Not too long ago I got a PM from Brad Slone in my quest to obtain a second FRISCO 4500 4-8-4 brass made by Hallmark. I would like to happily say that Brad Parted with 3 from his collection and now I have a total of 4 and got em all at a very fair price. Well today...My wife and I decided to visit my LHS and MAN...did the owner have a deal for me. I got a Rivarossi 4-8-4 in UP Livery for the 844 but, it included a Sunami Sound System which is the sound of our very own FRISCO PHILLY #1522 and a DCC Decoder and Constant lighting kit. The price tag on the box said $250.00 not to mention the added accessories of Sound, Lighting and DCC. I am a confessed garage sale shopper when it comes to my hobby, white Elephant tables at train Shows are my close personal friends. You can find some really neat stuff at these. A Lot of times you can find some really hard to find items especially FRISCO at these as well. Every once in awhile I splurge and get a top shelf item especially if I have had my eye on it for quite awhile. Anyway, I paid a whopping $100 dollar bill for a really great looking engine and I guess my point here is, now the Sound of 1522 will be heard on my layout. It has been a wonderful day. And in regard to an earlier post where I said I needed to avoid Rivarossi, I need to avoid the older deeper flanged equipment. I guess my back story for my layout will be that a derailment on the UP Main forced the 844 to reroute onto the Frisco main to Tulsa Oklahoma where it would reroute back to its own mainline in route to Oklahoma City then on to San Antone. Oh...and it borrowed 1522's whistle....lol!!! Also I have painted one of the locomotives from Brads collection which he did a great job on the Tender so I cant take all the credit, but will be posting pictures to my album soon of my almost complete roundhouse and her busy bays of FRISCO Steam
844 never made it to San Antonio in real life. A MU failure caused the 844 to suffer flat spots on its drivers since under braking, the diesel behind her was still in notch and wouldn't respond to MU commands. We had to accept old F units. I guess in your world, which is A-OK, 844 can visit!
A little OT about 8444. Many moons ago, at a convention in Omaha, I got really up close and personal with that beast. I have never been one for fan trips or big steam, so I decided to go on the "junk tour" to the CNW yards. Most went on the UP tour in hopes to see 8444. Well, at the CNW, they gave those who went free rein of the facilities since they were basically shut down for the day. After roaming all through the shop and round house, we noticed a ton of folks drifting in. I asked our overseer, what was up. He mentioned that they were the retirees club coming to see the big steamer. As it turns out, the CNW had the only turnatable in the midwest that could turn the engine. So it comes drifting in and watching the crew trying to get all the wheels on the turntable was a real treat. So we watched being turned and drifted back to Omaha. I was told that those on the UP tour et a glimpse of it leaving Omaha from the bus and the same when it came back into town. I GOTTA find those photos and slides. I know I got a great shot of an old CNW flat car, with wood sides, used as a snow plow. But then. it could have been and old gondola. It had a fairly decent sized tree growing from the gravel pile they used for weight. Okay, back to your regularly scheduled Frisco discussion.
