Who has collected what from manufacturers and what have you created yourself? I am having a hard time finding n passenger cars.
For N-scale passenger cars, the only manufacturer to produce anything was Con-Cor. They produced a Texas Special Set a number of years ago, and followed that with sets of streamlined cars. Of the cars used, the coach is really the only one close to anything that Frisco owned, but none of the cars were really correct. NOTE: Some of the ConCor car sets had a red window band and roof, but others had just Frisco in the letterboards and were all silver otherwise (I think that's right, I sold the only set I had a number of years ago). M&R sides has correct car sides for Frisco cars (at least those in Texas Special Service) that were originally produced for Des Planes Hobbies Texas Special train set (which was announced in 2000, but hasn't ever been delivered). The M&R sides are available from N Scale Supply (see http://www.nscalesupply.com/MRS/MRS.html ) and are intended for use with the American Limited Models core kits. NOTE: These sides are listed as MKT cars on the site above, but the 1947/1948 cars are all correct for the Frisco's Texas Special contributions. I believe one of the 1954 72 seat coaches was also purchased by the Frisco. The M&R sides more or less cover most of the streamlined car types owned by the Frisco. The etchings have some Texas Special details that may not be found on Meteor cars, and a couple of the Meteor specific cars (the Meter's Observation cars in particular) aren't covered. For heavyweight and head end cars, you really have to do some kitbashing to get fairly accurate cars. I have some cars in progress, but have yet to get any to the painting and lettering stage (and I'm in the middle of a move, so it may be a while still). Paul
Paul: Thanks for contributing. I hope you will post pictures of your cars when completed. I look forward to seeing your work. Tim Gungoll
Pecos River Brass produced an unlettered 8-5 Clover series and a 12-1 East series HW sleeper listed as appropriate for SLSF, 6/1991
Yes I have them. and no I don't currently have the means to post photos. Hopefully this will change in a few months. The cars are not as nice as I expected. No window glass, no interiors. I plan to correct this eventually. The outside detail is good. The 12-1 differs from the Rivarossi 12-1 in that it is a model of a car that had air conditioning added in the mid 1930s. And the 8-5, being a mid 1930's rebuild is also air conditioned.
Larry: I saw where you were given credit for proving information regarding C & O passenger cars by Fred Klein on the attached link. Did you or do you work for a railroad, or is this just a hobby? http://www.trainweb.org/fredatsf/protopass4.htm
OK, so which N scale baggage car (heavyweight) would work for a mixed freight similar to the Clinton Sub trains?
Those (cars in the MR article) are 60' cars with truss rods. I'm modeling some Frisco 60' baggage cars, but I'm not going to bother with the truss rods. I haven't fully completed any yet, but I have some JNJ Trains' brass sides (one baggage door per side will have to be widend) that fit a Bachmann "shorty" car. The plastic roof (clerestory) will have to be modified also. Then, I have some Oddballs Frisco passenger decals. I'll also be needing some six-wheel trucks. I'll probably used MT trucks or some old Atlas/Rivarossi "take-offs". There aren't any off-the-shelf or RTR cars that are close to a Frisco 60' baggage car. Tom
Clinton Sub Chicken Cars During 1955-56 the Frisco rebuilt 5, numbers 304,312,315,322, & 325, rather ancient wood sheathed baggage cars to handle the chick traffic from Clinton to KC. The sixth baggage car, 395, was rebuilt from car 604 (an old cafe and dining car?) 304, nee 119 built 1906?, rebuilt SLSF 8-42, steel sheathed, monitor roof, 73'-10' over buffers, 5' and 7 ' doors 312, built 1906, rebuilt SLSF 1943, steel sheathed, monitor roof, 73'-?" over buffers, doors unknown 315, built ACF 5-1901, rebuilt SLSF 6-36, Poplar Siding?, monitor roof, 63'-1"over buffers, 5' and 7' doors 322 built ACF 1901, steel sheathed,monitor roof?, 64'-3" over buffers, 4-5' doors? 325, nee52, built ACF 8-1902, rebuilt SLSF ?, Wood Siding, Monitor Roof, 63'-7' over buffers,doors unknown 395, nee 604 built 11-26, rebuilt SLSF 11-12-46, steel sheathed, Monitor Roof, 74'-0 over buffers, doors unknown
Here's a photo of 395 coupled to a caboose (Date, location, photographer unkown). May well be a baby chick car on the Clinton Sub?? Tom
Here are 322 and 325. All three of these photos are printed on post cards with no information. And I don't recall where I bought them?? Can anyone tell the location of 322 with the water tower (very faint, above the left end of the car) in the background? Tom
Tom, I remember buying some b&w Frisco photos that looked like postcards a few years ago from a guy named Allen Johnson (San Angelo, TX). I think he was Arthur Johnson's brother and had taken Arthur's collection and was reprinting the photos on postcards. The pictures listed below look like they could have been shot by Arthur. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Thank God for Art Johnson! He was one of the more prolific Frisco photographers - steam, diesel and also cars - mainly baggage and passenger cars. I met him at one of the very early train meets in Springfield, and started buying his prints then - I wound up with many. We became friends, and through Art I met Lee Buffington, plus Lee was in FMIG. I corresponded with them frequently by mail. Between the two of them, I have a whole stack of their letters discussing and answering my constant questions about Frisco locomotives. I have often thought about publishing them. I'll never forget the FMIG meeting we held here in St Louis over a weekend in 1981 (or was it 1982?). On the Sunday morning, we met at the Museum of Transportation. I was standing with Lee alongside SLSF 1522 while Art was up in the cab ringing the bell. Lee had tears in his eyes from hearing that bell ring again. This was a few years before 1522 was restored into operating condition. Art passed away not long after; Lee about ten years or so ago. They were both great Gentlemen, and they knew a whole lot about, and loved, the Frisco. Good memories. Ken
Rick--Allen indeed is Arthur's brother and he has the collection now, but Arthur shared the pictures with lots of people. I believe the ones Allen has printed are marked as being from his collection. Lots of Arthur's photos have been sold and resold at train shows. Tom
Thanks for the clarification Tom. All I know for sure is that I like the photos. Lee Buffington, now there was a true gentleman and friend. I was able to make his acquaintance along with Ed Heiss before both passed away and wished I could have known them sooner. Two walking Frisco encyclopedias and willing to share anything they had. After showing Lee my first transfer caboose, he was very kind with the compliments and when no one was looking said very softly, "The paint is a little dark, but that's between you and me." Yep used boxcar red when I probably should have used oxide red. I still have several typed letters from Lee that are in my archives where he was answering specific questions I had about my modeling projects. He was pretty quick on the reply. He sure is missed by me. Ship IT on the Frisco! Rick
Indeed, as Rick noted, Ed Heiss was another true Frisco gentleman, and a FMIG'er. He had a list of Frisco stuff a mile long that he had for sale at very reasonable prices - SLSF paper, passes, timetables, menus, publications, coonskin decals, car checks, forms, etc. I bought about a ton of it, including roughly 200 employee timetables - No 1, 10/71 - the one modern era SLSF system ETT. I spent about 5-6 years selling those off one at a time on eBay. I'm down to about five now. Art Johnson, Lee Buffington, Ed Heiss - they made visits to Springfield very pleasant. There were others, too, but these three were Frisco giants. Ken
To get back to the question on modeling the Clinton Sub baggage cars in N-scale... A good stand in for SLSF322 can be constructed by putting a monitor roof on a Wheels-Of-Time "Harriman" baggage car ( http://www.wheelsotime.com/products.php?category=headend ). You want to start with one of the cars with "flat" ends. Just FYI, these cars are a scale 60ft 6in over the end sills and 63ft over the buffers. This makes the length close to that of SLSF322. They have two 5ft doors on each side, which is correct for SLSF322, but not for the other cars in Karl's list. These cars may also work as a stand in for SLSF310, if the floor diagrams showing it having two 5ft doors on each side are correct. Adding truss rods would make an even more convincing stand in (though still a stand in, because the rivet patterns aren't correct) I'm really hoping that Wheels-Of-Time releases an RPO, because that would make it really easy to model a 60ft Frisco RPO in N-scale. Paul
Saw some of the N scale Wheels of Time cars at Show Me Lines in Grandview, MO and they looked very good. I almost bought a couple on the spot for my mixed local, but thought I better check to see if they have the correct roof, and they don't. This brings me to a couple of questions. What do we do for a monitor roof? Is this something we have scratchbuild? Or is it available as a detail part or something we can use from another car or kit? And does anybody know if the chicken trains went to Springfield or were they only on the Kansas City trains? Dale Rush Carthage, MO
