FMIG Newsletters

FMIG Newsletter 40

Dated September 1984

* Beautiful Don Wirth cover photo of GP-38 669 leading Train 31 through the MoPac diamonds at Fairlawn, MO in April 1980
* Start of a new production era - Charlie typed this one on a PC - learning curve problems resulted in three repeated paragraphs in Allan Copeland's letter
* Several letters mentioning the MR coverage of Jan Jester's "Newburg" layout - this was one of many leading up to the NMRA National Convention in KC
* Several letters with comments about trains 309/310, the Monett-Wichita connection to trains 9/10
* CMS features on GACX Airslide Covered Hoppers and 47,200-47,699 series stock cars
* GP-50 kitbash article by Brian Webb
* Timetable info about the Sunnyland, trains 807/808
* Great Ken McElreath article "Two Prototypical Concept of Frisco Model Railroads" (1. Mainline Division Point with Branch Line - 2. Small- or Medium-sized Terminals)
* Public timetables for November 1934, January 1945, and September 1955
* Great rear-cover photos of caboose 1145 - the wood standard one, not the ex-AT&SF steel one

 

FMIG Newsletter 41

This large issue was dated December 1984 and is a must read for anyone interested in the flavor of the Frisco in the 1950's

* Cover photo of F-3A 5002 at Lindenwood in the early 50's before rebuilding to F-7A specs
* Most of the material from the March 1955 issue of RAILWAY LOCOMOTIVES AND CARS
* First 100-copy issue
* Reports from the Summer 1984 KC NMRA Convention (Charlie and I both gave clinics, plus I did A/V for Logan Holtgrewe's styrene scratchbuilding clinic - Jan & Gloria Jester hosted Gil Reid and me, and I was Gil's driver for the week)
* Two photos from Mel Nierdieck of train 876, the mixed train between Hoxie, AR and Chaffee, MO with 2-8-0 1233 in the lead pulling an auxillary tender, a single-sheathed box car, and a coach - the entire train - it would look great running during a MR session
* Very few letters this issue due to the magazine material

 

FMIG Newsletter 42

Dated April 1985 - one of the shorter issues

* Dr. Mike Condren cover photo of eastbound "Will Rogers" pulling into Rolla, MO in June 1967 with E-8A 2021 in charge
* Announcement of August 17 & 18, 1985 FMIG Convention in Gettysburg, PA - home of ex JLC&E/SL-SF/etc. 2-8-0 No. 76
* Photo of scale test car 99155
* Mike Condren's paint shop feature defining all the various E-7/8 paint schemes - Dr. Mike included excellent photos from his extensive collection to document each
* Ken McElreath "Observations" feature about the "Memphian" trains 805/806
* Two photos of a beautiful E-7 Texas Special HO model by Tim Cannon
* Another "Pigs Are Beautiful" trailer photo
* Three great photos of single-sheathed box car 32392

BTW, NL 43 is attached here rather than on the next post

 

FMIG Newsletter 43

Dated September 1985 - nice long issue

* Cover photo of steam-powered passenger train southbound crossing the Number 3 Boston Mountain Viaduct on the Central Division - this trestle is a major feature of this issue
* Long list of all of Frisco's steam engine coaling facilities - the largest was a 450-ton tower at Ft. Scott, KS - there were also several of 300-ton capacity
* My report from the Gettysburg, PA convention - not well attended, but we had fun
* Another great and informative letter from Lee Buffington on pp. 5-6
* Bob Wintle's FIRST letter appeared on page 7 - wow, what a neat addition to the FMIG
* Yet other letters from regular contributers - who still contribute here in 2008 23 years later (Brand, McElreath, Harmantas, McClellan, etc.)
* Photos of Rick's model GP-35 713, and cabooses 1730 and 1289
* Photo of Ted Johnson's model F-3A
* Photos of two SL-SF box cars seen in Portland with SL-SF numbers painted out for BN numbers
* Photo of postage end of Baggage/RPO 216 in Newburg, MO
* List of the Frisco turntables with lengths - the longest were 12 100-footers - that's why Frisco's tenders were so short - even the 2-8-8-2's could fit
* Excellent lengthy article by Charlie Dischinger "Frisco Lines Boston Mountain Viaducts" with drawings done by Charlie and many photos
* Dr. Mike Condren's "Paint Shop" article featured the various GP-7 paint scheme variations - you may not have to put all those end yellow stripes on your model after all - Mike included a table of each road numbered GP-7 versus his nine (count em - nine, six B/Y & three O/W) different paint variations - this is a must read
* Companion kit bash article by Richard Napper for GP-7's (back in those days when we didn't have much to work with other than the too-wide Athearn)
* Columnist Ken McElreath's "Observations" was back with a great feature on passenger train head-end operations, especially the mail cars, including diagrams of the various Frisco mail cars, and they had a variety
* Echoes - a column with some of the best of the past FMIG newsletters as collected by your's truly - taken from the first three issues

FYE, Doug

 

FMIG Newsletter 44

Dated January 1986

* Cover photo of the Chaffee, MO Division-Point yard from the air as supplied by Tim Cannon, who still contributes 20 years later
* Charlie Dischinger gave a nice tabular listing of Frisco freight car number series he has represented photographically - my bet is that Nick Molo used most of Charlie's photos for his freight car book
* Allan Copeland gave a nice summary of differences in each RPO car from the "funky" 2037-2056 series
* There is a nice table of the two-letter car labeling symbol for each SL-SF shop applied after a repair there
* Another nice table lists the heavyweight Pullmans purchased by the Frisco after break up of Pullman's ownership in December 1948
* Jan Jester reported on the dismantling of his "Newburg" layout due to divorce
* Four nice photos of the distinctive Spanish-Mission-styled Pennsacola, FL depot
* First reports of the 1522 project!!!!!
* Karl Brand reported on research results relating to the Leaky Roof (high line), which is must reading for so many of you modeling this area of western Missouri
* Karl Brand also had a long feature about the 4500-series 4-8-4 Northerns including modifications to the Hallmark HO model
* Charlie's CMS column detailed a "what-if" cabless GP-38 he modeled, even though the Frisco didn't have them - Charlie's railroad did - painted O/W and numbered 601B - the BN actually had one or more
* Allan Copeland supplied a long, detailed feature on the Frisco's heavyweight Pullman sleepers including a table showing rebuildings, coversions to MofW, and dispositions - must reading for passenger train fans
* Allan Copeland was very busy back 20 years ago and supplied another great article for this issue- featuring the SL-SF Business Cars - this predates the features that ran in Alan Schmidt's Frisco Museum ALL ABOARD for about a dozen issues (recently scanned and posted on this web site)
* I, Doug Hughes, supplied a kit bash article on modeling an HO EMD-engined RS-2 using the Hobbytown RS-3 and AHM GP-18 components - photos of this model locomotive working at the Severna Park MRC's Cheseapeake Yard are in a folder I posted and may often been seen as one of the sign-on pop-up photos - if it's not there, keep hitting your refresh button until it appears - many other modelers have also done similar conversions and written about them
* A second CMS column from Charlie showed his Varney/Athearn NW-2 HO model 254 in B/W

* Whatever happened to Allan Copeland?

 

Both Charlie and I experienced a lot of incoming snail mail when we were each editors. Our names and addresses were listed in several of the model and railfan periodicals.

Approximately 45% were from people wanting to sell us something.

Another 45% were of the "please send me everything you have about the Frisco Railway" variety - and these NEVER had return postage.

I finally got to the point were I replied to each with a form letter thanking them for their interest and requesting that they reply with a description of their layout or layout plans. Few did.

The other 10% were gems from you folks. These developed into friendships that have lasted over multiple decades.

I got so frustrated that I eventually wrote to Model Railroader's editorial staff requesting that the FMIG and my name/address NOT be included in their yearly summary of "Historical Societies." THEY REFUSED. Bob Hundmann of Mainline Modeler did honor my request.

So many letters were from people who thought they could subscribe to a periodical - yet that put undue pressure on us editors/material suppliers to issue something periodically, rather than aperiodic as we were doing. There would also have been hundreds of little checks to deposit into an account that would have to be established - along with book keeping and tax records.

We were what we were.

We are now what we are, and this web site is PERFECT for us to share information and friendships.

Bless you Mike Corley.

End of sermon.

Douglas J. Hughes, retired air safety investigator and present trumpet player and grandfather

 

Re: FMIG Newsletters (and the "Firefly")

Doug--Intersting how the FMIG started up. I never knew how you got my name to start with?? Or where you might have gotten a list of people who were interested in trying to model the Frisco?? I got a couple of sample news letters, but I was in the process of moving and it was a while before I actually subscribed. But during the time I got the samples, I also got a newsletter titled: "The Firefly; Vol. 1, No. 1." It had various items: An ICC wreck report, some contributions from Richard Napper, a few photos of the Merriam, KS depot etc. The "editor" was a "Dave." No other names or addresses (or date). I might have subscribed had I known how to communicate. Do you know what that was about? I never heard anything further about "The Firefly"??

Tom

 

Tom, Dave Lindquist's four issues (The Firefly might have been the name) were scanned and posted to this site several weeks ago. Doug

 

FMIG Newsletter 46

Dated March 1987. This was Charlie's last issue, and it was a good one. All newsletter editors burned out back then - me, Charlie, Alan Schmidt, Dave Lindquist, and several others who burned out prior to their first issue.

* Cover photos of 4-8-2's 1521 with train and 1524 with another
* Reports from the 1987 FMIG Convention in Eureka Springs, AR
* Charlie gave a few hints at some internal FMIG issues that had been simmering for a while and that discouraged him from continuing as editor - we old timers remember - the Frisco Museum was starting up at about this time and I was publishing FMIG LINES for layout builders also, so there were ample opportunities to communicate without the FMIG NL
* Listing of new and excellent locomotive models available to the Frisco modeler, some even painted Frisco
* Diesel roster table with suggestions for HO models of each
* Echoes column with summaries of the best from newsletters 4-6
* Extensive Charlie Dischinger article AURORA, MO A TOWN FOR ALL REASONS with enough information to cause every layout builder to want to add Aurora as one of the major towns
* SIDE TRACKS letters from: Tom Cockle, Allen Copeland, Chuck Hammond, Richard Napper, Karl Brand, Jerry Hurt, Lee Buffington, Jim Rucker, Doug Hughes, Jeff Barclay, and Tom Galbraith
* Update from Jeff Schmid regarding the 1522 project
* Table listing the Frisco-related Pullman Company Negatives in the Smithsonian Institute Collection spanning 1889 to 1947

Fond memories and the end of an exciting era - but the internet is soooo much better than the printed page for information sharing.

Thanks Charlie, ya did good.

 

FMIG LINES 101

Dated March 1984

* Several pages explaining the concept of a newsletter devoted to encouraging non-armchair modelers who actually get around to building a layout
* Shenago Valley Railroad of Frank Pearsall
* Frisco-Eastern Division of Jan Jester - also covered in the NMRA Bulletin and Model Railroader in 1984 - track plan, construction drawings, and color photos included
* Prospect Model Railroad Club Layout in Sydney Australia - track plan and descriptions included
* Electronic circuit for an automatic reverser for a donkey engine track at the top of a rotary coal dump hump
* Scenery Tip from Bud McCrary - logs from dowels
* Operations article about Severna Park MRC in Maryland
* Layout planning and updates from Richard Napper, Tim Cannon, Ken Wulfert, Mike Corley, and Ray Bullock

FYE, much more to come, Doug

 

FMIG LINES 102

Dated June 1984

* Positive responses from issue 101 including summary of the layout questionaire
* Status Report of known FMIG Layouts
* Track-plan bottlenecks - they are prototypical - Edward Junction Kansas example
* Black Bear & Western of Richard Allen
* Carl Junction Yard of Karl Brand - including track plan, structures placement, photographs, and prototype map
* Dixon, Jerome & Hancock of Doug Hughes including photo of 2-8-0 76
* Frisco-Eastern Division of Jan Jester
* Frisco Birmingham Terminal Railway of Ken and Marsha McElreath including prototype maps and a proposed track plan - they had a new basement back then - they are now (2008) in yet another
* Frisco Northern of Richard Napper including modular benchwork drawings and a schematic for a solid-state analog throttle
* Manitou And Southwestern of Mike Corley
* Missouri Valley-Southern Division of Brian Webb of Australia
* Ozark Land & Mining Railway of Ron Williams - this is his layout that was written up so poorly by Model Railroader - they actually left towns off the track plan that were mentioned in the text and shown in the photos - several editors ago ;-)
* Ozark Northern of Jerry Hurt
* Okmulgee Northern - Indian Nation Railway of Ray Bullock
* Scratchbuilt Tomatoe Canning Factory in bulsa & styrene
* Another solid-state analog throttle schematic based on the LM317T voltage regulator
* Announcements of FMIG summer conventions - KC & Gettysburg
* Summary of two clinics given at the 1984 NMRA National in KC
* Announcements of books by Joe Collias (FRISCO POWER) and Mary Alice Beemer (NEWBURG CENTENNIAL)
* Frisco-related photos list from Alco Historic PHotos

More downloading/reading pleasure 24 years late - Doug

 

FMIG LINES 103

Dated January 1985 - big issue, but much larger ones were on the horizon

* Announcement of a new Frisco Railway Historical Society forming in St. Louis - it didn't progress
* Amplification and examples of Ken McElreath's two layout concepts presented in FMIG NL 40
* Listing of 14 light-density and branch line concept layouts in construction or planning
* Tabular listing of 46 Frisco Light-Density and Branch Lines that would be ideal prototypes for a layout - lengths ranged from 3.7 to 214 miles
* Many reports and photos from NMRA KC 1984
* Allan Copeland's unnamed layout
* Black Bear & Western Railway of Richard Allen including an overview plan drawing
* Coalton Valley and Western Railroad of Bruce Hiltibrand
* Dixon, Jerome & Hancock Railway of Doug Hughes with a track plan for a switching layout proposed, but never built, for the work room/ham shack in our old house
* Frisco Birmingham Terminal Railway of Ken & Marsha McElreath with an updated track plan very close to the one built and documented as the cover article from the November 2003 issue of RAILROAD MODEL CRAFTSMAN
* Frisco Northern of Richard Napper
* Frisco-Eastern Division of Jan Jester including photos
* Frisco-Central Division + M&A of Mike Condren
* Frisco LInes, Choctaw & Arkansas Division of Mike Wilson (whatever happened to Mike?)
* SL-SF, Eastern Division, Rolla Subdivision of Ken Wulfert including a great photo of Ken
* Unnamed Railroad of Jack McCullough including a track plan
* Oklahoma Western of Jim Rucker including excellent benchwork construction techniques and drawings
* SL-SF & MoPac of Joe Collias (yes, he did write to us at least once!)
* SL-SF RR. Benton County Arkansas of Gale Hall
* Unnamed Railroad featuring Harrisonville, MO of Chuck Hammond
* SL-SF & IC at Holly Springs, MS of Curt Ayers including maps and a track plan
* Springfield in a big warehouse - plans of Tom Duncan including maps
* Terrain Scenery Modeling Tips from Andrew Harmantas
* Scratchbuilt Aged Wood Building by Doug Hughes - follow up to Tomatoe Factory of FMIG LINES 102
* Electronics for Caboose Marker Lights by Frank Winner
* Electronics for unattended branch line motor car operation by Frank Winner
* Early track plan for the Severna Park MRC Chesapeake & Allegheny with updates taken from the June 1973 issue of MODEL RAILROADER
* Last page with editorial comments from the verbose editor

 

My ancient scanner is putting random horizontal lines across every page. Should I keep scanning issues or wait until I get a new scanner (one of these days)?

 

Doug,

I like your ancient scanner. I now have a complete collection of the early FMIGs printed to go along with the copies I received as a member.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. I use these newsletters as reference material for equipment, operations, etc and they are invaluable.

Ship IT on the Frisco!

Rick

 

Thanks Rick - I just bought a new one - hopefully it won't have the horizontal line problem.

Doug

 

FMIG LINES 104 pp. 1-20

Dated Winter 1989/90

* Editorial explaining why there had been no FMIG publications since NL 46 of March 1987 (Walt Kelly's famous Pogo statement is appropriate: "We have found the enemy, and they is us")
* Several features on modeling the Springfield, MO area with reference to the TRAINS article "SY 03-08-80" from January 1981 - whatever happened to Steve Squibb?
* Starting discussions/planning from Ron Williams for his current Springfield Yard layout
* Frisco Springfield North Yard by Rick McClellan
* Several different Missouri Valley Southern Division layouts by Bryan Webb of Sydney Australia including track plans and a photo of Bryan, Betty (now deceased) and two grandaughters
* Sanborn map of Springfield south yard area west of the passenger station
* Art Johnson photo of the passenger station
* Sanborn map of steam-era Springfield North Yard area - on page 4 - posted as a separate file for downloading convenience
* Kansas City, Ozarks and Southern railway of Charlie Dischinger including a track plan
* Fantastic operations article "Model A Large Yard" by Charlie Dischinger based on the North Springfield bowl including a great photo of Charlie and another Art Johnson photo of the South Yard passenger station. It also included a table with typical functions for each of the 31 bowl tracks in the North Yard (6, 18, & 23 left clear for run arounds).

Much more to come FMIG LINES 104 ended up with 100 pages!

Doug

 

FMIG LINES 104 page 4

Attached.

 

FMIG LINES 104 pp. 21-40

* This section documents my layout planning for the Dixon, Jerome & Hancock that was started, to about 10%, in the basement of the new house near Annapolis. I had been collecting background material for years and included some of it in this issue. If you are a fan of the Lebanon Subdivision, between Newburg and Springfield, MO, this is a must-read.
* Givens and Drouthers
* History of this line, including "The Great Pathfinder" Gen. John C. Fremont, who was the first Republican presidential candidate - he lost to Van Buren (another interesting "Character" who never married but lived with the V.P.)
* The land grant - basement plan drawing
* A great fictional account of this line by E. S. Dellinger from the January 1940 issue of RAILROAD MAGAZINE. "The Ballast Scorcher" is a thriller about a runaway freight going down Dixon Hill and also features the characteristic of the "Spot" Big Mike (2-10-2) engines to kink the rail at any decent speed. Even non modelers will enjoy this one.
* A great non-fiction from E. S. Dellinger "Hard Conductor" from the July 1944 RAILROAD MAGAZINE
* A feature on building the Ft. Wood Branch (also printed by the Frisco Museum in ALL ABOARD) "A New Branch Line for National Defense" from the Jan-Feb 1941 issue of FRISCO FIRST
* Copied text, with permission, from the April 22, 1944 issue of RAILWAY AGE "St. Louis-San Francisco Installs Centralized Traffic Control". This first CTC installation was an attempt to tame the heavy traffic bottleneck of Dixon Hill and preceeded the hill regrading by a few years. There's a neat linear track diagram for the affected area between Dillon and Swedeborg and mention of four passing sidings that were removed after the installation. It was controlled from that little brick building in Newburg where R. C. Grayson sat for 12-hour shifts during WW II (more in FMIG LINES 116 - be patient). This article continues on page 41.