I drove through Frisco City on my way to Atmore yesterday. I was afraid of what I would find. When I moved here in the late nineties this caboose had just been cosmetically restored. Here is what it looks like today.
Nice pics, thanks for posting. I was there earlier this summer. I love caboose 1257 at Frisco City, she is in pretty nice condition all things considered, and is in better condition than the 1215 at Atmore, the Atmore caboose looks nice with shiny paint, but it has some serious structural damage from being laid over on her side. 1257 is very straight with only a few tiny dents and it is complete, there is not much rust through on the body either, I have seen most all the surviving Frisco cabooses 1200-74, and the 2 that are in the best condition are the 1202 at Mt. Vernon Mo 1st, and 1257 at Frisco City 2nd. I have never pursued the caboose at Frisco City, but I have given it some serious thought, the only drawback is that she is so far from Tulsa where it would be restored. I would love to get my hands on 1257 ! Perhaps when I finish restoring 1291 I may get serious about it.
What appears to be rust on and around the copula, is organic material like fine moss stuck to the car body, the un cared for appearance and this recent post have my interest in 1257 fired up. I am going to call the City tomorrow and see if they will consider selling it. I will post their response.
I called the city clerk today, they happen to be having a council meeting tomorrow and she is putting the caboose on the agenda. She acknowledged the caboose was looking bad and said the council would decide if selling was an option. If they decide that selling is an option, I will contact my trucker friend and ask him how much to permit and move her 600 miles back to Tulsa. The cost of moving will determine how much we can offer for the caboose, and the cost of moving may be so high that buying it is not an option. Time will tell.
We still have that SLSF cab at Parachute Yard too, not beat up all that bad either. I know of 30-40 train crews that would like to see it sold, I have pulled it around some as an engineer. The wheels are so square you barely stand to be in the old girl at 50mph+, but I did years ago, rode in the cupola and wondered if my Grandpa had pulled it too.
Tom, I know the caboose you speak of up at Parachute, she looks really good. I actually put in a request to BNSF for it, don't know if that will ever go anywhere, but I have a nice set of wheels to put under her ! that caboose was originally #1279, from the 1275-84 series built in 1968. Another really nice example from that series is #1276 on display at Brookfield MO.
