Can anyone confirm the date of the Firefly's last run? I have it around December 1959 but would like to verify the date. Rick Morgan
The Firefly was still listed in the May 1960 Official Guide, with a through KC-Tulsa coach carried in No 107-108 north of Fort Scott. My notes indicate the train was discontinued May 23, 1960 However, I do not know if that was the last run date or the "effective" date, the last run having occurred a day earlier. Bill
OK, to make this a little more challenging, when did the Firefly last operate with its original dedicated equipment? Did the train in its original form survive intact long enough to have been diesel-powered? Gordon
Gordon, The Texas Flash ceased operations between Tulsa and Dallas on 5/1/47. It returned to its original Kansas City - Oklahoma City operation. The Firefly was discontinued between Tulsa and OKC on April 30,1950. Streamlined steam locomotives SLSF 1026 was retired on May 31, 1949, SLSF 1031 was retired on October 4, 1949, and SLSF 1018 was retired May 22, 1950. I believe that the trains were dieselized during February 1950 because of the coal strike that was affecting the nation at that time. The original train set did survive into the diesel era, albeit in green livery. The question becomes when did the train lose its Zephyr Blue livery? The Blue was gone Frisco-wide by 1955.
There is a list from the late Frisco Museum with the dates of the paintings and re-paintings of the "war years" Zephyr blue and light gray, actually Zephyr blue and off white, Firefly/Meteor paint scheme. That list is no doubt in the scanned museum newsletters on this forum. Where? Tom
The All Aboard issue is June 1, 1989, Volume 4. The final run of the Firefly was May 22, 1960. http://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/allaboard/Optimized/1989_6_v4_1.pdf From "The Southeast Missourian" of December 18, 1959. http://news.google.com/newspapers?n...hQpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=X9cEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6611,6219146