In the period 1961-62 there were two local trains per Employee Time Table Number 43 and appeared on train sheet 6/1/62, between Springfield and Monett Nos. 709-710. Were these the extension of the same trains between Monett and Fort Smith? I can find no consists for them. Between when and when did they run? Glenn Fisher
Yes. But just to cloud the issue, Trains No 709-710 actually appear in public timetables as a St. Louis-Fort Smith operation. In reality, this merely reflects the fact that Trains No 9-10, or No 9/709-710/10 (November 1961 OGR) handled a through St. Louis-Fort Smith sleeper that was cut out of the main stem of the train at Monett. The Monett coach appears to have been picked up at Springfield. There was a lot of shuffling, again, as I read the November 1961 OGR, done at Springfield as the St. Louis-originating diner-lounge and coach-buffet-lounge only operated as far as Springfield, the location of the Frisco commissary. This was because the train arrived in Springfield from St. Louis at one minute before midnight, in Tulsa at 4:40 A.M. and in OKC at 8:00 A.M., hours when customers could easily forego a meal. This line of thinking does not quite hold up for the return leg, however, as No 710/10 departed OKC close to the dinner hour and arrived in St. Louis at 8:00 the following morning. Apparently all the eating was done between St. Louis and Springfield. GS
For a "brief season”, late in the game as it were, April 16, 1961- August 1, 1963, there was indeed a separate Springfield to Ft Smith passenger train. ETT 43 bears the evidence.