No on mixed train, worked and shipped -- otherwise I am fortunate enough to be able to say yes to the rest. I can, however, say that I have ridden a mixed train OVER the Frisco -- in this case the Midland Valley back around 1960 when, if you knew where to look in their tariff, you found that passengers were still carried over at least part of the line. Louis Marre and I decided to challenge this, and after several letters back and forth with Muskogee, they realized we had them. We only went from Fort Smith as far as either Panama or Bokoshe for which the fare would have been something like $1.25, but they wouldn't take our money. In retrospect I think their lawyers probably told them that actually charging us would have confirmed that they had an obligation to provide the service whereas by just "letting us ride" they could avoid the issue. We rode in the caboose and had a fine time. Anyway, the first part of the trip was over the Frisco. Gordon
Played around the High Line around Hickman Mills, Grandview, Leeds, Belton. Used to walk the tracks a lot. The last pre-BN train I remember is out back of old Baptiste Jr High - three red 'n white gp's pulling what was mostly a ballast train in about 1980. The tracks ran behind the schools track and field where we had phys ed. Now, with all the housing development south of Grandview, I bet some folks will regret this line wasn't saved for public transportation!
Ft. Scott, Springfield, Tullsa all courtesy of my dad. Rode a caboose from Ft. Scott to Springfield many times. My mom would drive me over. This was in the early seventies and I was no more than five. I don't guess you can do that anymore. Got busted for throwing rocks at a train west of 33rd street in Tulsa when I was in the fifth grade. That went over so well I can still remember it Always liked seeing the trains crossing Salt Creek up on Keystone Lake. And believe it or not there was a time when you could ride a bike right up in the parking lot at the Cherokee Yard tower and watch the hump and no one would arrest you for trespassing I miss those days...
Stood trackside pre-BN?... yes Been inside active depot?... yes Seligman's 3rd generation depot Looked at a steam engine and wondered?... yes All the rest... no Sent from my Galaxy Siii
...stood trackside along the Frisco (QA&P in my case) before the BN merger? Yes, till I was about 15 years old, every train that went by I was sure my Grandpa was the Engineer ...been inside an active Frisco Depot? Yep, went in there many times with him, used to pet the old dog that hung around in there. The Passengers were long gone by this time. ...ridden a Frisco locomotive? A few times with him when you get away with that kind of thing ...stood on an abandoned Frisco ROW or stared at a cold Frisco steam locomotive display and wondered, what must it have been like? Yes very much so. I wonder what it was like to work without having to carry a ream of paper rules around with you to do the job. It gets into the blood and will not out. Yes it will not go away. Nomatter how much my wife would like it to once in a while Tom Holley
I got 5 out of 10. Note worthy were the passenger train trips I took on the Frisco. My dad’s title at the Frisco was “Industrial Development Agent.” His job was to try and convince companies to build their factories or warehouses on lots served by the Frisco. One of the benefits of his job is that he could get passes for our family to make trips on passenger trains. A couple of times we went to Chicago to visit an aunt, once on the GM&O and once on the Wabash. I remember sitting in the dome car at twilight for a short period on the Wabash trip. Since our family had 5 kids and one income, my parents looked for inexpensive ways to keep us occupied. In the summer of 1956 we took a day trip from Affton (?) to Sainte Genevieve taking the morning train out and the afternoon train back. I don’t remember much about the train ride but certainly we rode in an old heavyweight coach pulled by a Redbird. The first trip by myself was to visit my sister, who lived in Tulsa at the time, between Christmas and New Year’s 1965. It must have been the Meteor since it left in the evening and arrived in Tulsa early in the morning. After a couple of hours looking out the coach window at the darkness, I fell asleep only to awaken when the train arrived in Tulsa. On the way back, my sister gave me money to buy a meal on the train. There was no longer a full service diner on the train by this time, but one of the lightweight cars (I remember a lot of stainless steel) had a short order grill. The cook presented a classic image of a railroad food service provider. He was a middle aged black man dressed head-to-toe in white with a traditional chef’s hat and a grease splattered apron. His demeanor was all business when I ordered my hamburger and soda; no smiling; no wasted motion. I watched as he painted the grill with butter and then picked up a ball of ground beef with two spatulas, one in each hand, and deftly flattened the ball into a patty. Salt and pepper were applied and after getting me a soda and taking my money, he applied butter adjacent to burger and flipped the burger over into this area. As he put half the bun on the burger, I wondered what he was doing, as the grease soaked up into the bun. When I took my first bite out of it however, I realized this was the juiciest, tastiest hamburger I eaten up to this point in my life. Rich Lawler
