. Tom
"By the time car Kansas City was photographed as work car 105941" Actually the number is 105491... https://www.condrenrails.com/Frisco Catalog/Others/FR739.jpg Anybody have an idea of which car this is??? https://www.condrenrails.com/Frisco Catalog/Others/FR535.jpg
#105491 was the former "Kansas City." "Memphis" became m/w #105492 and "Birmingham" became #105490. The car in the color photo has a short nameplate so it was probably "Memphis." By the way, the "black" roof in the color shot is from engine exhaust! I saw these cars quite often (almost daily) during the period 1961-62 and they repainted them frequently. One of these big beauties, freshly painted in the morning sun was surely a sight to see! Tom
I am currently modeling the "Memphis" in N scale. I have reproduced the floorplans/diagrams and reduced them to N. I am getting ready to cut the sides out of styrene. As info, I acquired the 1:1 letterboards and nameplates for this car in the late 1960's. Mike Cafferata
If anyone is interested in modeling one of these cars, Union Station Products has made the sides available in: N-$22.99, HO-$29.99, S-$39.99, and O-$55.99. According to my 1958 Passenger Car Register, the length of the cars was 82' over the buffers, so finding a core kit may prove difficult. The AHM/Rivarossi 12-1 sleeper is the correct length; however, replacing the car sides would be very difficult but possible. Union Station Products offers great super detailing parts for passenger cars along with all of the light weight passenger car sides except for the Meteor Observation cars Tulsa and Oklahoma City. I can't tell from the drawing if the TS observation car is as built or as modified for mid train usage. Anyway, I thought someone might be interested in this information. Terry ps. Some of the detail parts are actually Train Station Products details that are listed on the Union Station Products page.
The Union Station Sides are correct for not only the three Kansas City-Florida Diner-Lounges but also for all of the 1500 class of cafe-lounges, several of which were kept in service for charter/special trains up to 1960 or so. In fact, they would be much easier because they had only smooth sides ever. If you model one of these, then the ends need to have the solarium windows still intact, unlike the three KC-FS ones. My recommendation would be to find some old Walthers metal ends, wood floor and roof. I have a 24 inch piece of the round roof wood stock that I would be willing to sell to someone who wants to model a Frisco round roof car. Ken
