Mike Corley also asked about the streamlined Frisco passenger cars, made from OK Herkimer coaches, so I will post the typical consist of my Kansas City-Florida Special. Actually, this consist represents the train in 1962 between Memphis and Birmingham, since I don't have the red/silver heavyweight Pullman or the dormitory-coach, and the RPO is the newly remodeled 70-foot version instead of the older 1910 60-foot monitor roof car. I'll also do this one in two posts. Enjoy. Ken McElreath
Here is the passenger-carrying section of the train, including the Southern streamlined coach made from a Con-cor coach. The diner is a Walthers Great Northern diner with overlaid styrene window panels and fluted upper and lower panels applied. Ken McElreath
Here are the sleeper and the diner. You can see that I love to open the cars up and show the vestibules and the cook cooling off on a hot day. I suppose that's the way I remember hanging out of dutch doors myself when I rode the passenger trains. Prior to about 1963, the Frisco ran the diner-lounge located between the coaches and the sleeper(s). Then they started running the diner-lounge between Springfield and Birmingham only, so as to only need two cars instead of three and save the cost of one car and crew. Then the diner would be run as the last car, behind the sleeper. Ken McElreath
I forgot to mention that some of the sleepers from the Texas Special were reassigned to the Kansas City-Florida Special in the late 1950's without relettering the name board, so it is prototypical. I figured someone would call me on that one. Ken McElreath
