I call retired Frisco off-line traffic agent Ed Bunch every Saturday. Ed was employed in the Tampa and Miami offices for many years until his early retirement with BN. When BN shut down the off-line traffic offices in Florida, Ed had gotten a bellyfull of the big bad green machine and took early retirement. He now resides in Clearwater. Since "four letter words" are not in Frisco.org standing, I won´t quote any of Ed´s comments about post-Frisco BN, employee relations! Ed has asked me to try and find out if lumber and perishables still move from the Pacific Northwest to Florida destinations over former Frisco KC-Birmingham lines and what is the average travel time with BNSF-CSX routings? He used to hustle to get customers in Florida, like Logan Lumber in Tampa, Joyner Lumber in Lakeland as well as the Publix and Winn-Dixie supermarket chains to Ship IT on the Frisco! The traffic was handed over to the ACL and SAL in Birmingham for final Florida destinations and he would call the customers and keep them informed when their shipments were due to arrive for final spotting at their doors. No fancy computers or cell phones, just good old fashioned railroad service that the Frisco was known for! That all changed after BN decided that off-line traffic offices were no longer needed in Florida. When they shut down Tampa, Ed took the early retire option. With the merger between ACL and SAL that created SCL, tracks started coming up in the Sunshine State. No longer can priority freight move over the once famous ACL Perry Cut-Off and Ocala Division to Tampa. The long way around Robin Hood´s barn is now the norm. Ed told me last Saturday that BNSF and CSX need not boast of "fast friendly freight service geared to the rail customer's best interest". Don´t tell THAT to Ed Bunch. You will highly strain his good Baptist up-bringing he received while growing up near Amory, Mississippi! Can anyone compare the track time in 1962 when I first met Ed, to the mid-70s, to post-Frisco BN and 2011? He would appreciate it. Joe Toth
