SW1500 SLSF 337 Here is another SW1500 shot plus a second picture of an interesting freight car . Lindenwood Yard, St Louis, October, 1978. Again, these are poor quality pictures were taken with a Kodak Instamatic. Remember those? Frisco SW1500 SLSF 337 is in the center of the first picture, coupled to another SW1500. SW1500 SLSF 337 is smoking badly, needs a tune up? To the left is a top view of a two-level auto rack. I do not know if it is a Frisco car or not. It looks like it is painted yellow, though. To the right are two black and yellow SW9s coupled to a Mandarin orange and white caboose. Busy day at Lindenwood. The angle of the sun, and the exhaust smoke, makes it another mood shot. The second picture is of a silver Frisco company service flat car, SLSF 109800. It has a load of nineteen 33" roller bearing wheel sets. Tichy Train Group kit number 4023 anyone? I loved going down to Lindenwood with son Kurt back then. He was ten years old at that time. We usually went on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Always something neat going on! Ken
Were those taken from the Arsenal bridge? I thought that the red square format looked familiar! If you only knew how many of those old kits I wrapped up for Christmas sales at Dads store! Between them, film, flashbulbs and batteries, I was a busy little boy. I wish I could find all my old square Frisco photographs. Later, Dan
I find the fixture on the company wheel car that holds the axles very interesting. There are pockets set into the surface of the fixture to hold the wheels on each axle and the pockets are properly offset to pack the maximum number of axles on the car. Looks like the car number is SLSF 109500 or SLSF 109580.
Keith , Under magnification, the original print reveals the car to be SLSF 109800. I looked at it very closely before the posting. The final two numbers are definitely zeros, the third from the last looks to be an eight to me, but before the magnification, I thought it was a five. The Tichy Train Group kit is a bit different than the Frisco car. The wheel sets in the kit are rib-backed wheels, with plane friction bearings. The deck is built up with side beams to provide secure support for the wheels and for the bearings as well. The wheels are set in offset indents in the built-up deck, however, to keep them from moving like the Frisco car. Ken
Ken, When did the tower come down? We used to drive by it quite a bit between my brother-in-law's house in Richmond Heights. and when we went to Ted Drewes' in the late 1990s. However, when we went for custard after a zoo trip last summer, I noticed it was conspicuously absent. Also, are those Jeeps to the left? From where would they have originated? Somewhere in my mind, I am placing an AMC plant in Wisconsin, maybe? The quality of the photographs you have posted is in no way diminished by the fact that you visually documented the action and are sharing it. Keep them coming! Best Regards,
Chris, I think they are Jeeps. I am not sure where the Jeep was assembled back then. I know AMC owned Jeep, but did they in 1978? Also, I am not sure when the Lindenwood tower was removed. It has been several years. Like you, one day we drove in I-44 and I saw it was gone. I would suspect it was taken out when Lindenwood's main function was relegated to largely an intermodal facility. The diesel shop also went, the yard office was changed, and the pedestrian bridge over I-44 was closed. We used to sit on the yard side of it to watch the action and snap some photographs. I will post a few of those sometime. Ken
Ken, Thanks for correcting me. I did not thoroughly read your original post and did not see that you had identified the car number, my bad. I appreciate everything you share and I know you have a great devotion to detail, it shows in your models.
The Lindenwood Yard tower was razed when the Arsenal Street bridge was rebuilt, in the mid 1990s as I recall. Here is a link to what it looked like. http://www.frisco.org/vb/showthread.php?t=1505 Rich
Rich, Thanks for clarifying the "died" date on the tower, and for the link to the pictures. Best Regards,