Howdy y´all, In 1962 after my parents moved me to Tampa, Florida, for the second time I really missed Texas and the Frisco in the Carrollton, Texas, area. I was looking up the railroads in the yellow pages and long and behold, the Frisco had an off-line traffic office in Tampa and it wasn´t that far from where we lived. It was in an office building on Hillsborough Avenue and I visited it one Friday after school in the spring of ´62. I knocked on the door and was greeted by Ed Bunch. He was one of the three employees in the office. I introduced myself and we became good friends. I was introduced to the strange world of rates and tarriffs. Ed would telephone customers in the area and inform them as to where their shipment was and when it was expected to arrive. The Atlantic Coast Line or Seaboard Air Line were the railroads in Tampa who would switch out the car(s) or piggyback trailer(s) for final delivery. Does any other Frisco fan have any knowledge what happened to Ed? I joined the US Army Transportation Corps in August 1964 after high school graduation and lost contact with him. He even looked a little like the actor Jack Lemmon! Joe Toth The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer
Have you tried http://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/emmployee-cards/cards/FEC His employee card shows he was born 9-21-1923 in Amory, Mississippi. If you need/want further information. let me know. Good Luck. Joe Felin
Thanks guys for the info on Ed. I regret I didn´t stay in contact with him plus some of the other great railroaders I used to know. This Internet stuff should have come along a lot sooner. Joe Toth The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer
This is an up-date of sorts regarding Ed Bunch, a real Frisco man! I was able to contact Ed again after so many many years. He is now 87 years young and lives in Clearwater, Florida. After I joined the US Army Transportation Corps in 1964 I lost contact with him. He was later promoted to area sales manager for the Frisco in their Miami off-line traffic office. When the Frisco started to downsize the number of off-line agencies and closed down Miami, Ed returned to Tampa. I believe they also shut down the Jacksonville, Florida, office during this period. I don´t have any public TTs or Official Guides of the Railways but the list of all the Frisco traffic offices were listed in them. When the Big Bad Green Machine (BN), ate the Frisco they shut down the Tampa traffic office. Rather than relocate, Ed took an early retirement. He remained active in his church and when the Tampa office was closed he bought the desks, cabinets and chairs and donated all to his church! Of course, when I made "First Contact" again after some 40+ years he didn´t remember the pesky teenager who loved the Frisco who would pester him from time to time for timetables and just talk shop about rates and tarrifs and his early days as a mudhop (yard clerk) in Amory, Mississippi. He hired out in the Golden Age with steam power. He also knew the crews on the Mississippian Ry. as well. Offered a job as a claim agent in Pensacola, Florida, he moved another notch up in his career and later on ended up in Tampa at their off-line traffic office there. If any of you folks know any older Frisco Folks by ALL means get back on track with them! I call Ed every Saturday afternoon (Florida time) and we chat around two hours each visit! He lost his wife last year and has no one to really talk to about his "Good Old Days" on the Frisco Lines. My request on this forum has brought me together again with a really fine old Southern Gentleman, First Class in every respect! We talk talk talk Frisco! SL-SF, AT&N, QA&P, Mississippian, and I have learned a lot of new stuff that I never really considered before. The traffic patterns from California and the Pacific Northwest for example. The time a customer in Florida had a car of lumber on the way..."Ship IT on the Frisco!"...but couldn´t use the car when it was due to be delivered and spotted by the Atlantic Coast Line, so Ed routed the car up the Mississippian and back to gain the time the customer needed so he wouldn´t be charged for not unloading and releasing the car within the specified time period. This WAS service! He did a lot of bizz with Publix and Winn-Dixie super markets in Florida too. Pershables from California and the Pacific Northwest with SP, ATSF, UP, GN/NP/Q routings via Houston/New Orleans, Kansas City/St. Louis Gateways and on to the Sunshine State. He was Mr. Frisco to the many customers who used rail service and they always returned giving him more business that we all watched roll over Frisco´s steelway of commerce that binded a great nation together. I feel privledged to have known Mr. Frisco as a teenager, far removed from my Texas roots and befriended by an off-line traffic rep who somehow helped me retain my interest in the great railroad that the Frisco was and remains in our hearts, to Mr. Frisco, now in his senior years and so happy to have someone to share his life story with, from his childhood years on a farm near Amory to the years in Pensacola, Tampa and Miami. I regret I can´t get away now and board Big Bird and visit him in Florida now. I hope to ASAP as conditions permit however. My real railfanning began in Carrollton, Texas, during the summer of 1961 when I hung out at the Cotton Belt depot which also served as a joint agency for the Frisco and Katy, also with an understanding agent, Ken Dafft, to Ed Bunch, Mr. Frisco in Tampa and all the other railroaders on the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard who befriended my best friend, Robert Taff (RIP) and myself, these were the men and women who made us determined to go to work for the railroad! Looking back at 65 now, I wouldn´t change a thing. Despite my career with the Cotton Belt, Santa Fe and even German Railway and not having been employed with the Frisco, I still love railroading, the railroaders and the railfans. Together we all share jobs and hobbies that bring us together in fellowship and quite possibly gives the words, The World´s Greatest Hobby its true meaning! Thanks too, to the officers of Frisco.org for permitting me to join one of the great forums of a great American railroad, the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. Southeast...Southwest...and the world...Ship IT on the Frisco...Forever!!! Thanks Folks! Joe Toth The Trinity River Bottoms Boomer
Thanks for the kind words! Unlike many railfans, Robert and I hung out at Tampa Union Station, Uceta Yard (ACL), Yeoman (SAL), (day and night) and the off-line traffic offices of the railroads who maintained offices in Tampa. Frisco was the "Must" visit of course, but we knew the other reps at the Burlington, Clinchfield, Mop, B&O and others. Ed was buddies with the Clinchfield rep during the early 60s as well. We knew all the railroaders, engineers, brakemen, switchmen, yardmasters, the ticket agents (the lady...forget her name...gave me my first copy of The Official Guide of the Railways...man, Christmas in July!...), the lady who ran the snack bar/magazine rack at TUS (where we bought Trains Magazine) and would give us a free Coke (Reg.U.S.Pat.Off.) and of course The Most...Chester Holley. Saturday afternoon at Chester´s train shop was the weekly gathering of local teenage model railroaders. A good cold Dr. Pepper out of the old metal Coke chest was more than a drink in the hot humid Florida sunny afternoon...it was a way of life! I hope all of the Frisco Folks had or are having this kind of relationship with area railroaders, employees or modelers alike. The many security issues of this age make it difficult to railfan like Robert and I did in the years 1962-64, true, but still, this love of trains remains in the hearts of all of us, be it a toddler with his or her first Thomas, the fine scale model railroader (Andre Ming...you readin´ this?), the live steamer, the railfan who follows the Frisco without modeling interests, to the armchair model railroader like myself, all share this common interest. In the short time I have been on the Frisco.org site I see a bunch of great people of all nationalities, religions, and races, joining together to enjoy the great hobby we all can enjoy in a free world. Railroading, like music, sports and other hobbies, bring us all together without fear of one another to follow the steelway of the great railroad the Frisco was. Too bad politicians can´t learn to work and play together like this. Thanks Frisco Folks, you make my day...everyday! UPDATE: Today, September 21, 2011, Ed celebrates his 88th birthday! I plan to call him later and wish him a happy, healthy, long life! His took early retirement from BN and when I talk with him can tell just how much he misses his job on the Frisco. He tells me that Frisco was more than a railroad, it was a family! BN changed all that and that is why he took the "early out". Joe Toth
